Rust is OK

Having finalised our construction contractor, I was keen to get the project started. While the first wave of the pandemic was behind us, the infection stats were beginning to rise again. During the first set of lockdowns in 2020, construction projects with labour at site were permitted to continue work.

Reinforcing steel (rebar) used in concrete

However, this would only be feasible if materials like rebar (reinforcing bars) colloquially referred to simply as steel, were available at site. While our contractor began the task of mobilising the labour force, I had approved issue of steel and cement contracts. We immediately took delivery of 26 tons of steel at site to ensure that work would not be stopped due to rebar unavailability.

As it turned out, our work only started about two months later - the rebar laid on the road outside the site and pretty soon got covered with a layer of rust. As a layman this seemed worrisome to me. Would this mean that the steel would be weakened and hence need to be replaced ? More importantly, its near impossible to store steel outdoors without it being exposed to moisture and air, so what would one need to do ?

Rusted rebar

Our architect allayed my concerns right away. I also did a bit of research on my own - I found out that a small amount of surface rust is considered beneficial as it roughens the steel surface, providing for a better bond at the concrete/steel interface.

Corrosion of reinforcing is a concern when it has been allowed to proceed to the point that substantial section loss has occurred, but this is rare. Interestingly enough, under most normal circumstances, the outer corroded layer of steel provides protection for the remaining steel inside and the rate of corrosion generally slows down over time, instead of accelerating.

This was good to know - one less item to worry about !

...The dragon fly

...The temple door threshold