Rebar placing is a specialty within the ironworkers' trade, and rod busters spend their days bent over mats tying intersections with 16-gauge wire and a pigtail or reel tool. They read placing drawings, set chairs and dobies, lap splices and fight for every inch of clearance in congested columns. The name carries pride in hard, repetitive and physically punishing work.
Rod busters are still tying the top mat, so the pump gets pushed to Thursday, no way the inspector signs off before then.
Also heard as
- rodbuster
- reinforcing ironworker
- rebar tier
Related terms
Rebar
Deformed steel bar cast into concrete to carry the tension that plain concrete cannot.
Chair
A wire or plastic stand that holds rebar or mesh at the right height inside the form.
Dobie
A small precast concrete block, often with tie wire cast in, used to hold rebar up off the ground.
Green bar
Epoxy-coated rebar, named for its usual green coating, used where salt and chlorides threaten corrosion.