AskCodeMan

(From a phone call question.)

Codeman,

I looked at a plan today which shows welded wire mesh reinforcement for the slab, but it shows a designation I've not seen before.

I am used to seeing WWM designated as 6x6-10x10 (6" by 6" grid pattern with 10 gage wire by 10 gage wire) or 6x6-6x6 (6" by 6" grid pattern with 6 gage wire by 6 gage wire), however, this WWM is designated as 6x6-W1.4xW1.4 and 6x6-W2.9xW2.9.

What do those W1.4 and W2.9 designations mean?

Thanks,

Dan

Hi Dan,

Yes, the designations have changed for welded wire mesh.

The spacing pattern designation has not changed, it is still shown in inches, such as 6x6 and 4x4, which indicate, respectively, that the wire is laid on on a 6 inch by 6 inch grid pattern and on a 4 inch by 4 inch grid pattern.

The wire size used to be the gage size based on Steel Wire Gage sizing, 10x10 indicated 10 gage wire was used in both directions. A 6x6-6x6 indicated the WWM was laid out on a 6 inch by 6 inch grid and the wire gage in each direction is 6 gage wire. The lower the gage number the thicker the wire size.

Additionally, here are some other relative size number which may be of use to you:
->Gage size / W size / inch size / millimeter size:
- -> 10 ga. / W1.4 / 0.135 inch / 3.429 millimeter
- -> 8 ga. / W2 / 0.162 inch / 4.1148 millimeter
- -> 6 ga. / W2.9 / 0.192 inch / 4.8768 millimeter
- -> 4 ga. / W4 / 0.2253 inch / 5.72262 millimeter
- -> 2 ga. / W5.5 / 0.2625 inch / 6.6675 millimeter