Today we learned how to tie stirrups for a strip footing.

We used our nippers to twist the ties nice and tightly. A good strong footing will be beneficial when the concrete gets poured in for all the steel to hold its own and not move.

We fixed some pieces of timber at equal spaces along a bench and lay the four rods on top. We then slid on the stirrups. We used a waterproof chalk to mark the spacing along the rods and moved the stirrups to those marks and dropped two rods to make a box shape.

The ties are bent over the D12 bars and wrapped around the stirrups tightly.

 We used a steel bending tool to bend the starter rods, and we tie them in also.

We learned about how dangerous steel is, and on a building site to always be aware of work thats going on around us.

When a job is finished and the steel is no longer needed we need to remove it from site to avoid any future accidents. Grass can grow up and around steel making it almost invisible and this is very dangerous when walking around the site if steel is left like this. When the steel is running vertically we need to put a plastic cap on the top so it stands out visibly and protects body parts from coming in contact with the end of the steel rods.