Walk past any concrete crew pouring a residential driveway and you'll usually see one of two things rolled out on the base: wire mesh, or tied rebar. They look similar. They are not the same thing.
What wire mesh actually does
Almost nothing — at least not the way it's typically installed. Mesh is supposed to sit in the middle of the slab to do its job. In real-world pours it gets walked on, pushed down, and ends up flat on the ground under the concrete. At the bottom of the pour, it adds zero strength.
What rebar does
Real #4 (½") rebar tied into a grid on chairs sits where it's supposed to sit — about 2" up off the base, in the middle third of the slab. That's where it actually resists the tension that causes cracking.
The cost difference
A couple hundred bucks on a typical driveway. The lifespan difference is decades. We don't even quote mesh driveways — every pour we do gets real rebar tied up off the ground.
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