chris collister Dec 12, 2011:

You learn something every day Thanks to Pascale and Barbara for opening my/our eyes to the possibility of anything other than rusty steel. Zinc is notoriously "slippery", as anyone who has painted a galvanised garage door will know.

Bashiqa Dec 12, 2011:

@ CC, Kashew and myself It would appear the fairer sex have the better of us lads. I suggest we leave them to it!!!!

B D Finch Dec 12, 2011:

Not only French! See: http://www.devoran-metals.co.uk/stainless- galvanised-steel ... for not merely galvanised, but stainless steel rebars!

"... last fifty years in ail countries which consume significant quantities of reinforcement. It seems to be mostly applied in Australia, Bermuda, Netherlands, Italy, UK and the USA. In USA about 2 % of ordìnary reinforcement is galvanized. For Europe, the estimate is 1 %. Galvanizing of reinforcement was introduced to improve the service life of concrete structures in tropical and marine environments in America. The consumption of galvanized reinforcing steel is increasing yearly. The main applications are for bridge decks subjected to deicing salts, industrial constructions such as cooling towers, chimneys, paper mills and chemical processing plants and a host of buildings of all types."
www.galvanizedrebar.com/docs/COST521_pg28.pdf

Pascale van Kempen-Herlant Dec 12, 2011:

@kashew/Bashiqa/Chris Zingaaaa!
Je ne suis pas spécialiste, mais...
http://www.zinga.eu/fr/certificats-en-rapports
fers à béton galvanisés à chaud (HDG) et fers à béton zinganisés (Zinga)

kashew (asker) Dec 12, 2011:

Asker: Seems odd to me too. Maybe they are used for something else?

Bashiqa Dec 12, 2011:

With CC here, I've never seen galvanised rebars on any building site, but I stand to be corrected.

chris collister Dec 12, 2011:

Odd that they would be galvanised. All research shows that adhesion to concrete is best when the bars are rusty.