Creating the right type of stirrups to use in lintels above doors, windows, and other large openings is an essential step for success in your project. Join Chris, a DIY ICF owner/builder as he explains how to measure, cut, and bend rebar C stirrups.

Video Transcription

So today we’re making C stirrups for the lentils over the doors and windows. Now, I didn’t have a chance to get all my engineering done before I ordered them; I ordered all the C stirrups pre-bent for my decking on the floor but for all the windows and doors, it’s gonna vary a little bit by floor and location with the sizes. So I’ve calculated that now, I’m at that stage of the house.

I’m now going to make 170 of these. I find that it’s better to do it in a mass production style so I’ve got a stop here set up for my Benner Nawman cold cut saw to cut these into the exact length and I’ve got a set up down there where we’re going to mark out and bend the actual… the actual bends. Now this section here is a little bit longer than I like but that’s the shortest section that my bender will do.

All right we got my jig and my stop all set up ready to go so let’s cut some pieces real quick. In my case, I need 8 inch long stirrups so it happens to work out that my steel is gonna be 16 inches long in length. Yours will vary depending on the diameter of your bender and other things. And just like that, in just over a minute it goes through a 20-foot piece of number 3 steel.

All right I’m down here at the other end of the table I’ve marked on my table here the exact lines. Lay them all out. And then even them up. I’ve got a quick straight edge here Since these are controlling the distance of the reinforcing rebar spacing is kind of important so I want to make sure I measure that and get it right. My bender can do two at a time so I just grab two of them. Line up the marks here with marks on the bender, Pull the trigger and let it do the work. Flip it over, I’ve got two more done here. I’ve got a pattern that I’ve drawn out right here on the table just to check every new batch I check it just to make sure. You don’t want to make 170 just to realize you got it wrong.

I do find that I prefer bending these two at a time that’s the maximum capacity of my bender. Not only does it get done a little faster but because they’re next to each other it helps keep them straight and I don’t tend to get them bent, caddywhompus. So the idea is you put this down in there you’ll hook the bottom bars pick it up, set it over the top in the top bar.

Now depending on your window and your schedule you might have to do it every six inches on both sides of the window or the full length. That’s given in the BuildBlock prescriptive engineering tables.

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