4 answers
★ Best answer
Reinforced concrete resists shocks and repeated loads better thanks to the metal reinforcement that works in tension, whereas plain concrete cracks quickly. One detail you rarely see mentioned: if your slab needs to support heavy loads, get reinforced concrete with a cement content suited to it (like C25 minimum for a garage) because just adding poorly sized steel bars doesn't help if the concrete itself is weak. Also make sure the reinforcement is properly spaced and covered (minimum 2-3 cm of concrete over the reinforcement) or you'll get rust creeping up and destroying everything from the inside.
Don't make the mistake of using plain concrete for a garage - it'll crack like crazy under the weight of cars and temperature changes. Reinforced concrete is just regular concrete but strengthened with metal bars or a wire mesh inside, which gives it tensile strength that plain concrete doesn't have. For a garage slab, you really need welded mesh or rebar, otherwise you'll end up with cracks all over the place after a few years. It's the reinforcement that keeps the cracks from spreading and holds everything together as one piece even when it starts to crack slightly.
You're getting cracks that keep getting bigger over the years, yeah? Reinforced concrete is just concrete strengthened with steel bars inside that handle the tension and movement - so there's no comparison with plain concrete for a garage slab, which will inevitably crack under the weight and thermal shocks!
For a garage, reinforced concrete is clearly the way to go - the others are right about that. One thing people often forget is that during pouring, you really need to vibrate the concrete well around the rebar, otherwise you'll end up with air voids that weaken the structure - that's where cracks show up after a few years of traffic. Bonus: a garage also needs proper slope and expansion joints every 4-5 meters, otherwise even reinforced concrete will crack all over the place 🚗
Your answer
Log into answer.