Binding Wire (Tying Wire)

Binding wire is the soft, mild-steel annealed wire (typically 0.9-1.6 mm, commonly 18 SWG ≈ 1.22 mm, conforming to IS 280) used to tie reinforcing bars together at their intersections so the cage holds its designed geometry, spacing and cover while concrete is placed and vibrated. It is not structural — it carries no design load — but poor tying lets bars displace, producing wrong cover, spacing and lap positions.

A practical consumption norm is about 8-12 kg of binding wire per tonne of reinforcement (≈ 1%), commonly taken as 9-10 kg/t for estimation; congested cages and small-diameter mesh use more. Standard ties (snap/single, wrap-and-snap, saddle, figure-of-eight) are used per location; not every intersection need be tied — typically alternate intersections for mesh, but every intersection for column/beam cage corners and lap zones. The wire is left so cut ends point inward, away from the cover face, to avoid rust staining.