Old foreman told me to grease threads on rebar couplers, laughed it off for months

My foreman Dave on a job in Austin kept saying grease the threads or you'll regret it. I figured it was just old guy habit, so I skipped it on about 30 couplers for a retaining wall. Three weeks later we had two couplers seize up during tensioning and had to cut them out with a torch. Cost us a whole afternoon and $400 in wasted material. Has anyone else had luck with anti-seize on these things or is it just a waste of time?

2 comments

2 Comments

kevin_adams15d ago

Betting the guys who designed the couplers already factored in thread friction to the torque specs and you were throwing that off by running them dry.

jordan18415d ago

Grease is cheap compared to cutting out seized couplers with a torch. A light coat of never-seize on the threads keeps them from galling during tensioning, especially in humid weather. Dave knew what he was talking about, that stuff saves time and money.