A smooth steel rod placed across concrete joints to transfer loads between slabs without preventing them from moving.
A smooth steel bar used to transfer loads across a joint in concrete pavement or flatwork without restricting horizontal movement due to thermal expansion and contraction. Dowels are typically placed at mid-depth across contraction and construction joints and are greased or coated on one end to allow slippage. They differ from reinforcing bars in that they transfer shear loads, not tension.
Dowel baskets and individual dowels are a measurable line item that estimators must price by joint length, bar diameter, and spacing, so missing them in the takeoff understates a flatwork or paving bid. Specifying smooth, greased dowels versus deformed rebar at joints is also a common scope question that drives both material cost and labor for setting baskets ahead of the pour.
An estimator pricing a 40,000 SF warehouse slab reads the joint detail, counts 1,200 LF of contraction joints, and adds 18-inch greased dowels at 12 inches on center plus dowel baskets to the takeoff before sending it to the concrete sub.
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