Iron Rod

I am unfamiliar about different types of iron grades but any grade will do I believe.

Here, let me Google that for you.

Read the Wikipedia article, and follow its links to the other articles on steel. You're probably looking for "steel", not "iron".



Other than reinforcing rods for concrete, you're probably not going to find much in the way of 5/8" x 20' steel rods on housing construction sites, but it's easy enough to Google up steel dealers too.

...also is it legal to "dumpster dive" in the dumpsters on construction sites?

In general, the answer to that would be, "with permission", otherwise, "no". Now whether you'll actually get arrested is a different question. Are you expecting to find eleven undamaged 20' rods in a dumpster?

it's kinda hard to guess since so much of the steel used in building houses is also interchangeable with parts on cars.

Huh? :confused:

With all due respect, I've never seen a piece of steel go into a house that resembled anything found in an auto parts store. (With the exception of a few nuts and bolts maybe.) Steel studs might be common in commercial construction, but other than the rebar mentioned above, houses contain mostly a few I beams, some steel posts to support them, some angles for masonry lintles, some joist hangers, maybe some steel decking under the concrete of the porch, and lots of nails...

Edited to add: Oh, and maybe the gas pipe plumbing, and the HVAC ductwork...