Concrete Cutting Companies: It’s a Grind

Concrete is a commonly used construction material because of its cost effectiveness, long lifespan, and adaptability to virtually any environment. However, working with concrete is often challenging for building designers and engineers.

Creating access to ventilation ducts, elevator shafts, and stairwells or places to hide plumbing or electrical wiring requires cutting or drilling of concrete. Concrete cutting companies like Cobra are experts in this type of work that is crucial to the successful construction, modification, or rehabilitation of any concrete building.

When sawing ‘soft’ materials such as wood, a toothed blade chips at the material and cuts right through it. Concrete sawing is different in that it grinds the concrete away to the specified width and depth. Grinding is a two-way street: not only does the saw grind the concrete away, but the concrete also grinds the saw blade away. The solution to this problem is to use a diamond saw blade. Diamond blades have diamonds laser welded to the blade in segments. The blades wear down much more slowly, and though they do need to be replaced eventually, they make a thinner cut, which means there is less concrete to remove. This results in faster cutting.

Slab sawing and wall sawing are two techniques that are frequently used in concrete construction and modification projects. Slab sawing is most often used to install pipes below grade or to remove large areas of slab to allow new concrete surfaces to be created. The rougher edge of the removed concrete helps to bind a new slab to the old one.

Wall sawing uses a saw mounted on a spindle that follows a track. The track is mounted on a wall, ceiling, or any surface at any angle. This type of concrete cutting is used when cuts of more precise dimensions, such as for doors, windows, access panels or HVAC systems are made.

Concrete cutting really is an important part of the process in any project that involves concrete buildings or other structures. All of the services a concrete cutter like Cobra supplies are about removing concrete through a grinding and removal process. This includes sawing, drilling, breakup, and demolition. All of these are processes that subtract concrete. Just as sculpture removes extraneous stone or other material to create a specific form, concrete cutting does the same for specific utilitarian purposes.

Concrete is here to stay. In fact, it has a service life of about 100 years. It has significant advantages for a variety of projects: durability, economy, better energy usage across building life, and it is a safe and sustainable material. The advances seen since Cobra came on the scene have made concrete cutting more efficient than ever, a fact that increases its usefulness as a building material.

We’ve recently worked on projects as varied as Wrigley Field, a variety of Jewel/Osco, Mariano’s, and Costco locations, the Jardine Water Purification Plant, CTA Red and Blue Lines, and Alexian Brothers Medical Center. We can help steer your project to success as well. Please contact us.