Concrete Slab Sawing in Chicago

So how do you put a pipe or conduit under a concrete slab, once it has set? Maybe you’re adding functionality to an old building, or putting new services into an area where you have to cross a road.

Either way, you don’t want to just rip everything up; jack-hammers leave a terrible mess. You want to make nice clean cuts to make a trench that can be easily patched afterwards. And that’s where concrete slab sawing by Cobra Concrete Cutting of Chicago comes in.

Of course this is done with a circular saw. Because the size ranges anywhere from 5 to 110 horsepower, these machines are mounted on wheels so that you only need steady the machine as you walk behind it while it cuts. The machine is easiest to control on a flat surface, so this is sometimes called flat sawing, though of course it can be done on moderate slopes. For instance, the moderate banking you see on roads is no trouble, and this process is also called road sawing.

Besides, if you’re putting a trench across a road, motorists are likely to be impatient about road closures. For roads, the ease of running the saw across the road and removing just the small pieces of concrete that result makes it much faster than busting up the road with a jack-hammer and then dealing with the rubble. The trench can be laid and filled quickly, and the road put back in service in minimal time.

Another reason to use a concrete saw is if you are dealing with an old area of concrete that has been patched too many times. By sawing out a regular area, dealing with the underlying foundation problem, and then laying a new, uniform slab over the trouble spot, you get a better-than-new professional-looking surface instead of a patchwork quilt advertising past troubles.

Finally, if you’re working with suspended slabs such as on bridges, using a concrete saw allows you to go directly to the trouble spot without damaging the supporting mechanisms, either through direct impact or the shock waves from a jack-hammer or manual chisel operation.

These saws are available with gas, diesel, and electric drives, which are especially useful when your operation is indoors and you don’t want to have to deal with toxic fumes from the exhaust. The electric drives are ideal when you are modifying an existing metal frame building on a concrete slab to bring water, power, or data lines to a new manufacturing operation in your growing business.

If you want to learn more about Cobra, and the wide range of equipment we have to address your concrete cutting challenges, please contact us. We are the largest concrete cutting firm in Chicago, and we have the trained operators to get the job done, regardless of which cutting technique is best for the job. You can also read about our latest news by clicking here.

Whenever your plans are blocked by concrete, we’re here to help you get through to the end.