Services
Services: Sawing And Drilling Concrete
Flat Sawing
The term "flat" refers to the concrete surface. If you have a surface you need cut that is reasonably level, a wheeled self-propelled saw would normally be chosen. Flat sawing is commonly done on pavement, floors, bridge decks, dams, culverts and similar tastes. It is typically done to provide control joints, to remove damaged pavement sections prior to patching, to clean and repair random cracks for repair, to insert pipes, conduit and electrical cables into concrete, for cracks for repair, to insert pipes, conduit and electrical cables into concrete, for demolition purposes, and many other reasons. Circular saw blades with diamond segments around the periphery are used for flat sawing. Blades may vary in size from 4" diameter to 60" diameter (up to 24" cutting depth). Saws range from 5 HP up to 65HP in gasoline, diesel and electrically powered versions.
Typical applications are completed every day by Concrete Penetrating Company. Keep in mind that sawing comparatively flat surfaces is commonly done all over the world; however, each project is somewhat unique and requires special skills and knowledge to do it properly.
Electric Flat Sawing
Inside buildings and other confined spaces, gasoline and diesel powered saws are not recommended due to carbon monoxide build-up. Electric powered flat saws running off house power or truck mounted generators can cut safely inside confined spaces and still handle blades up to 60" in diameter for 24" in cutting depth.
Wall Sawing
Vertical surfaces and surfaces inclined to the point that flat saws cannot be used are the application areas for track mounted wall saws. Sawing door, window and conduit openings in newly poured concrete walls and in structures being rehabilitated, constitutes the major application for wall saws. However, they are used on many other vertical concrete curfaces, such as inclines, dam spillways and turbine tubes, factory equipment pads, missile silos, highway median barriers, bridges, tunnels, levee walls, aquarium tanks, power station stacks, and so on.
Powerful hydraulic motors run off diesel powered pumping units, provide up to 24" deep sawing from one side and up to 48" deep sawing if both sides are accessible.
Electric Wall Sawing
Electric powered hydraulic pumping units can be taken anywhere within a building or other confined space to run our hydraulic wall saws. When wired to the electrical service from the building or run off an outside gererator, electric wall sawing has the same speed and capability as standard wall sawing without the limitations of hydraulic hoses between the work zone and our equipment truck.
Core Drilling
Anytime you need to put a round hole through concrete, masonry or solid rock, you will want to call a core drilling specialist. He will very likely use one or more diamond core drill bits, mounted on a drilling rig or a multi drill, gang drilling machine. Typical applications include floors, walls, pavement, tunnels, bridge parapets, ceilings, roofs, mine facing, roadside rock shapes and so on. Often the holes are made to route cables, conduits, pipes, wires or other "through the structure" components. Other times, the holes are made simply to place explosive charges or to install load-carrying devices, like dowel bars. There are probably thousands of reasons for making holes in concrete. Whatever the reason, the holes are normally made with a diamond core bit. Core bits consist of the bit tube, which has diamond segments or a full diamond crown brazed or welded onto the drilling end. Bit sizes range from 1" diameter to 48" diameter. The bits are mounted on the rotating shaft of various types of drilling machines. Some run on large drill columns, some are track mounted, some are mounted in groups on specialized, multi-hole drill rigs and some are even handheld drills.
Stitch Drilling
Think of those square, rectangular or large round openings you often see in very thick concrete walls, floors and structures for doors, window and vent casings. The square and retangular openings, as well as the very large round holes, may have been made by a technique called stitch drilling. A series of small holes are core drilled so close together that they overlap, which has the net effect of making a larger hole in the wall when all the holes are completed and the center section is removed. The numerous rounded edges that remain can be removed by grinding to leave a clean, neat opening. Another use for stitch drilling is to sever very thick concrete blocks, which are beyond the cutting depth of the largest saw blades.
Core bits from 4" to 6" in diameter are typically used for stitch drilling, although larger diameter bits can be used. Drilling rigs similar to those used for core drilling are used, although most are track mounted when the concrete is inclined or vertical.
Joint Sawing and Sealing
When new concrete pavement or floors are placed, it is necessary to saw joints in the new pavement to control cracking. After the concrete is cured, it is necessary to seal these sawed joints as well as any expansion joints to prevent water migration from the surface into the base under the concrete. Water intrusion into the base can shorten the service life of the concrete pavement. We can install Hot Pour Rubberized Asphalt Sealants, Polyurethane Sealants and Silicone Sealants as well as Premolded Compression Seals and Special Architectural Expansion Joint Systems for parking garages and structures. For airport projects, we can widen joint tops and cut bevels along the joint top edges before sealing the joint.
Chain Sawing
Hydraulic and electric powered chain sawing with diamond tipped chains can cut square and rectangular opening in concrete walls and floors rapidly and efficiently. In addition, we can chain cut corners of larger openings to prevent the necessity of over-cuts.
Break Out and Removal
Cured concrete is normally cut so it can be removed. Concrete can be cross cut and lifted out (or broken-up and pulled out) and loaded using skid-steer loaders onto dump trucks and hauled off site for re-cycling or disposal. In addition to trench lines or patches in pavement, concrete plugs from wall-sawed openings and cylinders from core drilling can be removed from site.
Concrete Replacement
After the concrete is removed, it sometimes has to be replaced. We can pour-back trench lines, concrete patches or small equipment pads and other simple concrete jobs. We offer to pour-back these simple jobs as a service to our concrete cutting customers who may not be able to find a larger full-service concrete contractor who will undertake such small jobs.
Dowel Drill and Grout
When connecting new concrete to existing concrete or between the paving lanes for airport and highway or street paving, it is necessary to drill small diameter holes and epoxy grout steel dowel bars into these holes. We run rotating percussion drills mounted in single, double or triple drilling machines. If required by specification, we can also drill dowel holes using diamond core drills in a special machine. After the holes are drilled, we can epoxy grout steel bars into the holes using our metering/mixing epoxy pumps.
Wire Sawing
Wire sawing has few limitations and is used to cut large or deep sections of concrete. A diamond studded wire is wrapped around a section of concrete, the wire is rotated while being pulled toward the anchored wire saw, producing a straight line cut in the concrete. Wire sawing is the most expensive of all the diamond cutting techniques, it and is used in applications beyond the capabilities of other diamond cutting techniques or when speed of cutting is vital.
Structural Concrete Repairs by Epoxy Injection and Other Techniques
Epoxy injection as a method of permanently repairing cracks or voids in concrete was invented in the late 1950's by Adhesive Engineering Co. and trademarked as the "Structural Concrete Bonding Process (SCB)" using the "Concressive" brand of injection related epoxies. We aquired a "license" to introduce this new technology to Texas in 1977, and we have been performing epoxy injection of cracks in concrete ever since. As other manufacturers formulated special injection resins and built special metering injection pumps, epoxy injection became more generic and the licensing program became disbanded. Today, we can perform epoxy injection using any epoxy the engineer might specify but are still partial the the "Concressive" epoxies, which today are manufactured by BASF. Our injection procedures and materials will meet TxDOT Specification 780 for epoxy injection. We can also install supplemental reinforcing steel to strengthen a concrete member or inject water reactive urethane resins to waterproofing cracks or voids in concrete.
Concrete Penetrating Co.
