Cutting Concrete Reinforced Foundations

[RobertPaulson]

Greetings all

Currently removing part of our house to sell off the land to a developer.

Demolished part of the house but am retaining part of the piled foundations and reinforced ring beam. Structural Engineer has recommended that we cut the foundations using a diamond saw instead of a kango as the vibrations weaken the part of the ring beam that we wish to retain.

Has anyone any experience with concrete cutting? Any suggestions s to how its done? Is this something that I can do myself?

Many thanks

Robert

 

[^woody^]

1. Start the saw up.

2. Cut the concrete.

 

[tomfe]

0. Get a saw.

 

[RobertPaulson]

Ha thanks for that.

I didn't phrase it well enough. What type of saw do you use?

 

[JohnD]

I have seen it done in Switzerland, they used a specialist contractor who provided and operated a diamond saw (they also exist in UK)

I noticed they used a wet-cut, water and fine powdered concrete slurry was running out for hours.

Where a "plug" was to be removed, they drilled it first and used a supporting steel jig to take the weight of the plug before starting the cut.

I have also seen it done by stitch-drilling, but that didn't look as good.

The piece of concrete you cut, if unsupported, might fall out and damage the operator or equipment.

You can see a recent example if you google "Hatton Garden Heist"

http://i4.mirror.co.uk/incoming/art...-through-a-half-meter-thick-concrete-wall.jpg

 

[Nige F]

Greetings all

Is this something that I can do myself?

Many thanks,

Robert

No. Just make sure the developer pays enough to cover the cost of the concrete cutting

 

[^woody^]

Petrol saw/ Stihl saw with diamond blade.

As the blade is only 300mm wide, with just over 100mm depth of cut, you will need to cut a slot, then chip some concrete away in a gradual process to allow the saw blade (and saw) to go through all the concrete. Otherwise you are in the realms of a larger specialist saw and massive costs. But if the developer is paying, that won't matter.

 

[tomfe]

A ring saw will give you about 200mm cut depth. You can hire a floor saw if you have long deep cuts. Standard size will give you around a 165mm cut you can go as big as 350mm quite easily from some hire places.