‘Why Choose a Professional Concrete Cutter’ asks many a DIY expert when working with or removing concrete. Concrete dust, costly mistakes, getting the right tools and in the end, saving time and money consistently make hiring a professional concrete cutter worthwhile.
Let’s take a look at each of these in detail:
Safety – Avoid Injury and Silicosis
One of the main reasons for hiring a professional concrete cutter is safety. Safely cutting concrete occurs at two distinct levels.
Firstly, the more immediate risk of injury. Diamond coated drills and blades spinning at high speed cut through concrete, stone and even steel. They make short work of human flesh. Knowing how to handle heavy-duty, high powered equipment is essential. Protective gear combining helmet, goggles, ear muffs, face mask, gloves and work boots is essential. This is everyday wear for a professional concrete cutter.
Secondly, exposure to concrete dust (silica dust) can have long term effects on your health. Silicosis is where fine silica dust gets caught in the lungs which can affect lung capacity and, in some cases, leads to cancer. There is no cure for silicosis and dealing with concrete dust properly either through wet cutting and using effective dust extraction at the work site is essential.
Quality – Avoid Costly Mistakes
With most concrete cutting activities, there is no undo button. When it’s cut, it’s cut! Being certain that everything that needs to be cut is cut, and everything that shouldn’t be cut isn’t, is vital. Various techniques exist to ensure the concrete is cut square and true or flush with another surface. These techniques may not be clear for an amateur resulting in a poor finish and may compromise your entire project.
Speed – Save Time and Money
We’ve covered in various articles previously that speed in concrete cutting can be obtained in a number of ways.
Equipment choice – For example, a walk-behind road saw may be a faster machine to use than a hand-held saw for larger jobs.
Machine Features – Having a higher horsepower machine will cut through concrete quicker.
Cutting blade – the strength of the bonding agent used to affix the diamonds to the cutting face of the blade has a big influence over the cutting speed. Bonded too hard and the diamonds will become smooth and slow the cutting effectiveness of the blade.
Setup – Avoid Trial and Error
As with many specialist construction activities, the key is in the quality of the setup. Setting up a concrete drill, a track mounted wall saw or even wire saw requires precision adjustments with a lot of rigging to make sure the equipment cuts effectively. Incorrect rigging can not only be unsafe, it can also risk damage to the equipment and cut in the wrong place or angle. A professional concrete cutter is familiar with this setup and has faced many unique situations and is able to adjust the equipment to cut in ways you may never have thought possible.
Machinery – Get the Right Tool for the Right Job
Having the right machinery for the right job is DIY 101. Concrete cutting requires high-performance equipment which only a few brands can provide. Hiring concrete cutting equipment can be risky without much choice on the right brand or style of machinery and associated hardware.
Hiring a professional concrete cutter makes sense on a number of levels. From safety and quality to choosing the right machinery and effective technique. Getting a professional concrete cutter can remove the guesswork associated with the removal of troublesome concrete, stone, brick or steel. An affordable, quality tradesman can overcome any concrete in the way of your next project.
Hiring a Professional Concrete Cutter
Mastercut Concrete have been cutting concrete in Sydney for over 20 years and have a fleet of skilled and mobile concrete cutters to cut, drill or grind concrete for you when you need it. Contact 02 9755 5505 for a free consultation and quote or complete an online quote request.