Floor sawing and concrete sawing in Cork

Floor sawing is cutting straight lines through a concrete floor, slab, yard or road from above, with a diamond blade on a saw the operator walks along the line. Euro Concrete uses it for trenches, openings in slabs, and sections of floor or tarmac that have to come out cleanly.

The saw carries a large diamond blade under a guard, with water fed to the blade throughout. The operator sets the depth, lines the blade up on a chalk mark and walks the saw forward, lowering the blade in stages on a thick slab. Mesh and bar are cut in the same pass as the concrete. A trench is two parallel cuts with the strip between them broken out; an opening is four cuts with the piece inside lifted clear. The same machine is called a slab saw, road saw or flat saw, depending on who is using it. Walls and very thick bases are jobs for a wall saw or a wire saw.

Euro Concrete saws a concrete floor in four stages: find and mark any services in or under the slab, chalk the cut lines, run the water-fed floor saw along each line in passes until it is through, then break out or lift the cut section. The slurry is collected as the saw works.

Services come first because a floor saw cuts whatever it meets: heating pipes, cables and drains can run through or just under a slab, so the drawings are checked and the routes marked before any cutting. The cut lines are taken off the drawings or set out with the site manager. On a thick slab the blade goes down a stage at a time, which keeps the cut straight and the blade cool. A suspended floor is propped from below before it is cut, so the section cannot drop. Once the cuts are through, a trench is broken out between them and an opening is lifted out in pieces sized for handling.

A walk-behind floor saw with a water-fed diamond blade is the best saw for cutting concrete slabs, because it holds a straight line and cuts to a set depth. Euro Concrete uses floor saws for slabs, yards and roads, and a wire saw where a slab or base is too thick for any blade.

Hand-held cut-off saws suit a thin path or a paving slab, but their shallow reach and freehand line make them slow and uneven on a reinforced floor. A floor saw puts the weight of the machine on the blade, so it cuts deeper and steadier, and its depth stop keeps the cut even all the way along. The blade is chosen for the material: hard aggregate and heavy steel call for a different diamond bond from green concrete or tarmac. Water keeps the blade cool and the dust out of the air. For a round hole through the same slab, such as a pipe entry, a core drill is the better tool.

A road saw is also called a floor saw, a slab saw, a flat saw or a walk-behind concrete saw, and people search for it by maker's name as well, such as Clipper. Euro Concrete uses the same kind of machine for road and tarmac cuts as for concrete floors and yards, with a blade to suit the surface.

On a road the saw cuts the line of a trench for a drain, duct or water main, or around a damaged patch cut out for repair. Cutting first means the surface breaks away along a straight edge, so the reinstatement meets a clean joint. Tarmac wears a blade differently from concrete, so the blade is matched to the surface. Cutting into a public road or footpath may need prior permission from the local council, so check with them before the saw arrives. On private yards, lanes and car parks, the cut goes ahead once services are marked.

Euro Concrete prices slab cutting on four things: how thick the slab is, how much steel is in it, how many metres of cut there are, and what happens to the cut concrete afterwards. Ring Sean on 086 881 9848 with those, or send photos and a sketch of the cuts, for a price.

Thickness sets the blade and the number of passes, and a thick industrial floor or a reinforced base can take far longer per metre than a garage floor. Mesh and bar slow the cut. A long run of cuts on one visit costs less per metre than a short one, since getting the saw, water and power to the slab takes the same time either way. Breaking out and removing the concrete is priced separately where it is part of the job, and it depends on access for a machine or a skip. Inside a finished building, protecting the rooms and collecting slurry adds time, as does a cut near a live road.

Euro Concrete Services cuts concrete slabs, floors, yards and roads anywhere in County Cork, from its Skibbereen and Cork city bases. Ring Sean on 086 881 9848 with the location, what is being cut and roughly how thick it is, and he will tell you when the floor saw can be there.

The county is covered end to end: Cork city, Blarney and Glanmire, the harbour at Carrigaline and Cobh, Midleton and Youghal to the east, Mallow, Kanturk and Millstreet to the north, and Macroom, Kinsale and Clonakilty on the way west. A farm lane or a yard between towns is covered the same way. If the cut is part of a bigger job, such as a trench across a slab with a pipe cored through the wall at the end, say so, and both can be done on the same visit.