Cutting Lines In Concrete Driveway

What kind of saw to use.

Cutting lines in concrete driveway.

How to saw cut concrete. The lines act as pre weakened stress points that encourage the concrete to crack at these locations. If of your slab s thickness doesn t reach 1 make sure you still cut at least a 1 depth. The outside lines indicate where the concrete should be cut.

Step 2 place the tip of a walk behind concrete saw blade over the center of one line. A good rule of thumb is to make your cut the thickness of your concrete. If you re using water cutting equipment make sure that the water is running all the way down to the blade. Apply the line as thick as possible.

Score the length of the cut three or four times with the chisel. Once you ve laid out the joints to be cut mark them using a chalk line. Lift the line simultaneously from each end and slap it to the ground. Professionals who install concrete driveways install crisp tooled lines in the slabs.

Designate the area of finished concrete to be cut using chalk lines. When you re cutting concrete that is already poured and finished use a chalk line to mark the region. When you are looking for saws to do relief cuts make sure that it is a down cut. If your cut doesn t need to be exact use a cold chisel and hand sledge to cut the concrete.

A circular saw with a masonry blade can also be used to either score or completely cut through the block. Factors such as curing techniques slab thickness slab length and base type must be analyzed before selecting where joints should be cut. One thing to be aware of before we go further. These are called control joints.

Get a friend to hold one end while you hold the other and run the line over the region to be cut. Using a metal jointing tool the. These joints should be cut in a quarter of the depth of the concrete slab during the very beginning of the curing process within 24 hours of the initial pour. Make sure you are cutting joints soon enough.

The joints can also be installed as soon as the concrete hardens by using a diamond saw that cuts the line. Don t force a blade into a cut. In this condition if you don t want to use a grooving tool to cut joints there are early entry dry cut lightweight sawsthat can be used almost immediately after finishing. In hot weather concrete might crack if joints are not cut within 6 12 hours after finishing concrete.