DIY Concrete Cutting: What Homeowners Need To Know

It is most likely that you will find diamond blades in the device meant for cutting concrete. Under different circumstances, you need to apply different solutions to cut concrete.Fist you need to identify the kind of concrete that you need to cut. While there are several types of concrete, each of them requires a particular kind of blade to cut it. Reinforced kind of concrete has steel bars. If you are going to cut 4” or deeper, it is most likely that you will come across steel bars. In this case, only diamond blades can help you to cut them. Diamond blades meant for cutting green concrete and cured concrete are different. Also, know that sharp sand is more abrasive on the blades than round sand like river sand. So, plan your blade accordingly.

While silver brazed diamond blades were popularly used earlier, these days we find laser welded diamond blades that are more firm and demonstrate high performance. Find out what diameters of the diamond blade your concrete saw can accommodate. The arbor hole on the diamond blade should match with the arbor of the saw. Know that the diamond part of the blades fitted on higher horsepower saws should feature harder bond or higher diamond concentration. If not, then the diamond segments (the teeth) of the blade will be consumed quicker than you can imagine. The supplier can tell you which blade will suit your purpose.Wet cutting has a number of advantages like reducing the dust, keeping the blade cool to extend its life, and to ensure a deeper and consistent cutting. However, you will have to resort to dry cutting if there are no water sources nearby. Since dry cutting is shallow, you need to do several passes to achieve a deeper cutting if you need it.

Never underestimate the importance of using personal protective equipment. A professional respirator is a must while cutting concrete. This is in fact essential even in wet cutting. Know that concrete particles entering your lungs can cause cancer or silicosis. For bigger jobs, you will also need to have additional protective equipments like goggle, earplugs, and protective clothing.If you want to ensure that the cutting is straight, then you must first mark a straight line on the concrete with a chalk. Placing a straight wooden bar along the line will be of some additional help. You may cut a shallow line on the concrete all along the wooden board to start with. After this, you may deepen the cutting by more number of passes as required.

Though concrete cutting can be accomplished by abrasive blades, diamond blades are advised since they can ensure faster cutting, lesser downtime and a constant depth of cutting. If you are only working on small jobs occasionally, then you can save on diamond blade by buying economical diamond blades. On the other hand, you will need to go for high grade professional diamond blades for bigger jobs in order to reduce your cost per cut.