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SECTION 4.

Concrete Sawing Trims


Time on Repairs
By Plant Engineering, August, 1964 (with permission of the publishers)

Revised: James C Marrella, United States Cold Storage, Inc., Cherry Hill, NJ, January 2001

his section will address the proper steps to take when planning to repair concrete floor surface(s) inside a refriger-
T ated facility. This section will not address the patching material(s) that one might use in repair/patching various
floor defects e.g., early stage of floor cracks and uneven floor joints.

To perform any repairs safely and properly, one must have and use the proper tools and safety equipment. It is strongly
recommended while using any chipping or sawing device(s) that proper hand, face, eye and hearing protection is used.

The following tools may be required for floor repair: Barricade equipment, concrete (wet) saw, various drills and chip-
ping tools.

When planning to repair potholes or large cracks the first step is to determine what area of flooring must be removed.
Ideally, less is better, however, sometimes it may required a larger area to be removed for structural strength purposes.
When outlined first by saw cuts, damaged areas can be chipped out in less time than it takes to do the job using other
methods. Cuts are made around the damaged area, to a
depth approximately 1/6 the slab thickness. See Fig. 1.
The clearly defined area is then chipped out and the hole
refilled with concrete or other flooring material.

Because the repair can be made to vertical, straight


edges, there is no need to “feather” a thin layer of con-
crete or patching material adjacent to the edge of the
repaired area. This thin layer has a tendency to set up
faster than the rest of the patching material and poor
bonding results. During feathering, fine particles of the
patching material are worked to the surface, and conse-
quently, with some material(s) at that surface, where
Parallel saw cuts bracket floor crack. Chipping removes worn concrete.
maximum strength is needed, becomes the weakest point.
Flaking, spalling or breaking away can start and the result
is an even more difficult maintenance problem.

Sawing can be done in advance; all areas can be pre-sawed, and actual repair work handled in the course of regular
working hours. The water used to cool the blade makes sawing dustless, so machinery in the area is not adversely
affected. However, depending on the amount of sawing required and the location of the work area it may be prudent to
schedule the work during off hours due to the noise of the sawing and possible tracking “saw mud” throughout the
area. This problem is often critical when floor repairs are being made near high traffic areas of our operation.

Concrete Sawing Trims Time on Repairs 4.3.1


IARW MAINTENANCE AND MODERNIZATION MANUAL

Concrete sawing is also used to cut trenches in concrete floors to run conduit, plumbing, heating, gas, water or sewer
lines. For narrow trenches, and short distances parallel cuts can be made, and the trench chipped out by hand. On wider
trenches, parallel saw cuts are made the width of the trench through about 1/4 the slab thickness. Breakout is then
accomplished using a chipping hammer, breaking from the center of the trench toward the sawed “plane of weakness.”

Sawing of concrete also simplifies the removal of large areas of concrete floor for machinery installation or major floor
replacement. The pouring of footings for a printing press at a publishing company called for the removal of two 9-by-71
ft sections of 8 inch-thick concrete flooring. The work was to be done while presses adjacent to the site were running.

The sections were outlined by saw cuts, using a Clipper concrete saw. These sections were in turn cut into 9- by 10-ft
sections. The slab was cut in two passes—the first, 1 1/2 inches deep, the second, 3 1/2 inches deep. After the sections
were sawed, a hole was drilled in the corner of each section to receive a wire cable. Then a truck-mounted crane
removed each slab section from the floor.

Labor saving on this job was considerable, and the job was relatively dust-free. More important from a maintenance
point of view, the edges of the cut were clean and square, permitting a strong joint with new concrete and properly
space dowel pins.

Concrete Sawing Trims Time on Repairs 4.3.2

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