What is Demo Sawing?

by Daniel Green

For some of us, there’s no joy like firing up the Husky K970, squeezing the throttle, and returning some freshly cut masonry to the earth from whence it came. There’s just something satisfying about walking away from the perfect cut-covered head-to-toe in slurry and knowing that you crushed it.

Perfect Concrete Care is called to make cuts so often that the first job interview question for potential new PCC workers is ‘Can you cut?’ Wielding this two-stroke powered beast is a valued skill, not just because they can kick – but because precision is everything. Sometimes you only get one chance.

For The Uninitiated

Demo sawing [or demolition sawing] is the process of cutting concrete, bricks, or earthen pipes with a circular-bladed, electric, hydraulic, or combustion-engined saw. It’s one of the primary tools our concrete care operators carry at all times and one of our most requested services.

Two-stroke demo saws can cut to the depth of 150mm and will chew through all but the fattest of reo. It’s also a wet saw, meaning it needs a water source and will create a little slurry.

Electric demo saws You can cut it to 150mm but they are generally reserved for lighter materials like brickwork in confined spaces. These are dry saws and use a mounted vacuum to extract the dust.

Why Not Just Break It Out?

Instead of traditional methods of breaking out the material, cutting creates a clean edge. This is important, not just in the scenario of an exposed aggregate finish but so that the edge can be built against it.

Let’s say you need to drill and set the rod because you’re going to pour onto it. It would be extremely difficult to do so on a surface that you have broken out using sledgehammers and jackhammers. There would be very little precision in terms of the location of the reo as well as ensuring the new pour wasn’t full of air pockets – remember, at this point, the concrete is going to be at its weakest point. There’s a good chance the engineer wouldn’t pass it.

Alternatively, perhaps the design has called for a timber door frame. You can’t install 35 x 70’s against that rough broken edge. Cutting it straight and square will ensure you’ve got something solid to work with.

Advantages

• It was inexpensive. The time it takes to break out that concrete to a detailed finish would be eaten up by a hungry demo saw.
  • It’s quick. That glorious two-stroke will slice through high MPA concrete like butter.
  • It’s easy. Certainly compared to trying to jackhammer a clean cut or use a masonry disc on a 5” DeWalt
  • It’s clean. Dust is controlled by adding water. It means that there are no plumes of the stuff settling all over everything.
  • It’s precise. The disc is under 3mm thick so it’s more scalpel than a machete.
    

Disadvantages

• It’s loud. Yes, the two-stroke sound is glorious but it’s not for everyone.
  • There’s a slurry. Whilst the slurry is minuscule – it is still present and needs to be cleaned up.
  • You need water. Perfect Concrete Care carries water tanks for just this purpose, but if there are acres of cuts then plumbed running water is needed.
  • It can only be cut straight. We need to complete curved cuts in an alternative fashion.

Official Selection

Demo sawing isn’t a skill that comes naturally to everyone. It requires attention to detail, planning, endurance, strength, and lateral thinking. Perfect has hand selected what we feel is Greater Sydney’s premier concrete care team, trained them, issued them a van full of the best tools, and sent them on their way. We are quickly making our mark as Sydney’s most renowned cutting, coring, scanning, and grinding provider.

Our Backyard

Being established here, Sydney Metro and the Blue Mountains have always been our home. But with our Wollongong branch now open, Perfect Concrete Care can now offer the whole concrete cutting suite of services to the Illawarra-Shoalhaven region.

Watch out Newcastle!

Ghostbusters

Who are you gonna call? That depends on your location, though the head office number of [02] 8021 1784 will always get you who you need. In Sydney Metro, Greater Sydney, and the Blue Mountains you can call Jaro or Rodrigo. In the Gong you can call Marco.

No matter who you call, a Perfect Concrete Care van will arrive with demo saws, ring saws, core drills and barrels, scanners, and almost always a road saw. There are a dozen PCC vans running around Sydney ready to go at a moment’s notice.

So when you want that beautiful, clean finish takes your job to the next level. Make sure to call Perfect Concrete Care.

We’ll Get It Done.