Our new house has a "pond", with koi fish, which is actually a concrete lined oval "tub" about 3' deep. I would like to eventually enlarge it and landscape to make it look more natural. Previous owner did the concrete work and lined that with epoxy grout. Ideally, I would like to cut a "U' in the narrower end to make the water flow continuous to add-on. Is their a tool, DIY or contractor, that will cut concrete without destroying the pool? If the only option is to cut straight "V", it might be disguised with stone or plants. Anyone with experience cutting concrete?
*IF* he didn't use any iron, the diamond impregnated blade in an old skilsaw will make quick work of it. IME- the first re-rod you hit makes them a nice metal disk with a smooth edge. [good for cutting vinyl siding-- but not much else.]
I think if I was to do that in my climate, I'd use wire-lathe & I've never tried to cut that with one of those blades. If it *is* wire-lathed, I think a hammer might be your best bet. Just go at it, not worrying about neatness-- let the mason cover up all the sins. [even if you are the mason].
On Thursday 03 January 2013 16:04 Norminn wrote in alt.home.repair:
Suitably sized angle grinder with a diamond blade - if you can do it with a series of straight cuts. With care it will give you nice clean edges.
How thick is the concrete?
If you are running new concrete onto it, you will probably want to grout (ie with a vinylester resin or similar) in some rebar studs so there is a postive lock between old and new concrete around the joint.
You have a tub - plastic I presume - that has been lined with concrete; you want to remove some of the concrete without damaging the tub, right?
The first thought is a diamond blade in whatever as others suggested. However, you would have to control the depth of cut carefully so as to not damage the tub. Safest way would be to cut almost all the way through the concrete and carefully break out the remainder. The problem with that is that you don't know how thick the concrete is and it may well vary in thickness.
I think if I were doing it I would use a chisel (SDS) drill since the area isn't all that big. Harbor Freight used to have one for about $100, I don't see it now. Others are from $200, I'm sure they can be rented. They work like a rotary drill, which can hammer or rotate or both except there is a third setting for hammer only. They really do chop up concrete in a hurry.
You could also do it by hand using a mason's chisel and a hammer. I recently did some that way, used a chisel about 1 1/2" wide plus another about 5/8 to get an area started. I doubt the concrete is very adhered to the tub, assuming it is plastic, so all you really need to do is chisel through the outline of what you want gone, then start prying (carefully).
Actually it is a hole with a plastic tarp kind of liner (under/outside of the concrete) typically used for backyard ponds. Why prev. owner decided to put in concrete is beyond me....it is neither natural looking nor pretty :o) Looks like an egg sliced in half the long way :o)
The liner under the concrete is just heavy plastic sheet, so I could dig out some soil to expose the concrete better.....I'll call around to see if anyone locally will cut it. I probably can't chisel it myself, and if anyone is going to mess with power tools, prolly a contractor. My son can do just about any DIY himself, but don't ask much (and he keeps on doing nice things for us).
Although steel is tough on a diamond blade, it isn't instant death. I have used mine in reinforced concrete. I have also used a diamond wheel on cast iron pipe. (just because it was tight and a fiber wheel wore down too fast)
HomeOwnersHub website is not affiliated with any of the manufacturers or service providers discussed here.
All logos and trade names are the property of their respective owners.