I'm a woman and do a lot of my own home remodel/repair work... sooooo, How's the best way to cut a long thin trench into a concrete floor that has rebar? Got a kennel and want to install a trench drain in an existing floor. The cut will be about 25ft long and about 8-10in wide. What's the different ways a homeowner can use to complete the task? (Mind you I'll have to rent the tools).
There are saws that us abrasive wheels that will do the job. Should be able to rent one and buy the blade.
You may also want to call a concrete cutting specialist. I've used them twice and the price was reasonable and it was done quickly. Most will give you a price on the phone. Remember, you have 50 feet of cutting to do to make a 25' long trench.
Re-bar or wire mesh ?
Cutoff saw with a diamond blade. It will go right through it. They may make you buy the blade tho. You can also do it with a carborundum blade but it will go a lot slower
If you own a typical 7.25 inch circular saw, I have personally used these Skil brand diamond blades to cut reinforced concrete.
It will be far less expensive for you to buy this blade and an A/C powered circular saw then it will be for you to rent a specialty concrete cutting saw.
My best advice is to make several shallow cuts until you reach the desired depth, advance the saw slowly and wear hearing and vision protection.
The desired depth will be a couple inches less than the maximum depth possible with a 7.25" blade. If you make the cuts on both sides and start digging the dirt out from the edge, the concrete will be easy to break sitting over the cavity you make. You dig several inches out, under the part you are removing and hit the concrete with a big hammer. It actually goes faster than it sounds if you have 2 guys working. Use a narrow trench shovel.
Did I miss something? How do you know the thickness of the concrete she is cutting? Are you speculating?
Probably won't cut deep enough. A concrete saw (rented) will AND you can stand up while you cut :)
If the slab most common in a home has post tensioned cables inside, thats a severe safety issue. my brother had this come up in his home, a below slab water line broke,
he had to have his slab x rayed to avoid hitting any cables.
i doubt this is a issue for the OP but might be a issue for someone else
Yikes It would never occur to me that residential 1&2 would do this. Of the 2 states I have lived and built in, you are lucky to see steel although Florida is better than Maryland was. It is still just going to be wire mesh or rebar. In the 70s in Md, rebar in the footer was not even that common.
Here's a " Learn something new every day " moment, for me. I had no idea that this was ever used in homes ! Is it used for certain special cases ? like no proper footings or architectural design .. or something ?
John T.
Oren posted for all of us...
Never heard of it in residential either. I'll be gol danged. I bet that jumps the price up.
They just do mono slab here (or slab over stem wall). There is a 16" deep (total) ring around the house with 2 #5s in it and a 4" slab across the floor with 6 over wire in it. If the ground was properly compacted, that ends up being plenty stable. I have terrazzo over than and there are no cracks here after 53 years. The stucco over plywood is far more troubling, particularly around penetrations like windows and doors. A couple companies in Atlanta got their ass sued off over that. Here it is usually stucco over block. By the time you buy all of the hurricane clips for stick built, block ends up cheaper or at least comparable. You basically have to clip every joint where the sticks meet on every load bearing wall and post and anchor that to the footer. In block construction you just dowel the cells every 4' and pour them solid, then you pour a tie beam on top (with 4 #5s) and embed clips for the trusses. It goes a lot faster. The 2400 sq foot house they are building around the corner went from pouring the slab to truss in less than 2 weeks. They lost some days for concrete set and inspections too. The block crew was at tie beam in a day after the slab set.
She said the width she wants.
Why are some houses made with a foundation throughout? Here they're just foundation under the walls. The floor is wooden, 2 feet above the ground, which means you can get under easily to run cables and pipes.
Here the minimum code is 1 meter crawl space, crawl space floor must be 101.6 mm concrete, exterior footings must be sitting on undisturbed soil below frost line.
What is the point of the concrete where there isn't a wall on it? You don't need it in the middle of the house.
And 1 metre?! You must have a lot of steps to get into your house.
They build a lot of slab on grade houses here. Even when they are on a stem wall, they generally fill the box and pour a slab. It may be termites. If they get loose in a wood floor you might end up dropping into the crawlspace.
If you are stuccoing, ICF is the way to go. Great in Hurricaine country too.
ICF (insulating concrete forms) are good everywhere. Energy savings, termite proof, quiet, etc. Good in tornado area too. They can be finished in any ways, not just stucco.
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