Cutting Lines In Concrete Driveway

If of your slab s thickness doesn t reach 1 make sure you still cut at least a 1 depth.

Cutting lines in concrete driveway.

A good rule of thumb is to make your cut the thickness of your concrete. These joints should be cut in a quarter of the depth of the concrete slab during the very beginning of the curing process within 24 hours of the initial pour. Don t force a blade into a cut. You ll ideally run a trickle of water.

The joints can also be installed as soon as the concrete hardens by using a diamond saw that cuts the line. If you re using water cutting equipment make sure that the water is running all the way down to the blade. Make sure you are cutting joints soon enough. In hot weather concrete might crack if joints are not cut within 6 12 hours after finishing concrete.

If your cut doesn t need to be exact use a cold chisel and hand sledge to cut the concrete. Step 2 place the tip of a walk behind concrete saw blade over the center of one line. Score the length of the cut three or four times with the chisel. Lift the line simultaneously from each end and slap it to the ground.

Once you ve laid out the joints to be cut mark them using a chalk line. Mark the places you want to cut on the concrete slab either using chalk line good for long straight edges or chalk. Using a metal jointing tool the. Designate the area of finished concrete to be cut using chalk lines.

The outside lines indicate where the concrete should be cut. In this condition if you don t want to use a grooving tool to cut joints there are early entry dry cut lightweight sawsthat can be used almost immediately after finishing. Professionals who install concrete driveways install crisp tooled lines in the slabs. How to saw cut concrete.

The lines act as pre weakened stress points that encourage the concrete to crack at these locations. Get a friend to hold one end while you hold the other and run the line over the region to be cut. When you are looking for saws to do relief cuts make sure that it is a down cut. One thing to be aware of before we go further.

Apply the line as thick as possible. When you re cutting concrete that is already poured and finished use a chalk line to mark the region. What kind of saw to use. Measure to the left and to the right of the chalk line 2 inches and snap two additional chalk lines.