There are a range of concrete cutters on the market including hand-held cutters, road saws, wall saws and floor saws.
Concrete cutting machines are generally equipped with a diamond blade, with options for wet or dry cutting, or sometimes masonry blades are used. Diamond blades are the most popular for concrete cutting due to the durability of the product. These blades typically have rectangular teeth that have diamond crystals embedded throughout for cutting through hard materials like concrete, asphalt or stone.
Of course, there is always the option of using a jackhammer to remove the concrete from your project but this won't be as easy as concrete cutting. Jackhammers can cause stress fractures in areas of the concrete that you want to keep, so they aren't an ideal choice when you are looking to remove a particular piece of concrete.
Hand-held concrete cutters are ideal for use on smaller residential construction sites as they don't have the capacity to cut as deep as machines like road saws. Road saws are built for larger scale concrete removal. They tend to be big walk-behind machines that are self-propelled. They have one large diamond tipped saw blade and often feature cutting control technology to ensure straight, fast and easy cutting. These machines can cut to significant depths, but can be on the more expensive side.
If you need to cut through concrete walls, then the wall saw is the machine for you. A wall saw features a circular blade on a track-mounted machine which attaches to the concrete so that vertical cutting can be achieved. Wall sawing is ideal for precise cutting like when creating window, door or vent openings.
It's important to mention that only trained operators should use large-scale concrete cutting machines like road saws or wall saws, as they are more complex and have more power than the hand-held varieties. It's also important that proper care is taken when operating any concrete cutting machinery. A hard hat, safety goggles, gloves, steel cap boots and ear protection should always be worn during operation.
