CUTTING

OF CONCRETE
WHAT IS CONCRETE?
CONCRETE is a composite material composed of
coarse aggregate bonded together with a fluid
cement that hardens over time. Most concretes used
are lime-based concretes such as Portland Cement
concrete or concretes made with other hydraulic
cements, such as cement fondu.
However, asphalt concrete, which is frequently
used for road surfaces, is also a type of
concrete, where the cement materials is bitumen.
HOW TO CUT CONCRETE
USING SAW?
CUTTING OF CONCRETE
Cutting concrete is a tough job, it doesn’t
have to be hard. Whether you’re cutting
concrete blocks or slabs, walls or floors, here
are the some easy ways to cut tough
concrete.
4 EASIEST WAY TO CUT
THE CONCRETE
1. LAY OUT THE AREA OF CONCRETE TO BE CUT.
You need to use a chalk line
and box to mark a straight
line on the concrete. This is
the area to be cut.
2. USE A 15-AMP CIRCULAR SAW WITH A DIAMOND OR
ABRASIVE BLADE TO CUT A DEPTH OF 2 INCHES.
• Set the blade depth of your circular saw at 2 inches.
• Begin cutting at the edge of the concrete and slowly
follow the line you have laid out with your chalk line. I
have found keeping the blade wet by pouring water on it
as you cut reduces dust and helps keep the blade cooler.
• This depth of cut will give you a straight edge scoring the
concrete to finish breaking the remaining depth and a
straight edge at the top to tie in with fresh concrete.
3. EMPLOY A GASOLINE OR ELECTRIC POWERED CUT-OFF
SAW TO GET THE JOB DONE WHEN WORKING WITH
CONCRETE DEEPER THAN 4 INCHES.
•The cut-off saw allows you to penetrate to a
depth of 6 inches.
•Most driveways, housing slabs and basement
or concrete retainer walls are in this range.
4. FOLLOW THE SAME STEPS AS YOU DID IN THE USE OF
A CIRCULAR SAW AND IDENTIFY YOUR STARTING POINT.
• Cut the concrete to the correct depth.
• Proceed slowly, maintaining minimum RPM’s of the
cut-off saw. Slow speed allows the saw to keep
from overheating the blade and causing shrapnel-
like pieces to be tossed into the air from a broken
blade.
• If you have helpers, have them keep the chalk line
free of concrete dust made by the saw cut.
TIPS
• This technique is perfect for cutting or scoring
concrete for decorative purposes. In addition, you
will be able to allow standing water to drain from
the concrete more easily.
• You really need two people for this job, yourself
and someone who does not mind getting dirty.
• When working with a gasoline-powered saw,
extend the life of the blade by dripping water on
the cutting edge as you work.
• If you do not own a cut-off saw, you can buy or rent
one from a home improvement store.
WARNINGS!
• When using a cut-off saw, always wear protective gear such
as steel-toed, shoes, shin guards, goggles, a full face shield
and hard hat to protect yourself and heavy duty gloves.
• Use dust mask (respirator).
• Wash off accumulated dust from your body as soon as the job
is done.
• Do not use water on or near an electric saw.
TRIVIA
DID YOU KNOW THAT…?
DID YOU KNOW THAT JOSEPH
ASPDIN INVENTED THE FIRST
CEMENT?
JOSEPH ASPDIN
 FINALLY, IN 1824, AN ENGLISHMAN NAMED
JOSEPH ASPDIN INVENTED FIRST PORTLAND
CEMENT BY BURNING FINELY GROUND CHALK AND
CLAY IN A KILN UNTIL THE CARBON DIOXIDE
REMOVED. IT WAS NAMED “PORTLAND” CEMENT
BECAUSE IT RESEMBLED THAT HIGH-QUALITY
BUILDING STONES FOUND IN PORTLAND,
ENGLAND.
WHAT IS CURING
CONCRETE?
• When concrete is born-when you place fresh
concrete where you want it to live out its life-
it’s like a baby: very sensitive and easily
ruined. If you take good care of it, when it’s
young it will grow up to be strong and reliable
adult; neglect it, and you will be sorry!
•Curing is all of the things that we do to keep
our concrete baby happy during the first
week or so of its life: maintain the proper
temperature (neither too hot nor too cold)
and dampness (I know, most of babies prefer
to be dry-concrete likes being difficult).
• Curing is easy to skip in the instant but that will have a
major impact on the quality of your finished work.
While curing is important for all concrete, the problems
that arise from not curing are more obvious with
horizontal surfaces. An uncured slab, whether
decorative or plain gray, is likely to develop a pattern of
fine cracks (called crazing) and once it’s in use the
surface will have low strength that can result in a
dusting surface that has little resistance to abrasion.
• When most people think of curing, they think only
of maintaining moisture on the surface of the
concrete. But curing is more than that—it is giving
the concrete what it needs to gain strength
properly. Concrete strength depends on the
growth of crystals within the matrix of the
concrete.
METHODS APPLIED IN
CURING SURFACE
CONCRETE
THERE ARE THREE METHODS TO CURE
CONCRETE
• Either we add water to the surface to replace the
water that is evaporating.
• We seal the concrete to prevent the water from
evaporating in the first place.
• We do both.
• Note that adding water to the surface is NOT
adding water that will be worked into the
concrete mix—that would increase the water-
cement ratio of the surface concrete and
weaken it, ruining all our curing efforts.
You need to think about initial curing when the bleed
water is evaporating too rapidly to keep the surface
wet prior to initial set. Traditionally that has been
specified at greater than 0.2 pounds per square foot
per hour. Many mixes today bleed at much lower
rates than this, so if there is less bleed water then the
evaporation limit needs to be set lower—more like
0.05 to 0.1 pounds per square foot per hour.
 The best approach for decorative concrete is to try to
alter conditions so you don’t need to do initial curing: block
the wind, keep the sun off the concrete, get cooler concrete.
If that’s not possible, fogging just enough to keep the surface
damp is possible, but the simplest approach is to use
evaporation retardant. This chemical can be sprayed on to
form a thin membrane on the surface that prevents the
water from evaporating. It completely dissipates during
finishing operations. Keep some of this around for dry windy
conditions.
BUILDING CODES IN
CURING CONCRETE
 WHAT IS
BUILDING CODE?
A Building Code (also building control or building
regulations) is a set of rules that specify the standards
for constructed objects such as buildings and non-
building structures. Buildings must conform to the code to
obtain planning permission, usually from a local council.
The main purpose of building codes is to protect public
health, safety and general welfare. The building code
becomes law of a particular jurisdiction when formally
enacted by the appropriate governmental authority.
WHAT IS BUILDING
CODES IN CURING
CONCRETE?
The “Building Code in Curing Concrete” provides
minimum requirements for the materials, design,
and detailing structural concrete and, where
applicable, non-building structures. This Code
addresses structural systems, members, and
connections, including cast-in-place, precast, plain,
nonprestressed, prestressed, and composite
construction.
SEC 42-152 -- CURING
•When the concrete curb or curb work is
completed, or at the end of each day’s
work, the concrete shall be protected and
cured for at least two days.
CODES – 5.11 CURING
• 5.11.1 - Concrete shall be maintained above 50F and in a
moist condition for at least the first 7 days after
placement.

• 5.11.2 - High-early-strength concrete shall be maintained

above 50F and in a moist condition for at least 3 days.
 5.11.3 – ACCELERATED CURING
• 5.11.3.1 - Curing by high pressure steam, steam at
atmospheric pressure, heat and moisture, or other
accepted processes, shall be permitted to accelerate
strength gain and reduce time of curing.
• 5.11.3.2 - Accelerated curing shall provide a compressive
strength of the concrete at the load stage considered at
least equal to required design strength at that load stage.
• 5.11.3.3 - Curing process shall be such as to
produce concrete with a durability at least
equivalent to the curing method of 5.11.1 or
5.11.2

• 5.11.3.4 - When required by the licensed design

professional, supplementary strength tests shall be
performed to assure that curing is satisfactory.
 R5.11 – CURING AND ACCELERATED CURING
• The provisions of this section apply whenever an accelerate
curing method is used, whether for precast or cast-in-place
elements. The compressive strength of steam-cured concrete
is not as high as that of similar concrete continuously cured
under moist conditions at moderate temperatures.
• Accelerated Curing procedures require careful attention to
obtain uniform and satisfactory results. Preventing moisture
loss during the curing is essential.
TOOLS AND
MATERIALS IN
MASONRY
One of the great things about doing masonry
work—aside from the pleasure of seeing a fantastic
job well done—is that its tools and materials are
basic, inexpensive, and easy to understand. As befits
a trade that has been in existence since the days of
Ancient Egypt, masonry deals with some common
elements as crush stone from the earth and simple
metal tools.
MASONRY BASIC
TOOLS
MARGIN TROWEL
A margin trowel is a long, thin trowel used for
heaping small amounts of mortar on stone and
spreading it. Margin trowel are used specially when
dealing with narrow masonry units such as
manufactured stone veneer, in order to avoid
lapping excess mortar over the sides of the veneer
units.
V OR SQUARE-NOTCH TROWEL
The workhorse of masonry work, this trowel is large and
has two sides that are notched. These notches can either
be square or v-shaped, and they act essentially as a
metered system for dispensing mortar across a flat surface
such as cement board.
COLD CHISEL
A cold chisel has a wide, flat head that is perfectly
designed to slicing bricks or veneer stone in half
with a blow from a hammer. It also has a myriad of
other uses, such as chipping away excess mortar or
removing a single brick from a brick wall.
MASONRY MATERIALS
VENEER MORTAR
Veneer mortar is a specialized type of a mortar that
is enrich with polymers to help the veneer masonry
units stick to vertical surfaces. As this mortar can be
quiet expensive, use this material only for veneer
stones, and be sure to mix it sparingly in small
batches.
PORTLAND CEMENT
Portland Cement consist of lime, silica, alumina, iron
and gypsum. Portland cement comes in 50 and 100
pounds bag.
AGGREGATE
Aggregate is composed of sand or sometimes
gravel.
MORTAR
Mortar is the mixture that you used to get the
masonry units to stick together.
GROUT
Grout is a mixture of Portland cement and some
sand. Grout fills the seams between the masonry
units.
CONCRETE
Concrete is a mixture of Portland cement, sand
and gravel.
REBAR
Reinforcing bars or rebar are steel bars that are
added and embedded throughout masonry to
increase its strength.
MASONRY OR MASONRY UNITS
The masonry units is ach individual brick or
block.
PREPARED BY:
RYAN CHRISTIAN J. JUSAY

THAT’S ALL, THANK YOU!