This is my guide to concrete. Concrete may not seem like a very sexy subject to write about but I hope that by the time you reach the end of this blog, you will have been inspired to use concrete to improve your home. Concrete isn't just for driveways and walls. You can use concrete in a lot of pretty creative ways around your home. I discovered this when I hired a team of concrete contractors. They were really great guys and while they were completing work around my home they taught me lots of cool things about working with concrete. I hope you enjoy this blog!
If you're managing a construction job for a small business, you may have heard of concrete pumping and wondered if it's worth it for your project. Rather than using wheelbarrows and buckets, the concrete is mechanically pumped through pipes or a shute to where it needs to go. The construction will be quicker and require less manual labour. And it will typically be safer as the equipment reaches the difficult areas and people don't have to do so many manual tasks.
Here are two general types of commercial concrete pumping.
Line Concrete Pumping
Line concrete pumping delivers the concrete to its destination via steel pipes or flexible tubes. The pump itself may be on a trailer that is delivered to the site, and the line of pipes is set up to extend along the ground. The advantage of this method of delivering concrete is that the pipes aren't bulky, and they can be connected to form lines of different lengths that can turn corners. They can thus extend through tight spaces that may not be wide enough for a vehicle.
If your construction site is hard to access, then line pumping may be ideal. Say, for instance, you're redoing an outdoor cafe courtyard with the only access being a narrow walkway beside the building. In that situation, the pump could be set up on a nearby street and the lines fed to the courtyard.
Boom Concrete Pumping
While line pumping is done at ground level, and a pipe is set up to deliver the concrete to the right spot, boom pumping takes a different route—it goes vertical. The pump is often on a truck or semi-trailer. From here, the concrete is churned and fed into a chute attached to a remotely controlled mechanical arm.
While this method is typically used for large projects, it can also be useful for smaller ones. The robotic arm can extend to the upper stories of a highrise building, for example, to deliver concrete. In the past, buckets and a crane might be used, which is slower and more labour-intensive.
Boom pumping can deliver a lot of cement quickly, making it perfect for large outdoor public paving installations. Because the mechanical arm can move around to deliver the concrete precisely to the right area, the concrete doesn't need to be watered down to make it easier to disperse. Thus, boom pumping delivers high-quality concrete.
Boom pumps can also be used for smaller construction projects in hard-to-reach spots. If you wanted to pour concrete into a cramped outdoor cafe, the mechanical arm could reach over the nearby buildings to deliver the cement.
Share11 April 2023
