Concrete cutting in Springdale AR - clean, straight cuts right where you need them

Across the US, professional saw cutting of concrete slabs usually runs about $4 to $15 per linear foot. Reinforced or deeper slabs cost more per foot than shallow ones that are easy to reach, and round holes for pipes and drains are core drilled and priced apart from saw cuts. On a small wall-cutting job, a shop's minimum or mobilization charge, the fee to bring the crew and saw out, can matter more than the per-foot rate, so I'll give you the number for your own cuts when I come look.

Use a hydraulic or air-powered saw, not a gasoline one, because a gas saw fills an enclosed room with carbon monoxide. Federal workplace safety records include workers who died running a gas-powered wet concrete saw in a basement, and the recommendation for enclosed spaces is hydraulic or pneumatic equipment. Ask any cutter what saw they plan to run indoors before they set up.

An engineer does. Cutting into a bearing wall, one that holds up the house, or a shear wall, one that keeps it from racking sideways, changes how that wall carries the load, so the size of the opening, where it goes and any new beam or frame over it are the engineer's call. We cut to that plan and don't start without it.

You get a curb cut permit from the City of Springdale Engineering Department, which reviews a drawing or a detailed written description of the curb cut or driveway before approving it. The department inspects once the forms, the wood edges that shape the pour, are set and before the pour, then again after the concrete is poured, though a property that already holds a Springdale Building Department permit for new construction needs no separate curb cut permit or cash bond from Engineering. When a job needs a permit, we check what the city wants, take care of the paperwork, book the inspections and keep you posted.

We vacuum it up or contain it as we go, so it doesn't run down the driveway and into the street. Most saw cutting runs wet, which keeps the dust down but turns the cuttings into a gray slurry, and Springdale doesn't allow anything but clean stormwater into its storm drains, with sediment named among what it keeps out. Dry cutting with a vacuum on the saw is the other way to go, and either way it's fair to ask a cutter how they'll handle cleanup indoors or near a drain.

Arkansas's home improvement license comes in two kinds, a Limited license that covers only residential projects under $50,000, labor and material included, and an Unlimited license that covers projects of any size. A job that pairs cutting with new concrete can add up, so it's worth asking which one a contractor holds. We're licensed and fully insured.