Eastern Power Equipment 

285 Route 9  PO Box 97  Barrington, NH 03825

Phone 603/664-7776  | Toll Free 866/664-7776 | Fax 603/664-7420  | email chuck@easternpowerequipment.com

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Concrete work made easy with the right rented equipment

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Why buy when you can rent on an as-needed basis
There's no need to purchase specialized equipment and store it for long periods between use. Rent the right equipment for special concrete jobs from your A.R.A.-affiliated rental house. One visit with your rental professional will give you insight about how rental equipment can increase your job opportunities.

Site Preparation
You already may be renting the basic skid-steer loader with a bucket as an all-around workhorse on concrete jobs. And you've probably discovered the values of renting generators, compressors and pumps. Look beyond these common rental items to find lots of specialty skid-steer attachments and tools for rent that can help simplify the preparation process. For example:

• Augers can dig footings.
• Breakers can expedite concrete removal.
• Special attachments can carry and place concrete in tight areas.
• Detectors can sense ferrous and non-ferrous metals underground. Use these tools to locate rebar, metal, joists and pipes that may be present under the site. Some are powerful enough to sense objects through a half-foot of solid concrete.
• Hammers, breakers and jackhammers, whether hydraulically or air-powered, chip away old concrete. They're also great for refinishing work. Types include large, hand-held, pneumatic jackhammers, rivet busters and smaller chipping hammers.
• Saws range from bench-mounted tile saws - also used to cut marble, granite and brick pavers - to large push-type concrete saws. Hand-held, cut-off modes are designed for fast cutting of concrete, brick, stone, asphalt, steel and other construction materials. For larger tasks, there are wet-and dry-cut saws, used on cured concrete for refinish tasks.
• Light ground compaction equipment is great for producing a smooth, level ground surface before pouring and leveling begins. Such equipment for rent includes tampers/rammers, plate compactors, vibratory plates, reversible plates, walk-behind rollers and trench compactors.
• To smooth the surface by compacting sand, gravel and mixed soil before concrete is poured, most contractors prefer tampers/rammers, small units that deliver up to 700 blows-per-minute at around 3,000 pounds per blow.
• Type of soil under the concrete, or sub-base, will determine the best type of ground compactors for the job. Work with your A.R.A.-affiliated rental professional to determine soil type beforehand so the right compactor is used:
• Rammers are primarily for use on cohesive soil that contains a lot of clay or silt.
• Plate compactors are best on granular soils that contain sand or stones.
• Rule of thumb: Use the largest machine possible. For example, if you're tamping down a trench prior to pouring a footing, choose the widest rammer to get the job done efficiently. The same rule holds on slabs - larger rollers are more productive than smaller ones.
• After the sand or crushed gravel is placed, use a plate compactor and smooth drum-style roller to produce a drainable, granular sub-base.
• Forward-only plate compactors are good for slab work.
• Reversible plate compactors are ideal for trench applications, compaction of backfill along foundations and surface compaction.
• Larger areas require larger, walk-behind or rider-style rollers, available in padfoot (or sheepsfoot) and smooth-drum styles.

Pouring or Paving
When the site is compacted and the forms placed, you're ready to place the concrete. Whether it's poured, pumped or dumped into place from a power buggy or other container, the equipment to do the job is for rent at your A.R.A.-affiliated rental house.

• Power buggy rentals are becoming increasingly popular for paving jobs. They come in walk-behind, stand-on or sit-down versions. They're great for:
• Shuttling materials when placing concrete
• Moving concrete to areas where pumps can't reach and trucks can't go
• Jobsite cleanup
• Transporting other materials around the site
• Use a mixer to ensure the right mix. It's the water that makes fresh concrete workable, and it also chemically binds the dry elements - sand, aggregate (crushed stone or gravel) and Portland cement - together to make concrete. It has to be made workable enough to flow into the shape of the casting form, which can be anything from an ornate column to a plain floor slab. There are two types of power mixers:
• Mortar - best for plaster and fireproofing material
• Concrete - best for concrete - ranges in size from 2-to-12 cubic-foot models and larger
• Concrete is poured into the form from a mixer truck's chute, a hopper or by concrete pump. Spreaders, rakes and tampers are great to push the concrete to the edge of the form before screeding.
• While pipe, wood, block or metal concrete forms are typically owned by contractors, curb builders and other specialty forms are for rent. Forms now are available to create patio blocks in a wide range of styles, textures and colors.
• When the concrete is poured and floated, use vibrators to remove any air pockets. Insert the vibrator into the mix quickly and remove it slowly - about 1-inch per second. When properly vibrated, you'll achieve the desired smooth, waxy appearance, and all concrete will better meet the edge of the forms because vibrating makes the concrete more "plastic," allowing it to flow better. Take precautions not to touch the forms or rebar with the vibrator.
• Screeds are labor-saving devices for rent for screeding or "striking-off." These are superior where critical flatness is necessary. While typically owned by concrete contractors, these rentals are handy for general contractors who don't own the equipment. They can be assembled in sections, from 4-to-30-feet long, to form various lengths, including flats, crowns and valleys.
• For the most level finish, power screeds provide even, deep and intense vibration into the concrete in less time. They embed aggregates in the surface and reduce air pockets for a strong, dense slab.
• Some new, high-end screeds employ lasers for even more critical leveling accuracy.
• Magnesium screeds can do the floating, screeding and vibrating al in one pass, with two or three workers instead of the five or so it would take to do all the tasks by hand.
• They can cut and roll the concrete in front of the edge for a much flatter slab and higher compression strength due to elimination of air trapped in the concrete.
• Many screeds can be pulled along the form or ridden on the slab itself.
• Power screeds use gasoline engines, compressed air or electric motors for vibrating action. Engines are often preferred because there is no hose or cord to worry about, but they are usually not suitable for indoor use.
• Rental screeds usually come equipped with a spray-on release agent that prevents wet concrete from sticking, making cleanup easier.
• To level even more after screeding, a bull float made of magnesium or wood, a darby or hand float, or even a board or hand trowel can do the work. Rental power floats and power trowels can be especially useful on larger jobs. They expedite the filling process in low spots and level down ridges from the strike-off operations.
• You can determine just the right time for troweling once the concrete has set to a proper consistency - it should have no "bleed" water present, a crusty surface and about 1/8-inch indentation when stepped on.
• The above step embeds any coarse aggregate missed by the screed or float, opens the surface and smoothes any humps or valleys
• Any time the job reaches 4,000 square feet or above, a ride-on power trowel is appropriate. It will save time and labor.
• After a few floating passes with a power trowel, the pitch of the blades can be changed for finishing passes that to smooth and seal the surface.

Finishing/Refinishing
A complete concrete job often requires an application of a final finish coat for increased curablity and to minimize concrete dust. One reason is that concrete never completely "cures" but always contains some moisture. All concrete must be prepared properly before a coating is applied. It should be done at least three months after the concrete has been poured.

Floors are coated because of "laitance" - an accumulation of the fine particles on the surface of fresh concrete due to an upward movement of water. The laitance becomes dust as it wears away.

Before you properly coat a floor, prepare the surface by removing this fragile layer of laitance, which also opens the pores of the concrete. This allows the coating to adhere properly to the surface.

There are many types of rental machines available to clean a surface, depending on needs. For example:

• Portable shot-blasting equipment, along with scraping and grinding machines that use stones and grinding wheels help prepare surfaces. These machines use vacuums for dust-free operation.
• Large ride-on machines with blades can scrape off carpet, parquet and tile.
• Coating and topping applicators apply urethane and other finishes.

Refinishing
When a concrete job doesn't turn out right, there's usually no need to start from scratch by tearing out a newly poured slab. A number of machines and techniques are available to aid in surface preparation. You can:

• Rent a grinder to remove about 1/16-inch of concrete at a time.
• A planer can rough up the surface so that a self-leveling coating can be used to fill in low spots.
• Chipping and breaking hammers are great when a job has to be repoured.
• Surface and floor planer mills correct misaligned sidewalks and joints, remove thermoplastic markings and clean surfaces. Different flail options texture or clean the surface.
• Larger surface-grinder versions can clean, grind and scarify.
• Floor grinders grind, clean, smooth and level concrete surfaces and uneven areas quickly and efficiently.
• A crack saw follows irregular patterns in concrete surfaces. It uses dry-cut diamond blades to produce smooth-sided cuts, which prepares surfaces for proper filling with crack repair products or joint sealers.