Need to cut through concrete that’s too thick for a normal saw?
If you’ve got a concrete section that’s too thick, too heavily reinforced or too awkward for a standard wall saw or floor saw to handle, wire sawing is almost certainly the answer. Diamond Drilling UK has been providing wire sawing services across London and the South East for over twenty years from our base in Hastings, and it’s the technique we reach for when other cutting methods simply can’t do the job.
A wire saw uses a continuous loop of cable studded with diamond beads. The cable is fed around the concrete and pulled through under tension, cutting it cleanly with minimal vibration and almost no impact on the surrounding structure. Because the cable is flexible, there’s effectively no limit on the thickness of concrete we can cut — we can slice through walls, columns, bridge supports and foundations of any depth.
What kind of jobs is wire sawing used for?
Most of the wire sawing work we’re called out for falls into one of these categories:
Cutting up bridge supports, abutments and piers
When a bridge is being widened, replaced or removed, the existing reinforced concrete supports often need to come down in controlled sections. Wire sawing lets us cut a pier or abutment into manageable blocks that can be lifted out, with no percussive impact on the rest of the structure or on any live road or rail beneath.
Removing machine bases and heavy foundations
Factory relocations, plant decommissioning and warehouse refits often involve removing concrete machine bases that are a metre or more thick and packed with rebar. A floor saw won’t reach the depth and breaking it out with a pecker would take days. Wire sawing cuts the base into sections that can be craned out cleanly.
Slicing through thick basement and retaining walls
Basement extensions, conversions and new openings in retaining walls often need cuts through concrete that’s 600mm, 800mm or more in thickness. Wire sawing handles that depth in a single operation and leaves a clean, square face ready for the next stage of the build.
Cutting concrete in tight or restricted access
Because the wire only needs a small entry point at each end, we can rig a wire saw in spaces where a tracked machine simply won’t fit — basements, plant rooms, lift pits, vaults and confined cellars.
Removing swimming pools and concrete tanks
Old swimming pools, water tanks and sumps often have to be cut up before removal. Wire sawing reduces them to liftable sections without the noise and dust of breaking.
Why choose wire sawing over other methods?
Wire sawing produces almost no vibration, which means it can be used right next to occupied buildings, sensitive equipment, fragile finishes or live services without causing damage. It’s water-cooled, so dust is suppressed at source. Cut quality is exceptionally clean — usually clean enough that no further finishing is needed. And there’s no theoretical limit on thickness, which is what really sets it apart from every other cutting technique.
Who calls us for wire sawing?
Most of our wire sawing work is for main contractors, demolition companies, structural engineers and groundworks contractors handling commercial, civil or industrial projects. We also take on residential work where a project calls for it — typically larger basement conversions, swimming pool removals or substantial structural alterations in older properties.
Get a quote for wire sawing
Call Diamond Drilling UK to discuss your project. We’ll talk through the scope, visit site if it helps, and provide a clear quotation. We work across London, Kent, East Sussex, Surrey and Essex with a fast response time from our Hastings base.