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I have a 5 foot wide concrete side-walk running next to my house. I want to cut a 2 inch groove from the wall to the yard in order to run a PVC irrigation pipe from the faucet on the wall to the trees. The primary question is:

What is the easiest way to cut that groove into the side-walk? (i.e. what tool will I need and how do I use it?)

Other questions:

Can you think of a better way to run irrigation from the faucet (that you see further down the wall) into the garden?

What other problems am I going to run into and how can they be avoided?

enter image description here

Guy
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  • Do you want to cut all the way through, or just enough to get the pipe below the surface? I recommend going below the slab a bit. Usual depth is approx 12", although it could be less. – Jack Sep 22 '15 at 07:02
  • FYI, In many jurisdictions running irrigation right from a faucet is illegal. – whatsisname Sep 22 '15 at 16:59
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    Make sure to use a backfeed preventer between your irrigation system and your faucet. – sww1235 Sep 23 '15 at 06:29

3 Answers3

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I'd try to go through the slab and then below it. Most slabs are 6" thick with gravel underneath.

You can rent a concrete core drill for around $60 from home depot. Stick a hole in your slab.

Then you can use something called a 'sidewalk sleever' to tunnel under the slab. Then install pipe (a little tricky due to the elbow, and fill your hole back up with gravel.

The end result will be much prettier and do less damage to your slab.

gbronner
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    Kudos to that, I could not think of the items that would do the trick that the OP could get to go about the way you described. The OP would need a hole big enough to get the elbow through too, using duct tape to keep the dirt out or use rigid irrigation line with out the sleeve, then go with flex line to the faucet. – Jack Sep 23 '15 at 01:10
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You will need a concrete saw that has about a 12 or 14" diamond blade to cut all the way through the slab. These are a rental item. Ask the guy at the counter what would be the size of blade you need to cut it. These type of saws can have water feed to the blade so the blade stays cool, which is a safer way to cut, and practically eliminates all the dust generated by the cutting, safer still.

Jack
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To cut the Cement is really easy. just use a grinder with a diamond blade. it will ease through the cement. Just watch out for possible pipes. (easy to rent)

enter image description here

You can just run two straight lines on each side of the cut. when done get a large hammer and chisel and break the center cement away. should take no more than an hour.

When you are done, you can get a premix cement and fill up.

The only problem you will have is cracking (on such a neat cut) I am not in an ice/snow country so I dont know how cold conditions will affect your slab, you need to look into that. However I would chip away a few chunks off the clean cut face to ensure the new cement gets some bite!

Hightower
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