Insight on All Fronts.

General Chipping has proudly been keeping companies moving forward with quality concrete chipping services since 2007. Even so, because our industry is so specialized, folks tend to get confused about what exactly we do (and why we do it). Here is a brief overview of this important ongoing maintenance.

• What Concrete Chipping is: Concrete chipping refers to the act of physically entering your redi mix truck drum, or reaching inside your central mixers, and using handheld jackhammers to chip away the caked-on material dried along the walls. Traditional concrete chipping appointments take place during 12-hour overnight shifts.
  
  
• Why Concrete Chipping is Important: Hardened concrete along your drum walls can add excessive weight to the equipment upon which you rely. Not only can that weight throw off your drum’s rotation, but it can lead to lags — or full-on breakdowns — that slow productivity to a crawl and hurt your company’s bottom line. Our Concrete Chipping: 101 video offers a great explanation of the ins and outs.
  
  
• How to Tackle Concrete Chipping Work: Concrete chipping is a dangerous undertaking that has the potential to result in injury, equipment damage and death. (In fact, Mike Rowe of TV’s “Dirty Jobs” dubbed it the most difficult work he took on during the show’s run.) Put simply, the work should be left to the professionals. We recommend hiring a reputable concrete chipping company to carry out your drum chipping appointments on three-month increments. Oftentimes such companies can schedule a full year’s worth of chipping appointments at once. Of course, there are measures you can take between chipping appointments to keep buildup to a minimum — and your drums working well. Consider incorporating a chemical cement mixer drum cleaner into your upkeep practices. Measures to clear your drums of as much material as possible during a pour — and to tend to the drum’s exterior, too — can also make a difference.

Have additional questions about what goes into the concrete chipping process? Or ready to book an appointment? Feel free to contact the General Chipping team. Our crew is happy to help!

Although the concrete chipping work that protects your drums, silos and mixers is important, there’s a different type of “chipping concrete” that also matters to industry pros. Namely, the aesthetic issues that can turn pristine pours into eyesores. Here are a few common concrete problems — and the causes behind them.

• Spalling: Spalling occurs when chunks of concrete break off and fall to the ground, and it ranks among the most dangerous of concrete issues. Spalling typically occurs when reinforcement bars meet moisture and become rusted, leading to delamination inside the concrete or cracks that run from the bar to the outside of the concrete.
  
  
• Cracking: Cracking is a natural byproduct of concrete wear and tear, and in many cases does not pose a threat. Cracking can occur due to shrinkage associated with having too much water in your blend. On the flip side, concrete with too little water can also lead to surface-level “crazing cracks”.
  
  
• Scaling/Flaking: Concrete flaking off at the surface level doesn’t typically pose a threat to safety, unless it creates a trip hazard at the ground level. This issue is a tell-tale sign that the material wasn’t mixed or installed properly to begin with. Flaking or scaling can happen when water inside the mix wasn’t allowed the chance to properly evaporate before finishing — or when multiple freezes and thaws throughout a season put the material under stress for which it was not prepared.

Interested in learning more about the above concrete issues? We’ve written an entire blog post about them. Remember, cracks, flaking and related concrete issues can pose tremendous safety and structural threats. We recommend having a trained professional step in for an evaluation if you spot potential trouble.