Concrete chipping is all about freeing your ready mix truck drums of unwanted weight and keeping them at maximum carrying capacity. Remember, your drums bear the weight of each and every concrete pour your crew takes part in. We like to explain things in terms of
a water bottled turned on its side. Just as a bit of water will remain inside that bottle no matter how hard you work to get it out, the same thing happens with concrete around your drum’s walls. As time progresses, accumulated material weighs your truck down, throws off its balance and
leads to other costly issues. (It can even
affect your concrete blends.) The easiest way to stop trouble in its tracks is to hire a professional concrete chipping company to perform maintenance on three-month intervals.
The goal of any concrete chipping appointment is to keep your redi mix drums, central mixers and cement storage silos healthy and working in tandem. As such, companies such as General Chipping typically carry out ready mix drum chipping, central mixer cleaning and cement silo cleaning services during a single appointment. Here’s how that work plays out:
- Concrete Chipping: Using handheld jackhammers, crews physically enter your ready-mix truck drums to remove hardened material that has dried along the walls. This improves your carrying capacity and helps ward off mechanical issues which can lead to costly slowdowns, repairs and replacements.
- Silo Cleaning: Members of your chosen company’s silo cleaning crew are lowered down into your cement storage silos. Once inside, they remove clumps and clogs that slow the release of your cement — and can hold up your projects. Those clogs are ushered out the bottom of the silo.
NOTE: Because added moisture tends to result in clumps and clogs, silo cleaning services are especially important in humid areas such as Kentucky. - Central Mixer Cleaning: Similar to concrete chipping services, central mixer cleaning involves crew members reaching inside your team’s mixer to remove hardened material from drum walls. This results in a healthier mixer capable of holding more material than before.
As with any business, every concrete chipping company out there carries out the work in its own unique way. It’s important to make sure you’re trusting your expensive equipment (and valuable fleet) to someone you can trust. Here are a few helpful tips:
- Hire a Concrete Chipping Company That’s Willing to Work with You: No other company is exactly like yours — and no concrete chipping job will be quite like yours, either. Think through any issues that might require a bit of added thought, and keep your potential chipping crews clued in. Are there noise ordinances that govern when such work can — and can’t — take place? Does any of your equipment require added TLC? Is accessibility an issue? Make any such issues known to your chipping crew before you hire them on. Most folks will be willing to work with you to meet those needs. At General Chipping, for instance, although most of our concrete chipping appointments take place during overnight 12-hour shifts, we frequently take on “off-hours” work to accommodate customer schedules.
- Hire a Concrete Chipping Crew with a Solid Reputation: One of the best resources you have at your disposal is the ability to talk with friends and colleagues in your business. We encourage folks to ask around about others’ experiences when it comes to concrete chipping work. Who have they done business with in the past? How did it go? Would they hire them again? Chances are whatever type of experience they had with a particular company is indicative of that company’s usual performance. From there, go online. Seek out reviews, check out Better Business Bureau (BBB) rankings and see what else is out there. Such research speaks volumes — and it takes little to no time to complete.
- Hire Concrete Chippers Who Have Their Licenses in Order: It might stand to reason that every concrete chipping company has the right certifications in place, but it isn’t always so. There are actually quite a few people carrying out such work with no license at all. And, although it might not seem like too big an issue, it can actually lead to added headaches on your part. You see, if an unlicensed crew causes damage to your equipment, you could be left footing costly repair and replacement bills. Before deciding on any concrete chipping crew, ask to see proof of their certifications, and also about continuing education requirements they have in place for their crew.
While specific timeframes will vary based on your specific ready mix trucks, how much work your crew carries out — and even your concrete blends, experts recommend booking chipping appointments every three months. While you’re at it, book cement silo cleaning services at the same time, so you can ensure all of your equipment is happy and healthy.
