The Work Of Concrete Contractors

Getting Concrete Into Hard To Reach Areas During Construction Or Renovation Work

1 February 2022

Jeffery Hayes

Pouring a foundation for a new room on your house, adding a patio behind the structure, or getting concrete into an area that the truck is too big to fit in can be a problem during a construction project. Concrete pumping may offer the solution for many of these situations and offers far more control when putting the concrete in the places you or your contractor need it. 

Concrete Pumping

Concrete is thick and hard to move around, so pouring it typically means backing the concrete truck up to the forms and using a chute to guide it where you need it. If you can't get the concrete truck to the spot you need to pour it into, you can use wheelbarrows and move it by hand, but that is time-consuming and extremely labor-intensive. 

A better solution might be to hire a concrete pumping service and have them pump the concrete through a long boom with a series of pipes on it. The boom can be positioned in areas that the truck can get into, but the boom can reach. 

Some concrete pumping services have trucks with booms large enough to reach over a residential house and pour the concrete into the back yard without leaving the street. These trucks require an operator to maneuver the boom and a spotter to tell them how to move it because the operator may not be able to see the boom tip, but if they work together, the boom can be positioned for a precise pour. 

Concrete Mix

If you use a concrete pumping service to move the concrete for your project, you will need a thinner concrete mix that will flow through the boom pipes. When you order the concrete from the premix company, let them know you are pumping the concrete and what you will use it for. 

The premix concrete company can tailor the mix to work for your requirements and ensure the mixture will smoothly flow through the pump truck's system. Creating a wetter or thinner blend is not always enough, and if the mix needs to be specific for some, like a foundation, it still needs to have the strength and durability after it cures. 

It is also vital that the premix company knows you are working with a concrete pumping company so they can coordinate the delivery of the concrete with the arrival of the pumping service. If the concrete pumping service has to sit and wait for the concrete to arrive, it can affect the project's cost. Often, the premix company and the pumping service have worked together in the past, so they understand what each needs, streamlining the process and making the project smoother.  

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