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Your Guide to Concrete Equipment: Uses and Best Practices

Your Guide to Concrete Equipment: Uses and Best Practices

Concrete plays an indispensable role in modern construction, and having the right equipment can make or break your project’s timeline and success. Whether you're laying foundations, constructing in tight, urban areas, or operating in remote locations, concrete equipment is essential for efficient and quality work.

Utranazz, the UK’s leading supplier of concrete equipment, offers an extensive range of concrete equipment, ensuring you have the right tools for every job. This guide will walk you through the types of concrete equipment available, their uses, and best practices for maximising productivity and safety.

1. Types of Concrete Equipment

Concrete Mixers

Concrete mixers are at the heart of every construction project. Utranazz provides an extensive range or concrete mixers from leading brands. Furthermore, we have a few types of concrete mixers available as new or used:

  • Volumetric Concrete Mixers: These mixers allow for precise, on-site mixing of concrete, making them ideal for projects that demand flexibility. A volumetric concrete mixer is a mobile truck mixer combined with a batching plant, where all of the raw components of concrete are stored in separate compartments and then metered and mixed into fresh concrete when required. As a result, there is no costly material waste because the unmixed product has an endless shelf life.
  • Rough Terrain Concrete Mixers: Designed for projects in difficult-to-access areas, these mixers are essential for sites with challenging terrain. The self-loading feature enables operators to mix and transport concrete with minimal labour. As they can be driven directly to the worksite, these mixers are an excellent choice for remote or off-road projects?
  • Standard Truck Concrete Mixers: For larger projects with stable site access, traditional truck concrete mixers are used to deliver pre-mixed concrete. Utranazz’s fleet of standard mixers is perfect for high-volume tasks, such as road construction or large building projects?

Related: An In-Depth Look at Concrete Mixer Machines: Types and Applications

Concrete Pumps

Concrete pumps are essential for transporting and placing concrete in locations that are hard to reach or when a large volume of concrete needs to be moved quickly.

  • Truck-Mounted Concrete Pumps: These concrete pumps are mounted on trucks and are equipped with articulated booms, making them ideal for placing concrete across high or awkward areas, such as multi-story buildings. Utranazz offers a wide variety of truck-mounted concrete pumps with boom lengths ranging from 20 to 65 meters. This makes them a versatile solution for both small-scale residential projects and large-scale commercial developments?
  • Truck-Mounted Concrete Line Pumps: Mounted on a 7.5ton - 12ton gvw cab/chassis, they offer an affordable alternative to larger Truck Mounted Concrete Pumps. When working on tight city-centre sites, concrete line pumps are invaluable. These pumps are compact yet powerful, easy to manoeuvre and capable of delivering concrete over long distances and even around obstacles?.
  • Static / Trailer-Mounted Concrete Pumps: Static and trailer-mounted concrete pumps are compact and are an excellent solution when continuous concrete delivery over long distances is required. With outputs ranging from 30m³ to 120m³ per hour, and diesel or electric versions, these pumps are designed for flexibility in both small and large projects.

Related: Our Concrete Pumps

Batching Plants

Concrete batching plants are used to prepare concrete in bulk for large construction projects. Utranazz offers several options:

  • Dry Concrete Batching Plants: These plants are ideal for jobs where water is not mixed at the plant site, allowing more flexibility in transporting unmixed concrete across long distances.
  • Wet Concrete Batching Plants: Wet batching plants mixes the water and raw materials od concrete before transport.
  • Self-Service Batching Plants: Fully automated drive-through batching plants for dry and semi-dry concrete collections

View our Wet and Dry Concrete Batching Plants here.

Cement Silos

Storage is another critical aspect of concrete operations. Utranazz offers horizontal and vertical cement silos, which are crucial for large-scale projects. These silos provide safe and efficient storage of cement and other powder materials, ranging from 10m³ to 200m³ in capacity. The use of cement silos on-site improves productivity by ensuring materials are readily available?.

2. Uses of Concrete Equipment in Construction

The wide range of concrete equipment available at Utranazz is designed to meet various construction needs, from small-scale residential projects to large commercial builds.

Foundations and Structural Work

Concrete mixers and pumps are essential for laying foundations and structural elements. For instance, volumetric mixers can mix different grades of concrete as needed for foundations, while truck-mounted pumps are perfect for pouring concrete into deep trenches or high-rise foundations?

High-Rise Buildings

When constructing high-rise buildings, truck-mounted boom pumps provide the reach necessary for delivering concrete to upper floors. With boom lengths of up to 65 meters, Utranazz’s truck-mounted pumps make the delivery of concrete to hard-to-access areas effortless?

Remote and Rough Terrain Projects

Last but not least, Utranazz’s self-loading rough terrain mixers are amazing for remote sites, the ability these machines have to traverse through these areas enable construction teams to mix and transport concrete without relying on a continuous supply chain from urban areas?

3. Best Practices for Using Concrete Equipment

Selecting the right concrete equipment is only half the battle. To get the most out of these machines, you must follow best practices for operation, maintenance, and safety.

Maintenance and Safety Protocols:

Regular maintenance of concrete equipment is vital to ensuring consistent performance and avoiding costly downtime.

Operator Training:

Proper operator training cannot be overlooked. Whether it's using a self-loading mixer or a truck-mounted pump, untrained personnel can cause accidents or damage expensive equipment. Utranazz offers certified training on all equipment supplied, and emphasises the importance of proper training for operators to avoid costly mistakes and ensure job site safety?

Efficiency Tips:

  • Consider the layout of the site and select a machine that can manoeuvre easily. Concrete line pumps, for instance, are ideal for tight spaces?
  • Select the correct pump or mixer size based on your project needs. Overloading equipment or underestimating delivery capacity can lead to delays.

4. Why Choose Utranazz for Your Concrete Equipment Needs

Extensive Product Range

Utranazz offers one of the most comprehensive and exclusive ranges of concrete equipment in the UK. From volumetric mixers to large batching plants, Utranazz provides equipment suitable for any project scale.

Flexible Purchase and Hire Options

For companies that may not need equipment long-term, Utranazz offers flexible hire options. Equipment hire allows contractors to access high-quality machines without the large capital investment.

For those looking to purchase, Utranazz also provides both new and used equipment, ensuring there’s a solution for every budget?. Moreover, we wanted to make our purchasing process as smooth as possible, which is why we have a finance calculator so you can easily see how much your weekly or monthly costs would be should you choose to finance it. You can view Utranazz’s Finance Calculator here.

Customer Support and Training

Utranazz doesn’t just sell or rent concrete equipment; we support our customers every step of the way. The company offers spare parts, and after-sales support to ensure that all equipment runs efficiently throughout the project’s life cycle?

Contact Utranazz

Ultimately, Utranazz offers a broad range of concrete mixers, pumps, batching plants, and silos to meet every need, from residential builds to major infrastructure and commercial projects. Contact Utranazz today to find the perfect equipment solution for your next project. You can reach out to us via our enquiry form, via telephone at +441280 820770 or via email at [email protected]. We look forward to hearing from you!

Your Guide to Concrete Equipment: Uses and Best Practices

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