Concrete Pump Attachment Makes Hard Jobs Easy
Brett Pomerleau
The decision by Brett Pomerleau and partner Tony Woolhouse to buy a Bobcat® concrete pump attachment paid off the very first time they used it.
“It was during the spring when we couldn’t get a big boom pump truck to a new home site because of road weight restrictions,” Pomerleau says. “Using the concrete pump attachment and our own boom truck to move the hose, we pumped more than 60 cu. yd. of concrete for footings and a poured wall foundation. The job took a little longer than using a big pump truck. But we were able to complete the work.”
That ability to pump and place concrete when and where they need it was the driving force in their decision to buy the attachment in 2002. Based in Ramsey, Minn., the two partners own Concrete Masonry Unlimited and Northwest Masonry of Brooklyn Park. The two companies offer a wide range of residential and commercial concrete services, from block and poured wall foundations to floors.
Industry-standard hoses and clamps connect to the concrete pump attachment to pump concrete to hard-to-reach areas—small openings, under decks, through bushes, across streams, around trees and buildings and over berms. The unit eliminates the need for mud buggies, loaders with buckets, wheelbarrows, shovels or chutes to move concrete. Also, it protects driveways, sidewalks, turf and underground utilities from the weight of large concrete trucks.
The concrete pump can handle aggregate up to 1.5-in. in diameter and requires auxiliary hydraulic flow of 15 to 30 gpm. Depending on hose length and diameter and other factors such as slump, additives, aggregate size and type, this powerful attachment can pump concrete as far as 250 ft. horizontally or up to two stories vertically.
Pomerleau mounts the concrete pump attachment on his high-flow Bobcat S160 skid-steer loader, purchased from Lano Equipment.
“We use the concrete pump year round for all types of jobs, including pouring front stoops, crawl spaces, floors and foundations,” he says.
Normally, Pomerleau uses a 2-in. or 3-in. diameter line to pump at least a six-bag mix. The pour usually totals about 40 to 50 cu. yd. “We can pour a yard of concrete in about four minutes,” he says.
Often the jobs involve residential sites where tight lot lines, steep grades or trees prevent access by large concrete trucks. “When we use the concrete pump to pour a basement floor, we just run the hoses right through the middle of the house and down the stairs,” Pomerleau says. “We’ve also used it at a townhouse project to pour concrete steps that went too high to
reach with a concrete truck chute.”
Another time he used his Bobcat loader and concrete pump to pour a footing and foundation for a cabin, located about 90 minutes away from the nearest town with a concrete pumping truck.
The concrete pump attachment’s versatility includes the added flexibility of bypassing a concrete pumping contractor. “I don’t have to match someone else’s schedule,” Pomerleau says. “And I don’t have to pay for his time while we’re getting ready to pour.”
See page 28 for information on the new concrete pump attachment.
Remote Operation Saves Time and Effort
By eliminating the need for an operator in the cab, the Bobcat® Remote Attachment Control kit adds to the productivity of the Bobcat concrete pump attachment. It allows you to start and stop the loader from the ground, without re-entering and exiting the cab.
What’s more, by eliminating the need to move concrete with wheelbarrows, or other hand tools, this attachment frees up laborers for finishing the concrete as it’s poured for even more productivity.
The Remote Attachment Control kit is available only for Bobcat loaders equipped with the Bobcat Interlock Control System (BICS™).