Concerete Removal DIY or Hire A Pro?

[mirz]

i am doing my backyard at the moment. and one small problem is, there is a concerete pathway 2.5m long and 650mm wide.

i want to remove this small concerete pathway, this was originaly to get access to Cloth Airer. but as i want open lawn without any stuff in middle, so i had removed cloth airer, but i need to remove this concerete pathway too.

though i am not sure how thick is this pathway, but it should not be very thick.

what would be advise, i.e.

Hire a professional concerete cutter to remove this?
or
Hire some tools and try to remove it by myself?


How much should i expect to pay someone to cut and remove it?

what sort of tools would i need to DIY?

thanks heaps in advance for your response.

:2tsup:

[patty]

Are you fit and strong with a bit of energy the slab is probably arong 50mm thick thats a small little strip smash it up with a decent sledge hammer and pinch bar this may take a bit throw it in a box trailer and rid of it easy job

[Pulpo]

A fairly straight forward task, famous last words.

Sledge hammer

Crow Bar

It will break fairly easily with a sledge hammer.

However if reinforcement is through the concrete it becomes more difficult.

And you will need something to cut the reo, bolt cutters once the concrete is smashed.

But the best tool to use is a concrete saw about $120 a day I think.

I just checked with kennards $213 a day,:oo: hmm no wonder I hire little stuff these days.

At that price it would be cheaper to get a person in to remove.

Go the option of sledge hammer crow bar and bolt cutters.

Total cost to buy $50 each.

A bobcat operator will not remove reo concrete unless cut.

Good luck

Pulpo

[mirz]

thanks guys for your quick response.

i understand need of sledge hammer, but whats the purpose of crow bar here?
is it to move concrete slab?

i remember a tool in Asia, its a metal rod about 200mm long, and 30mm in dia, one side wedge like, and other side to use with hammer to break rock solid stuff.

but i dont know whats its name here in Australia, and if it is available here?

or just by keep hammering on concrete slab with sledge hammer will break it?

[Pulpo]

Its known as a cold chisel.

A crow bar may not be necessary but helps to pry up the concrete to either smash with sledge hammer into smaller pieces or just remove.

A crow bar is such a useful tool around the house.

If reo in the concrete a crow bar will make the job of manipulating the concrete to cut the reo much easier.

Cheers

pulpo

[mirz]

thanks Pulpo, will try it first by myself.

will need a trip to Bunnings tonight before going to home :)

[johnc]

To make it easier on yourself a little tip is to lift the path if you can and put a brick, piece of wood, wedge, or anything else handy in the gap. You will only have raised the path a few centimetres in one corner but that's all that matters. Then take the sledge hammer and give it a good thump in the middle of the raised section, if there is no reinforcing it should just split, lifting the slab simply minimizes the grounds ability to absorb some of the blow from the hammer.

For what its worth I would only use a normal crow bar, lifting with the sharp end and then slamming the blunt end straight down into the slab after inserting the wedge. Simply hold the bar vertical and bring it down straight using the weight of the steel to provide the mass and the downward thrust the force. This works fine on anything like a path, and for the cost of one tool, Cyclone, Boral, any of the locally produced bars of around five foot will do.

[peter_sm]

I smashed concrete path easy with a sledge hammer, and put pieces slowly in the bin each week until gone.

[Pat]

Instead of a normal crow bar, get a "spud bar", 6' x 1" (1800mm x 25mm) to break the concrete. I found it easier to use than swinging a sledge. Stad up straight and basically drop the point onto the concrete. No bending. Of course if its reinforced all bets are off!

Apologies for pic quality, best I could do at short notice

[echnidna]

I'm with Pat, a crowbar is easier to use than a sledgie,
just keep lifting it up and dropping it. (loosen your handgrip at the point of impact and you'll get little or no jarring.

[mirz]

Instead of a normal crow bar, get a "spud bar", 6' x 1" (1800mm x 25mm) to break the concrete.


Thanks Pat, any idea how much it cost :?

[Pat]

Between 30 - 60, get on with abit of heft in it. You can Mumme from Blackwoods (http://www2.blackwoods.com.au/infoBANKProduct.aspx?SG=2000165&S=31&G=2004584&P=7179765) or you can try at Bunnies.

Warning, you arms do seem to grow when using these . . .

[mirz]

thanks Pat, there is no Blackwood where i live, but just rang Bunnings and they said they would have them in Garden Store, so will need a visit soon to Bunnings :)

so just by keep droping this Spud or Crow Bar on concrete slab, it will be able to break that slab easily?

[bugsy]

I have just gone through this with a concrete step and path.

$50 for half a day for the demo saw plus $30 blade wear!!

And i still didnt get it finished.


I got a bloke who does concrete cutting and he charged me $120 cash to finish it.

If i keep cutting it would of cost me more just for the blade wear!
My concrete was old and had big stones in it though.

get a quote

[Pat]

As I said before, drop the pointed end, retaining a light grip on the shaft and it will crack the concrete, drop it again and bigger cracks will appear. Break up into easily lifted pieces, throw into a wheelbarrow . . . dispose as you can.

This boils down to whom you want to do the job, yourself, possibly earning some points with the SO, another toy or two and a bit of hard work versus paying thru the nose for someone else to do the dirty work. Up to you to decide.:)

[addo]

Mirz, if the path is "gonna go, no matter what", do some investigation to help decide the best method of removal.

Drill a few holes right through with a masonry drill, and do this slowly - measure how far in the drill was (millimetres) before it broke out the other side. Now you have a good idea of slab thickness, and can start guessing at what size rubbish pile it will make.

Take a regular hammer, and dig a little way (maybe 150mm) under the corner of one slab - now hit the concrete with your hammer to see what is inside it, when broken. This will tell if there's reinforcing steel in it (unlikely, if it is older work or just a garden path).

Assuming there is no reo, I like the sledgehammer. Mine isn't huge; I can just use it with one arm if needed - no point having a tool that is too heavy for you to work efficiently. Also I agree with johnc's advice about lifting the slab slightly first with a piece of wood slipped under. Then it is a more gentle hit to crack the slab - remember you're not trying to make recycled gravel, just lumps that can be lifted - say 15-25kg each.

Work out how you will dispose of the waste materials, and arrange to put your removed concrete close as possible to the final point of disposal. It's likely to be slightly over 200kg of concrete and should take less than one fifth of a cubic metre in space - once broken up.

Regards, Adam.

[Terrian]

so just by keep droping this Spud or Crow Bar on concrete slab, it will be able to break that slab easily?

not quite just 'dropping' the bar, more throwing it down. hold verticle, lift 300 - 400mm, and throw it straight down (remember to loosen your grip before it hit the concrete :)

if all else fails, you could hire an decent electric jackhammer from kennards (or similar) for about $100 a day.

[mirz]

thanks guys for keep writing.

bought a crowbar from Bunnings today, and started working with it. but i think weekend would be the right time to do this.

i got this crowbar 1800mm X 30mm for $75. its quite heavy :)

concrete is about 50mm deep, and so far i have not hit any reo. (but have done very little work on it today, was too tired after whole day of work)

will try to put crowbar under slab and try to tilt it as well, as advised by few members here.

actualy i have done 2 holes previously in this slab with mesanory drill to install my 2.3m C Band satellite dish.

here i have attatched 2 pics before start of this project so you can see concrete slb in lawn i am talking about.

[Planned LScape]

Should come up a sinch...there's dirt either side so it will be easy to try lift up the sides a bit to get something underneath.

I would try smashing the corner with the big sledgehammer, then use some of the broken bits as leverage for the crowbar to lift the side, then you can smash the top again. Hit the expansion joints, it will break up pretty easy.

btw... decent satellite dish is that for communicating out of space?

[mirz]

LOL, this dish is to watch my Pakistani TV channels from asiasat3s :)

according to plan this dish will also be moved from here and i will install it on pole with side wall. in that way we will have full open backyard for kids to play on either Sports Couch or Palmetto turf (still trying to make final decision which one would be better)

yeah, you are right, its in middle of lawn and three sides is just dirt, specialy after trenching with Dingo, soil in very soft. these pics are before last weekend's Dingo project :)

[mirz]

started working on one slab yesterday. in half an hour with my Jumbo crowbar, was able to make an impact of about 2 cms deep, but so far have not encountered with any reo (good news).

plus i have removed soil from one side, and slab cross section is visible now, will take pic and post them tonight.

tried to left from side, but it was way too heavy for me :)

[rileyp]

Put a brick or big bock of timber on the ground then lever against it to lift the concrete
Trying to pry it against the dirt wont work:wink:

[johnc]

Mirz,

The trick is to get the leverage working for you, the brick or lump of timber becomes a fulcrum. Push the tip about 25mm or so of the bar under the outermost edge of the slab and lift enough to take up the slack. Push a piece of timber or a brick under the bar as close to the slab as you can preferably around 50mm or so from the edge of the concrete at most then push down on the bar. The piece of wood acts as a lever and gives you a lot more power for the same amount of effort. If the fulcrum sinks into the ground get a flat broad piece of board to spread the weight on the ground with the fulcrum on top and try again.

Unlike the others I tend to use the blunt end of the bar for breaking bringing it down hard and not letting go, its hard on the hands if they are a bit soft. However it only works if you can lift the slab slightly to create a bit of air underneath. My method contains much of the force at the point of impact and prevents some of the spring in the slab working against you.

With a bar, a few pieces of timber and some rollers its not that hard to move items of several hundred kilo's around without to much effort. Mind you flat surfaces are an essential part of the equation.

Experiment a bit and see what works for you,

[patty]

LOL, this dish is to watch my Pakistani TV channels from asiasat3s does the satellite dish actually rotate/move Mirz? one of my mates has got a vietnamese fella next door to him and he can pick up like 1000+ channels his dish would be alot bigger than that just curious on how much they are worth shes a ripper

[mirz]

LOL, this dish is to watch my Pakistani TV channels from asiasat3s does the satellite dish actually rotate/move Mirz? one of my mates has got a vietnamese fella next door to him and he can pick up like 1000+ channels his dish would be alot bigger than that just curious on how much they are worth shes a ripper

mine is 2.3m mesh dish, cost me about $250 including dish and LNB (connects on focal length of dish). plus $100 for free to air satellite receiver.

my work place built that stand for me, (thanks to greate work mates) :2tsup:

i did not put motor to rotate this, was only interested to watch few channels in my language, otherwise motor costs around $150, and you can watch heaps and heaps of channels from all over the world.

even on AsiaSat3S, there are about 50~60 chinese channels, but i cannot understand them so cannot realy appreciate that service :doh:

[mirz]

could not take pics today, spend some time on mission concrete destroyer :)

i think main problem is so far i could not make any crack in concrete. its like i m digging in it, which is hard and not giving me much luck.

fortunately only one corner got cracked and able to break a triangle chunk of corner, but other than that, its like banging head on wall.

i put a stone close to slab, insert crowbar about 40mm under slab and tried to use it as lever, but i can hardly shake it (very very small movement)

after spending about hour and half i m on bit low, feeling like to try something different. it seems like not realy working :(

[rileyp]

So where can I buy a sattelite dish for $250?

[mirz]

So where can I buy a sattelite dish for $250?

i bought it from following place:
http://www.phoenixtelevision.com.au/products.php?category_1=13&category_2=26&product_id=95&PHPSESSID=9d47a1081cbb985904692823b

its in Morrabin, bit far from Geelong though :U

[mirz]

finaly i have decided to hire a JackHammer to break these slabs into pieces so i can get rid of them.

can someone please recommend any specific Jackhammer which would be ideal to do this job easily, thanks.

concrete is about 100mm thick without Reo.

[Planned LScape]

Just get a Hitachi electric hammer, very easy to use probably around $45 a day, can't remember that last time I hired one

[mirz]

thanks guys, finaly hired one from Rite Way Hire, Coburg, its for $66 weekend rate. plus a wheelbarrow for $10 for whole weekend.

According to Riteway they will give me jackhammer which can break concrete upto 150mm without reo (without any issue).

will post pic at the end of sunday. gonna work on front garden and lawn on this weekend too, and have to lay tourqey 14mm stones on whole side of house.

so i hope it weather would be on my side :)

[mirz]

finaly able to got rid of this concrete yesterday, and it now resting in local tip :)

there was reo in it, and bloody slab apperntly looking seperate were indeed joined by reo, which was making it too difficlut to shake them with crowbar.

but at the end job was done with Makita Jackhammer, spend about 4 hours to learn and break whole concrete.

so whenever using a jackhammer, be carefull, dont drill too down, always make cracks on side not in middle (from my experience now , LOL)

two times, managed to stuck bit in concrete, and that was not fun at all to take bit out of concrete.





her are some pics:

[mirz]

here is another pic

[Dr - 307]

I started reading this thread 'cause I have some concrete to break before I do a decking job. I got more than I bargained for. I got all the information I needed plus some great laughs.
Thanks to everyone, bloody fanatstic!!!:2tsup:

Cheers,
Dr - 307.