Removing Concrete

[lupi]

A previous owner of my house dropped some cement to smooth out the transition between the driveway and the street. Unlike several others I've seen, they didn't lay a pipe down or any other means of water travel so when it rains I get heavy sediment gather along the cub up to the driveway (no sewer drains on the side street, water travels along gutter to main street with sewer drains).

Recently they've done some under road pipe upgrades and have just got around to milling and starting to repave. While doing so, the pressure has put about 5 cracks along the width of this cement patch and one end looks to almost be able to be removed by hand.

I'd like to go rent a jackhammer and just finish the damage and get rid of the entire thing. Just curious how careful I need to be to not damage the driveway or gutter underneath?

Judging from previous experience using one to clear a small cement patio, shouldn't take much pressure to make the chunks removable so don't think it would be an issue but just wanted to check.

 

[Greenman]

Get a 60 pound electric hammer with a chisel bit and be careful. It will damage whatever you hit with it, because that's what it's designed to do. If the area is small enough you could just use a demolition hammer, it's like a small jackhammer, around 30 pounds.

 

[Humpy]

I would just try hitting it with a sledge a few times and see what happens.

Un-reinforced concrete is usually pretty easy to break up by hand, especially if you can pry it up a little and get some air under it.

 

[Homerboy]

I would just try hitting it with a sledge a few times and see what happens.

Un-reinforced concrete is usually pretty easy to break up by hand, especially if you can pry it up a little and get some air under it.

Yeah... depending on the overall thickness of that "extra layer", it shouldn't be too difficult to get cracked and removed by just wielding a sledge and some sweat.

That being said, no... I won't help you do it.

 

[gururu2]

We once took apart a fairly thin concrete patio using some large big rocks. Just find a big old rock, one that you can safely lift over your head and thrust it onto the concrete. The force is spread across laterally and I would think would minimize the kind of direct vertical force that a jackhammer would do. Otherwise I second the sledge as you can control the force more.

 

[paperfist]

Not sure how it works, but I've seen a chemical that claims to break up concrete. I believe Home Depot sells it.

 

[Greenman]

Not sure how it works, but I've seen a chemical that claims to break up concrete. I believe Home Depot sells it.

You drill a thousand holes in the slab and pour the stuff in, it expands as it dries and breaks up the concrete. Last time I checked it was stupid expensive.

 

[paperfist]

You drill a thousand holes in the slab and pour the stuff in, it expands as it dries and breaks up the concrete. Last time I checked it was stupid expensive.

Ah sledge hammer it is! Will probably break into nice small chunks for removal.

 

[lupi]

When I had to rip up a 6*6 patio slab, tried the sledge hammer first but it wasn't doing much more than chipping the surface. Banged for about 20 minutes then started planning plan B.

Rented the jackhammer and took about 20 minutes to have the entire thing reduce to manageable chunks.

While the road works has sufficiently cracked the last foot and a half on each side of about a 10 foot segment, the remaining 8 is still fairly solid.