Re-Decking a Bridge

[Western]

Electric jack hammer may be cheaper if you have excess to a generator.

You may also be able to use either the BH or a couple of sledge hammers to bust out 3' widths then try ripping it out with a heavy chain.

Without a jack hammer it may have to be done with "blood, sweat and tears"

Good luck with it, I suspect it will be tougher than an ex-wife without big tools.

 

[TRR]

Use a gas powered concrete saw and cut it into managable pieces.

 

[mikefromnh]

Use a gas powered concrete saw and cut it into managable pieces.

And we have a winner! Just what I was going to say

 

[wvpolekat]

I will have to check on how far to electricity. If the neighbor nearest is friendly, that would be less than 100 feet. Electric jackhammer sounds promising.

Beyond that, gas powered saw may be the winner.

I do also have a rotary hammer that I loaned out about a year ago, will have to see if I can track it down.

Using the jackhammer on the bridge you are standing on could be an adventure as well.

Need to do some calculations on what size we need to break the concrete up into so we can handle them if we are not just going to drop them into the creek.

 

[boggen]

1 foot by 1 foot sections of 3" concrete or smaller. if your in shape. can be handled. though recommend 1 foot by 1/2 foot by 3" if you are going to be at it all day long manual lifting the stuff up and out.

you will want some good size strong prybars. say 4 feet to 6 feet long. also some wedges and sledge hammer.

having a good set of wire cutters and pending on mesh perhaps a grinder to get through some of the wire mesh.

an eletrical jack hammer weight is around i would say 50 to 70 lbs. and some can be plugged into standard 110 outlets like most houses have.

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being that this is actually on a bridge. i would say go for the gas powered concrete saw.

trick is to create a grid out of saw cuts. to create your "breaking spots" of the concrete. for example make yourself 1 foot by 1foot grid. go along the width of the bridge and cut a strip every 1 foot. then do same thing for the length. ((when cutting)) don't go all the way through the concrete. but say half way through it or less

when ya done with the saw, get some wedges. ((like splitting firewood wedges)) and a sledge hammer. and you should be able to just tap the concrete sections out. and use wedges were needed for the tougher spots. some times pry bars are needed.

since you have a backhoe. once you get cuts made. you might be able to just drop the bucket down on the pieces and nock them off. or perhaps lift up corner pieces right into the bucket.

the problem will be the wire mesh. you will most likely find some areas are low in the concrete while other spots are high in the concrete. and pending on size of wire mesh, you may need a good pair of wire cutters or bolt cutters to a grinder even. so chunks of concrete break into smaller chunks and don't get hung onto each other via the wire mesh.

being ya have a backhoe. having a few good log chains. and pulling out chunks by the wire mesh can work nicely to.

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due to wire mesh being in the concrete. i honestly do not suggest trying to use it any place. those wires can be like stepping straight down on a nail. and when in water even harder to see.

 

[Western]

I have an electric Jack hammer and a Sthil concrete saw (hand held). I would rather argue with the jack hammer all day then cut that much with the hand saw. Not to mention the dust if dry cutting and the blades will cost ya big time. They do have a water line attachment, but you may not have water available.

My hammer weighs like 80# which is all you feel when you lift. It lacks the power of our pneumatic hammer but at 110# that dude is a workout.

2 young fellers and the hammer, should have it broke up in less than a good day.

 

[EddieWalker]

Good luck finding two young guys who want to work, and do so all day long!!!!

Eddie

 

[mjncad]

Go with the gas saw, preferably a walk behind. The electric jackhammers work well; but it will beat you up worse than the saw will.

 

[MarkV]

I would not give up on the backhoe yet. I have torn out a slab with a Kubota B21. With little support left under the concrete you may be able to break it into reasonable sections. The wire in the concrete is what is hard to deal with.

MarkV

 

[wvpolekat]

Since we don't have a saw etc... and will have to rent it, I wonder about a mini excavator with a breaker. Or even renting a full size TLB, it would have enough power to just rip the concrete up. Heck, a good forklift could start at the approach and get the forks under it from the end and just keep picking up it till it breaks. A mini ex may well have enough power to break the concrete up without a hammer as well.

We can get into the creek bed on one side of the bridge with a tractor/atv/excavator. It may be possible to just find a way to knock it all down into the creek then work with it there. My worry is being ON the bridge while tearing the deck up. Seems like a Darwin moment waiting to happen.

The creek is less than 6 feet below, so we can work from top or bottom.

Cutting the bridge up into 1' by 1' sections would be A LOT of cutting.

The mesh is not proper mesh, more like chicken wire.