Cistern finally a thing of the past......

[JimMorrissey]

For those of you who have not seen this "project" before. Here's what the foudation of this animal watering cister looked like after I spent a half day last Sat. and the whole day Sunday trying to demolish it with a sledge and an electric jack hammer. I was beginning to worry that this was a serious situation.....lots and lots of calories burned, with little progress.

It once had sides, doors and a roof which I pulled apart with the back hoe and moved to the burn pile.

 

[JimMorrissey]

The next work week went by and I'd be out there with a sledge beating on the sides now and again, taking off chunks.....Very tiring and hard on the back. I was thinking that I'd have to rent a real jack hammer to get anything done, but there was one last possibility that I wanted to try. I'd seen this cracking agent before called "Betonemit" and honestly was a bit sceptical. I looked at the container in my local rental yard for nearly a year, before I was prompted by multiple sources to finally give it a try.

Let me say without question, this stuff if amazing! I followed the direction to a T (very important) and it did exactly what it was supposed to.

 

[JimMorrissey]

Here's a picture of what the stuff did overnight. I drilled numerous holes and filled them at about 5:00 last night as the sun was going down. You need to ice the water down before you mix it, or the reaction is too quick and you can have blowouts. I was very happy to see these cracks this morning /forums/images/graemlins/cool.gif

 

[JimMorrissey]

Here is a picture of one of the pieces that cracked apart. These are massive pieces of concrete and the pictures don't do justice. The L39 could barely lift this giant chunk. The slab is nearly 14" thick in most places.

 

[JimMorrissey]

Here I had to try and break apart this piece by picking up a corner and dropping it. It finally cracked after dropping it a few times. The rebar and steel held it together until I flipped it around and twisted it back and forth.

 

[JimMorrissey]

I estimate this piece and a chunck I moved earlier to be between 3000 and 4000lbs. The L39 could barely curl the bucket. I was able to push foward with the hoe way out as an outrigger. I think I did about a years worth of standard damge to the poor machine this weekend. The cement chunks and rebar just rip at the paint and the steel. It's nothing I'd want to do for more than a few days.

 

[JimMorrissey]

Here's my little bonus project.....While I was excavating the sides in to get the hoe under a corner of cement slab, I hit my septic line and broke the pipe! What a great way to end the day It wasn't too hard to fix, thankfully the local hardware store had all the parts necessary. The hardest part was cleaning digging the pipe out with a shovel in the rocky soil. At least I know exactly where my septic pipe is now /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

 

[JimMorrissey]

Finally....the septic line is fixed, all the monster chucks of nasty old concrete are moved off and everything is filled in and back dragged.

Now I can continue with this stage of my road project. I had not calcuated how much time this would take. Oh well, lots of quality seat time. I sure am impressed with the L39. What a little tank.

 

[JimMorrissey]

To get back to the cracking agent....It is very useful and I recommend it to anyone. It this did not work I would have had to get a air powered jack hammer and I'm not sure if it could handle concrete of this thickness. The betonamit is good stuff /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif

 

[BoneheadNW]

Senor Morrissey-

What was the cistern originally used for? Why such thick slabs of concrete? Was the septic line directly under the cistern?

Oye Como Va!

Bonehead