Removing Sidewalk to Nowhere

markct · Sep 10, 2003

make sure ya get a fullsize electric jackhammer like a bosch brute. they look like the ones ya see construction crews using but they have a cord coming out of the handle. i rented one once to help a friend break up some concrete and stone piers and walls that the previous owner had built.it was about 75 bucks to rent it for the day, i was impressed with the jackhammers power, it was heavy and realy hammered, my friend who is about 5,5 and in the neighborhood of 120 lbs used it for a few minutes and had a hack of a time hanging onto it, but i had no problem with it, he couldnt hold it up for breaking up the walls and stuff. they sure are a nice tool and should make fast work of your sidewalk, of course you will feel it for a few days after but thats what a bit of hard work feels like i suppose. it would be the quickest method, unless ya had pallet forks, those seem even faster!! and it wont be as dusty as a concrete saw.

bigpete · Sep 11, 2003

Said to heck with it this evening, my neighbor brought over his digging bar, an old trailer axle and two beers. I used my mighty little 2210, and elbow grease from four elbows, and got it all pulled out in a couple hours. I hate to post in two places, but I have to brag about my little tractor's performance on the JD discussion board, too.

I swear there must a a "grain' to the pour, because we beat, lifted and pried for awhile, then I slipped my loader under one corner and popped up a 10-foot-long piece. Couldn't lift it higher than a foot or two with the loader, but a couple thumps with the sledge created mangeable pieces. I dragged one of the 8-10 foot-long pieces across my yard with a chain and the 2210 handled it like a champ, but I was at the tractor's limits. She's broken in now at 100 hours, so now's the time to use it for what it's designed. I found a lot more leverage under the slab with the curl on the loader than with the lift. Makes perfect sense when you think of the physics.

Thanks for all the tips, guys. Now it's screened and blended top soil, a little fescue seed and rain in the forecast for the weekend.

markct · Sep 13, 2003

just outa curiosity what was the old trailer axle for? just to use as a pry bar? or did it still have wheels and ya were gona roll away the slab peices or something?

ScottAR · Sep 14, 2003

If it's like mine, its pointed on one end and hammered flat on the other end. I know it's an axle to somthing as the splines are still visible. I don't even remember where I got it... Some farmer probably made it years ago.... I'm sure glad he did too. /forums/images/graemlins/tongue.gif

bigpete · Sep 15, 2003

Sorry so late in replying. I've been cleaning up, spreading topsoil, and reseeding.

The axle is essentially a pry bar. My neighbor is an independent contractor and carpenter and learned I had decided to rent a jackhammer. He insited that it was not necessary and that he would be happy to help. He let me know he learned how to break things up as a laborer long before he learned how to build things. He was right.

It's surprising how much "lift" you can get on a sidewalk using a digging bar, or old axle, and a piece of wood. When you strike a slab with a sledge still intact in its bed, all of your energy goes into the slab and is absorbed by the earth underneath. Same principle with a jackhammer, just lots of rapid blows to overcome the static energy of the sidewalk versus dozens of slow-motion blows with a sledge. The pros, as my neighbor certainly is, know that even a slight lift to a slab allows the force of the blow to affect the concrete only without working against the virtually immovable earth. Pry and lift a hair, thump a few times, pry and lift again...soon you have cracked the slab versus pulverizing the concrete. Much cleaner too. After we manually removed the first piece, my loader provide the lift for the next piece and the big slabs started popping out of the soil.

markct · Sep 16, 2003

sounds like ya had some pretty old and non reinforced concrete, or else ya would have had a heck of a job on your hands. i agree that like ya said you can get alot of force with a pry bar and alot of impact with a sledgehammer or i have even used a heavy pickaxe before to do this sorta job.

bigpete · Sep 16, 2003

It was reinforced--10-guage wire, I believe. It was poured in the early nineties, so we did have a big job on our hands. The loader turned out to be the key.