Blacktop 4 inches thick? unlikely. What's under it? Hope it's not concrete.
Basically you need to cut a 4 inch wide trench six feet long? Saw cut it and pry it up, this is only an hour job. You can rent a saw. I've heard you can do this with your circular saw but not tried it myself.
The original blacktop. Repaved once, patched once. I had a pro out here last week -- he came out the morning after I called, even though he knew the job was smaller than his company would want to do -- and he said it needs to be cut out, but his minimum was 3000 dollars. Gave me a list of others with lower minimums, maybe $2000. I asked him about doing it with a hammer and chisel and he said blacktop was almost as hard as cement. Of course a pro in most fields thinks its best if a pro does the work.
Yeah. It's open to a drain on one side, but the original drain opening is obstructed by the extra blacktop about 4 inches high. The pro said he'd never seen anything like it.
Does the saw have a particular name? I think I read about one that one can operate while standing up!!
The same webpage mentioned this, and a diamond studded blade, but with a
7 1/4 inch saw, at most i could cut out 2 or 3 inches, and then how would I get the rest. Less than 2 or 3 if I cut at an angle, which somehow seems like the right thing to do. .
Lowes has a 14 inch concrete saw for rent. They say daily rates are $25 to $65 depending on the tool, they also have hourly rates. I would be very s urprised if you couldn't cut two 6 foot slots in half an hour or so. Maybe also make a series of angled cuts every few inches so you can take it out in pieces. Then pry it up with a crowbar or the end of a pick. You really need to sawcut before any other method or you'll get a frayed sloppy trenc h. A chisel would take you a week I think.
Anyway, I'd go to any tool rental place and tell them what you plan to do. Spend $50 instead of $3000, make the cut and take the saw back, remove the pieces at your leisure.
My neighbor dug a trench for a water or waste line with a weird backhoe. I don't know what it's called. You don't drive it, it's a little tiny thing pulled behind a vehicle. It had a super small bucket, like 4 inches wide maybe, and you stand behind it and move levers, or maybe it had a small sea t, but no cab. It took him all day to dig a short trench but it looked goo d. But that was in soil, it would never work on blacktop without the saw c ut.
Concrete saw, strange to say:
Wow. I went to Home Depot, where your link is from, today, Friday, and the guy didn't know anything about this. He showed me a saw, a Hilti
700, that you use while kneeling or bending over, I guess, and I asked him about something I could use standing up, but he had no idea, at least at his store he said when I asked what he meant.They should have a catalog and make them read it so the "associates" can send people to other stores.
I have a reply to Tim, too, but it's probably longer and it's late.
This got buried in a different thread about digging out a crawl space, so you may want to post it as a whole new topic.
Any chance that you could post a photo or two? Is the section of asphalt that you want to cut out easily accessible and in an open area where any type of saw or jack hammer could be used to get to it? From your description, I am guessing that you just want to cut out a 4 inch wide strip out of the existing 4 inch thick asphalt.
I would also be interested in knowing what the purpose of doing this is (such as to put in a pipe etc. in the 4 inch trench), and if you will be patching/replacing the asphalt after it is done.
If it is just about cutting out a 4 inch wide section of the asphalt, a large circular saw does seem like it should work. The walk behind kind that someone posted about may be fairly heavy and may need a pickup truck or whatever to get it to and from the rental place. Depending on where you are located, there may be a general tool rental place nearby, or even a contractor tool rental place that also rents out heavy equipment etc., and either one should have the walk-behind saw to rent if you wanted that.
If I were renting a circular saw to do the cut, I don't think that I would worry about getting one that is a walk-behind type. It is such a short cut (actually 2 cuts) that I would be fine if it meant kneeling on the ground next to the saw while cutting. I don't think it would be heavy work, and if it were me, I would just take my time and do it slowly on a cool day -- maybe in the morning.
Another option may be to just hire a handyman-type contractor to do the cut with me paying for the saw rental if needed.
Or, I see concrete people cutting out old concrete (sometimes mis-poured concrete) all the time. I assume that any one of those companies could do that for you although they may charge more than a handyman-type person would charge.
Or, maybe just post an ad on Craigslist describing the job as a "small job", "cut out 4 inch wide strip of asphalt", etc. and maybe throw in a photo or two. I could picture someone there saying they could do it for 100 bucks, maybe even using their own saw.
It doesn't sound like a job for an electric jack hammer to me although that may work. But lugging the jack hammer to and from the work site and lifting and repositioning the jack hammer a bunch of times could be tedious.
That's probably why on their website, after you tell them where you are, they list the aisle and bin of whatever you're looking for. It's not foolproof but it's saved me from long hikes looking for
a. the thing b. an associate
I like to walk, but I'd rather be out in the woods while I'm doing it.
If it's just to run wiring or a pipe under a sidewalk, the OP might be able to hydraulic his way under the pavement:
There are commercial machines, but with a little PVC and fittings you can easily make it through in most soils.
The link that you posted is interesting.
One problem may be that the link was about tunneling under concrete, but the OP is dealing with an asphalt driveway. I think that most likely there is compacted stone under the asphalt driveway rather than just dirt or soil, so the water tunneling idea may not work.
I just got to this now and it's time to sleep already. I'll start a separate thread tomorrow with answers to questions and maybe photos.
There is no good power tools to dig out a crawl space other than a shovel. The conveyor belt is one option for removal if you are a solo act. If you have more help, I would use sleds. Check out
replying to PeterD, eric wrote: I use quarter inch aviary (chicken) wire mesh, but must staple or otherwise secure ends to finish seal
replying to Bill, eric wrote: I bought a few shop vacs, expecting to burn them out. I figure cut bottom off and secure to sealed garbage can to increase payload and reduce emptying frequency. Haven't tried yet, also looking for screw conveyors for sale from dismantled grain silos, or turning hay bale conveyors to belt, belt patch like a live floor trailer conveyor or carpet swatch conveyors. Maybe rent vac truck and a couple fellas with air chisels and shovels... I really don't want to use low clearance track loader. Good luck... miserable work.
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