demolishing concrete floor slab

Where are you? I've just bought a JCB Beaver hydraulic breaker and need somewhere to try it

AWEM

I had a lot of this to do recently. I tried getting an electric 'concrete breaker' first, but it just chipped bits of it. After a while I just went and hired a hydraulic one. Only cost me about £40 and it chomped through it in no time. Don't waste time and money with a silly one, go straight for the biggie. Worth it in the long run.

It may not be 6 inches, it may be 3 inches on top of hardcore. All depends on the mix, too. If it's really 6 inches of decent mix then hire a big breaker for the weekend. If not, you may get away with a £50 SDS and cheapie chisels, especially if it is only a couple of square metres.

I'm in Coventry. Simon.

floor of

anything !

Sadly too far - I'm in Kent !

AWEM

It's probably worth buying one of these and drilling a few holes to see what you're dealing with. Once you've got a hole, work away from it rather than going straight into the middle with nowhere for the concrete to break into.

John

I had to take up a section like this.

Turned out a concrete saw was the easiest - I sledged up what I could, then cut the slab into strips and levered them up.

Less noisy than a kango.

On Thu, 5 Jul 2007 10:49:01 +0100, "Andrew Mawson" mused:

Eh? I'd pop up from Kent to Coventry to play with power tools, it's not that far, just make sure you leave home in the early hours. ;)

Yes, right, but not while I'm in the middle of packing up the house & workshop for moving !

AWEM

We were somewhere around Barstow, on the edge of the desert, when the drugs began to take hold. I remember "Andrew Mawson" saying something like:

He could bring the floor to you, surely?

We were somewhere around Barstow, on the edge of the desert, when the drugs began to take hold. I remember sm_jamieson saying something like:

If it's accessible from the road or driveway, see about hiring a local JCB bod with breaker. I'm in a similar position, but have much much more of it and wouldn't entertain the idea of doing it myself. I hired a bod and breaker some years ago and was impressed at how much could be done in a short time.

Well when I get to my new place I have literally almost an acre of tatty concrete to break up, 2000 sq foot indoors and the rest various roadways crudely laid over a few decades. Full sized JCB 3CX is on the 'must buy' list !

AWEM

Thanks for the ideas folks. I'll try drilling it to see how strong it is and decide from there. Anyway, the concrete roof is first ! Cheers, Simon.

On Thu, 5 Jul 2007 13:30:46 +0100, "Andrew Mawson" mused:

Fair enough!

We were somewhere around Barstow, on the edge of the desert, when the drugs began to take hold. I remember "Andrew Mawson" saying something like:

Yep, same here. About half an acre that used to be hard standing for loading bays and entrance/exit roadways. Preliminary breaking (the episode I referred to) to break ground for septic tanks, etc, revealed some of the covering to be nearly a foot thick as slab was laid on slab over the years.

I quite like it as it is, I can drive onto it and park anywhere, but at some point I need to lay more drains and create some sort of garden area.

various

revealed

All sounds rather familliar ! Theoretically my JCB Beaver will break a

AWEM

Hire shop job this one :-)

Rick