Demolition Breaker

I think SDS drilling and plug and feathers to cut the concrete into manageable chunks would be easier and leave less rubble and mess?

I got a very similar but slightly cheaper one on Ebay (?75GBP) and it did a similar job without struggling. If the concrete is wholly bounded by walls with no free edge and you have a big angle grinder it migfht be worth cutting a coupl of parallel slots about 200mm apart and im long just to get an edge to start with, concrete being much easier to break if not in compression. Otherwise best to drill a hole with a big masonry drill or the pointed breaker. Once you have a edge the chiselling away 2-4" chunks seems to work best. Won't take more than a few days, depending how far you have to move the bits.

Being scientific about this:-

Impact power: 55J

One of the heavy SDS drills from the likes of Screwfix has around 8J, so the aldi breaker is about 7 times the power. I'd have thought that's loads.

I once broke up a similar area with just a sledge hammer. If you can lever up a bit with a pick axe to create a tiny space underneath, it?s not that hard to break up, and very satisfying. ;-)

Tim

A drill and a breaker are different beasts. While some SDS drills have a nominal breaker function (ie you can have the hammer action without the rotary action), I doubt they are intended for serious breaking. For example, taking down a brick wall is far less demanding than breaking a concrete slab.

I'm not suggesting the Aldi beast isn't up to the job, I've bought several of they power tools and been very happy with them. They also honour their warranty. I'd give it a try and, if it isn't up to the job, expect them to refund the money with out a problem. It will be cheap than hiring if it works.

If you can, try and dig out some of the soil under each section as you go, just enough so the slab isn't supported by the ground, and chip it away.

I've done thgis with a hired concrete saw. mine had reinforcing in it.

Big lever under edge to lift it off the ground a bit and hit it with a sledge and it will break easily.

Don't lift it and the ground absorbs much of the energy and its harder work.

Thanks everyone for the replies.

I have SDSd and couple of small areas, just to see how thick the slab is. It was much harder work than I thought it'd be. The chisel bit didn't manage to break the concrete, so a series of holes and cold chisel.

But I think I'll try the sledge hammer approach - I think a mate has one I can borrow. Much as I'd like a new toy :-)

Very true.

I have tackled stuff with a 2kg SDS and you can make progress.

But when I borrowed a full sized jackhammer off a builder, I demolished a couple of 4" "farmers" concrete slabs in literally a couple of minutes, leaving me to pick up a lot of small sized bits and stick them in the skip.

I can assure you that a conctete saw will reduce 4" slab to liftable strips in minutes

I had similar about 15 years ago. The concrete was perhaps a bit thicker and f'ing hard! (I don't know why, as it was only a path). Tried a 7lb one - bouncy-bouncy. Borrowed a 14 pounder and that /just/ managed. I'm 6' 4" and I forced the hammer down as hard as I could (lifted my feet off the ground) and kept the force on the hammer after it had hit. Typically

One "lifts" the concrete and the other one hits it with the sledgehammer.

If you can lift it you can stick a wedge under it ...

Reading some of the replies to this problem I really have to question some of the advice given especially when talking of spending 2-3 days using tools not really suited for the job just to save a few quid. The solution is obvious hire a breaker, a local hire shop here will hire one out for £35 a day and the job will be done in a couple of hours never mind two days. I am all for saving money on a job but as for spending days choking on concrete saw dust or swinging sledge hammers is worth £35 of my money any day!

Richard

A lot depends on the cement content of the original mix. Whatever tool you have, you really need to be working from an edge. Personally, I'd be happy to invest 100 notes in one of those to save having to use a sledge hammer too much.

Agreed but he's not going to lift a 5m x 5m slab (at least, not without a 3 series JCB). OK to attack a half metre sized piece that way.

Just make sure that when using a sledge hammer that any vehicles are parked far enough away to prevent them being damaged from flying debis. Protect any nearby glass.