How do you break up a concrete walk or slab?
Question:we have a small concrete slab outside our back door and also a concrete slab and walk outside the front. we want to remove the concrete and put in pavers and/or bricks. what tools would we need to do this?
Answers:
Electric or air hammer is best and fastest way. Just remember electric hammers are not near as good as air hammers.
I used a 90lb air jack hammer for many years with a asphalt bit.
I don't like the concrete point bits because they just turn all the concrete into little pieces.
When you start to use the jack hammer make sure you start on the outside of the pad because it'll break off easier.
a sledge hammer but it takes a bit of work, i would suggest a air hammer, it goes right through the concrete, with little effort.you can rent one at most equipment rental place for next to nothing.
Don't know about installing the brick, but to remove the concrete is going to either take a lot of muscle and a sledge hammer or you can go to a rental store and see if they have a jackhammer you can rent. Either way, the pieces have to be made small enough to handle to cart the debris away.
sledge hammer... and a lot of patience...
low on cash - sledgehammer.
not an issue - jackhammer.
Renting the equipment at a rental store is the best way to go. Busting something like that up with a sledge would take forever and be an enormous pain, not to mention back-breaking. The big problem you will have though, is in what to do with the concrete once it is broken up. Garbage pickup won't take it and it is so heavy you will have to make multiple trips to the dump to get rid of it. You might want to consider how you will get rid of it before you start breaking it up.
Yup. I removed a 6'x4' slab from my back yard with a sledge hammer. It worked, but I wouldn't do it that way again. It was a pain in the butt. I'd definitely look into renting a jack hammer. Lots of the rental places even have electric ones (Don't ask me how that works) which I hear are less intimidating and easier for the lay person to use.
Also, make sure you have both a way to haul that stuff out of there and somewhere to dump it. There's going to be more of it than you might imagine and it's going to be heavy.
Good luck.
_carl
Rent a jack hammer. I would go to a professional not a box store and rent one. If you play your cards right rent it on a Sat and renturn it on Monday morning. Most professional rent centers are closed on Sun so you might be able to get two days for the price of one. Just make sure that you can rent the machine first thing monday morning and you dont get charged for sun
As an alternative to removing all that concrete you can lay the pavers on the concrete. As long as the concrete is not cracked to all hell you can lay the bricks in a 1" mortar bed right over the concrete.
sledge hammer for easy areas and jack hammer for hard cements
rent an electric Jack hammer.
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