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Posted by Marcy on June 24, 2005, 4:20 am
Thank you so much for the informative post.
I would not mind leaving it and making a second patio out of it, but
it is off to the side of the house, not in the back where I would really
use it.
I doubt that it has any rebar in it as the owner poured it himself.
I may try your method, and if all else fails, if my male friends cannot
bust it up, then hire it out.
Many thanks.
Corinne
Hell Toupee wrote:
> Marcy wrote:
>
>>I am purchasing a home with a hot tub that I do not want. A friend is
>>taking the tub, but the 8' x 8' concrete slab will remain.
>>
>>Is there an easy way to break it up? Any suggestions?
>
>
> Before you rent a jackhammer or hire someone to deal with it, try
> using a sledgehammer on it yourself. It's hard to break up concrete
> when it's flat on the ground, which just absorbs the shock of the
> sledge blows. Frankly, an 8 x 8 slab is probably too large and heavy
> for you to pry up yourself, but you could try it with a steel pry
> bar. Otherwise, this worked for me: start at one of the corners and
> dig out/under it a bit. You
> want that bit of corner hanging over the soil, not supported by it.
> Slide the pry bar or a 2x4 under that corner, so that pounding that
> corner with the sledge won't just cause the corner to settle back
> down into the dirt. Hit the concrete corner a couple times with the
> sledge. If the corner fractures off easily enough, repeat this
> process a few more times to break off more pieces of the slab. At
> some point when the slab gets smaller, you may finally be able to
> pry it up with a pry bar, at which point slide a 2x4 or two under it
> to prop it up so it'll keep fracturing more easily.
> You may decide you can do the whole job yourself. If you decide it's
> too much effort for you to manage with a sledgehammer, then you can
> look into renting a jackhammer or hiring the job out.
>
> You have some possible options for getting rid of the concrete. For
> a fee, a local trash hauler may provide a dumpster you can fill, and
> they'll remove it in a week or so. There may be a local dump site
> that'll accept concrete chunks for a fee, if you can manage to haul
> it over there. Ask around to see if there's a company in the area
> that does heavy construction, like roadbuilding, where they pour
> concrete and supply gravel. The one in my area accepts concrete
> chunks for free, they grind them up and reuse them. I just had to
> borrow my neighbor's trailer to haul it over there.
>
> Finally, remember you'll end up with a large shallow hole in the
> yard where the slab was. You'll need to haul in some topsoil to
> level it off. Now that you've had a chance to think about how much
> work and expense getting rid of the slab will make for yourself, you
> may decide you'd rather leave it in place.
>
> HellT
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