Topic: how to break up concrete blocks

[grawrc]

We have recently replaced some garden fencing and in the process have dug up huge blocks of concrete from around the base of the old fence posts. They are massively heavy and can neither be lifted nor rolled away. How can I break them up?  or who would I get to do it for me?

[RenishawPhil]

A sledgehammer and lots of sweat.I've done it a few times!

[grawrc]

Thanks for the suggestion. We did try a sledgehammer but it just bounced off. Maybe need to work on our technique?

[Buster54]

Why not try this http://www.hss.com/c/1014415/Breakers.html

or

http://www.google.co.uk/products/catalog?hl=en&xhr=t&q=concrete+chisel&cp=15&bav=on.2,or.r_gc.r_pw.&biw=1280&bih=768&um=1&ie=UTF-8&tbm=shop&cid=13605861530228407348&sa=X&ei=vSAQTr2THpGbhQfghpjvDQ&sqi=2&ved=0CEYQ8wIwAA

[plainleaf]

i am not sure if you have them in the uk . but in USA we have these things called hydraulic jack hammer.  they work great on breaking up concrete,cement and other types pavement.

[grawrc]

Thank you both. I'll investigate hiring something like that.

[brown thumb]

plainleaf which part of the usa are you in as my daughter lives in ohio between seaman and hillsbough

[hippydave]

use an  sds drill with the chisel bit  that worked very well on my concrete post bottoms you can get them for about £30 from B & Q

[French-Dream]

Google "Hire shops" where you live and ask them for a "Kango Hammer" it's like a large electric drill...it will take a little time but it will smash the blocks to were you can load them into your car and take them down your tip.

[Bill Door]

I had the same problem and decided that i could afford to dig deeper pits and leave the blocks buried.  It did not take long and i still have a foot of soil to grow things in.  Obviously have to watch it for root crops but it isn't too great a problem.  Don't forget even when you break them up you still have to either bury the remains or take it to the dump.  Your council may not take the broken down blocks (not household waste).

Good Luck

Bill

[lincsyokel2]

Egyptian Tomb Robbers were an ingenious bunch, and managed to get through the defences of many pyramids, that were supposed to defend the pharaohs' mummy for thousands of years.

Pyramid builders would frequently make the final block that sealed a section out of obsidian or quartzite, two of the hardest rocks around.

One of the techniques for getting through such rocks was 'Fire and Water'. Light a big fire next to the block, keep it burning for a long as you can (hours) get it really really hot then quench it. The rock cracks and fragments.

A demonstration of this occured in a scrapyard under a bridge over the M1, recently. The concrete bridge was heated up by the fire, and constantly quenced by the Fire Brigade. Large amounts of it dropped off.

[grawrc]

We hired one of these:http://www.hss.com/g/2151/Vibration-Damped-Breaker-110v.html. Job done in 30 minutes!!
so no more of these:
[attachment=1]

Phew! Thanks for the advice.