Advise on concrete breaker

Hi all.
Doing an extension at my house and to save money, want to demolish an old garage and related foundation myself. I may not be good at making stuff but breaking stuff I've got a good history of.
Anyway, I was going to do what I could with a sledgehammer and then rent a concrete breaker to do the rest. However, I see that screwfix sell basic ones for less than £200 and it would probably cost the same to rent one over the couple weeks I would need it. So I'm wondering if that would be a better way as I'm not time bound then either, and don't have to coordinate over rainy weekends. I know it won't be as good as a heavy duty one but, for those that have used these, do you think it would be ok? I don't mind if it takes a little longer as long as that "longer" isn't 4 times as much. Would welcome any thoughts.
Thanks
Alan

I've got one, they're absolutely great and pretty much unstoppable. Buy a tub of grease and keep it topped up, it should last for many demolition jobs.

Same, got mine from eBay, many people use for a one off job then sell on.

AlanB1976 said:

I see that screwfix sell basic ones for less than £200

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Won't touch pokered concrete greater than 120mm thick. Might stand a chance against some poor gear though.

We are using a relatively inexpensive corded Dewalt at around £600 quid. It has decent impact and is one of the best reasonably priced, medium duty breakers around. I would not entertain buying tat for £200 quid though. Would not last the week in our job.

I used my Titan 1700w last weekend, it was a big job so I had to get a load of diggers to clear up.



I'm going to have a crack at next doors coal bunker next week.

noseall said:

Won't touch pokered concrete greater than 120mm thick. Might stand a chance against some poor gear though.

We are using a relatively inexpensive corded Dewalt at around £600 quid. It has decent impact and is one of the best reasonably priced, medium duty breakers around. I would not entertain buying tat for £200 quid though. Would not last the week in our job.

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If it breaks, take it back for a full refund (3 years guarantee) nothing to lose, i bought a cheapo from screwfix for a one off job breaking up an extension footing 200mm+ done the job fine, if i was using one all the time i would of bought a better machine, but it served it's purpose, Read the reviews.

Charlie George said:

If it breaks, take it back for a full refund (3 years guarantee) nothing to lose, i bought a cheapo from screwfix for a one off job breaking up an extension footing 200mm+ done the job fine, if i was using one all the time i would of bought a better machine, but it served it's purpose, Read the reviews.

Titan TTB811DRH 16.4kg Hex Shank Electric Breaker 230V - Screwfix

Order online at Screwfix.com. Adjustable auxiliary handle for increased comfort and enhanced control. Supplied with a pointed chisel, flat chisel and a carry case. FREE next day delivery available, free collection in 1 minute.

www.screwfix.com

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I've used one. Too much effort for too little gain.

I've got the big titan. Was £150 well spent. I bought it for a specific job where it comfortably paid for itself. Its since done loads more jobs for me and friends. Thickest concrete was about 300mm and it went through that OK.

Don't worry too much about noseall's comments on this one; they're a professional who will naturally have high demands for gear to withstand years of punishment, not only on tough jobs but potentially at the hands of the lower paid employees/labourers that lack finesse and technique with tools.

I wasn't expecting much from an 18kg Titan breaker I bought off eBay but it did well destroying tens of tons of concrete and brick walls, floor and support foundations for water tanks as its very first job and the only thing that's gone wrong with it in 8 years of regular punishment is the trigger switch falling apart.. A replacement was ridiculously expensive so I just wired it out. I don't think the internals of the trigger do well with the vibes but I've no idea how much it had suffered before as it was second hand to me and well used already

I recently did a job for a friend that's similar to yours; he'd spent 2 hours making a foot square hole in his garage floor slab and had burnt his angle grinder out; took about 15 minutes with the breaker to make the 1 square metre hole he needed. Get a wrecking bar too; don't routinely use the breaker as a bar

If you find that it doesn't work so well on the foundations you can consider hiring a Stihl saw to score them for easier breaking or if you need something really serious for the job you can hire a mini digger with a breaker attachment. That said if the foundations require that level treatment you might well be able to either leave em in and avoid them or get permission to reuse them from the BC; all depends on how good they are and what load they were supporting before

robinbanks said:

Don't worry too much about noseall's comments on this one; they're a professional who will naturally have high demands for gear to withstand years of punishment, not only on tough jobs but potentially at the hands of the lower paid employees/labourers that lack finesse and technique with tools.

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It's more the impact with cheaper breakers (initially) and the same with some more expensive ones. The DeWalt is the closest we've got to Hilti or big Bosch impact.

Next on the list of importance would be weight of machine v's the impact power they give out. We have to hold ours horizontal for periods of time. Those machines with precise and powerful impact, tend to dig in, when using the machine horizontal. Cheaper machines annoyingly bounce around the wall.

They have to be serviceable. If I took a Titan up to our local plant hire/service shop - they'd laugh and chuck it in the scrap bin.

Lastly, they need to be durable. Ours can be going all day. They get hot. Cheaper machines start to become inefficient when they get hot or just simply break.

robinbanks said:

all depends on how good they are and what load they were supporting before

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...and how deep or how good the ground (bearing) is, upon which they sit.

noseall said:

They have to be serviceable. If I took a Titan up to our local plant hire/service shop - they'd laugh and chuck it in the scrap bin.

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There's a lot of simple snobbery involved in power tools as shown above, sadly.

This is a DIY forum. Someone wanting to break some concrete will be absolutely 100% fine with Screwfix's Titan breaker. It's a heck of a beast. Mine's smashed lots of thick, strong 1950s concrete paving around my house as well lots of very solid underground brickwork and foundations, that was after using it for many jobs on the previous house. I've had it for years.

It sounds like you've convinced yourself that it must be junk as it's cheap and haven't actually used one. It's heavy, as it needs to be, so hard work to use horizontally but it can be done and I have. That weight is an advantage when it's pointing downwards though, it's what gives it its force and stability. It can bounce if you're not controlling it, obviously wear safety boots with anything of this sort and have enough brain to not stand next to it.

I'm sure the more expensive ones are better. But not 5x better, of no advantage for DIY and will still only do the exact same job.

If I'd paid more then I wouldn't have gained anything - I would not have saved any time, money or effort.

Ivor Windybottom said:

This is a DIY forum.

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Thankfully, pro's are on hand to answer questions and share their knowledge.
I have spent a large part of being a pro' builder, with a young hungry family. It tends to sharpen your wits and make you acutely aware of what makes you money and what loses money.
I owned a Titan vacuum. It ended up on the skip, on the same job it was purchased. The Numatic I replaced it with is effortless. We have two now.
My landscape buddy has a Titan breaker. I have used it and it is not in the same league as the Dewalt. I would not want to pay my fellas to toil with one either.
You ask pro a question - you get a pro answer. I'm not a liar.

AlanB1976 said:

Hi all.
Doing an extension at my house and to save money, want to demolish an old garage and related foundation myself. I may not be good at making stuff but breaking stuff I've got a good history of.
Anyway, I was going to do what I could with a sledgehammer and then rent a concrete breaker to do the rest. However, I see that screwfix sell basic ones for less than £200 and it would probably cost the same to rent one over the couple weeks I would need it. So I'm wondering if that would be a better way as I'm not time bound then either, and don't have to coordinate over rainy weekends. I know it won't be as good as a heavy duty one but, for those that have used these, do you think it would be ok? I don't mind if it takes a little longer as long as that "longer" isn't 4 times as much. Would welcome any thoughts.
Thanks
Alan

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Titan breakers work very well for what they are, it would certainly demolish an old garage and foundation

AlanB1976 said:

Anyway, I was going to do what I could with a sledgehammer

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that would be hard work, buy yourself a breaker

for brickwork walls a smaller breaker might be better than the big Titan one

Ive used both Titan and professional grade brands -what Noseall says it true, the titans are cumbersome and rather crude by comparison especially when using them all day, but the Titans do an amazing job for the price.

If the foundation or slab are particularly thick or hard, then you would be better off hiring a hydraulic breaker, they arent that much money for a day and they eat through concrete