Large concrete block

[Swifty281]

I have a large concrete block 17ft × 9ft and 2-3ft thick in my garden that needs to be removed. Whats the best way to break it up without paying the earth?

 

[StudWall]

hire a breaker for a weekend

 

[Nige F]

Hire a Self Drive digger with a concrete breaker for a day for aprox £250. That way you just sit in comfort an peck at it. Get the pieces small enough and you might get it to your local tip in bags (over a period of time) so saving aprox.£200 for a skip. Forget a hand held breaker, they are for Navvies

 

[r896neo]

What makes you think its 2-3 feet thick? Its highly unlikely unless it was the foundation for a bridge or an air-raid shelter?? Are you sure the edge you can see is not a downstand/ ringbeam at the edge?

If it really is 2 foot thick it will almost ceratinly be reinforced so a hand held breaker will be useless. As Nige said a digger with rock breaker is your best bet then you can use the digger to load it into a skip too if needed. If its reinforced and 2 foot thick a micro digger may struggle, how wide is your access?

 

[Swifty281]

Its raised from ground level so i can see it. That is most upsetting. Access is the width of a normal garden gate. I may have a go with a breaker to see how easially it breaks up. If that fails i will have a cry. I may then have to try the digger.

 

[Mattatooi]

What was it originally for?? Can you post a picture?

 

[Tigercubrider]

Is it an old garage/shed base?

 

[r896neo]

Dont panic, unless it genuinely was a foundation for a serious structure like a pylon or tower of some sort it is almost certain that it wont be that thick throughout.

What your seeing at the edge is merely the downstand shuttered edge which was poured rather than bother building a wall. The most likely situation is that the vertical edge you can see is 8'' thick around the perimeter and then the top is actually only 6'' or so thick.

If you can pick a spot in the middle and try and stitch drill and break out with a chisel or sds drill to remove a hole to check the thickness then you can make a plan for the neccessary machinery.

A picture would help

 

[bernardgreen]

Could it be the top cover of an underground space such as an air-raid shelter left over from the last war ?.

Just two of many such finds.

http://www.kentonline.co.uk/gravesend/news/buried-air-raid-shelter-found-44883/

http://www.worcesternews.co.uk/news...WII_air_raid_shelter_under_their_back_garden/

 

[youngroughcaster]

A big Jack Hammer would probably get it broken up. If not then a digger with a breaker attached may be the best option. We broke up a big concrete pad about 100mm thick on Friday. We broke it up with a sledge hammer no problem, that wouldn't work with a pad 3 foot deep though.