What size jack-hammer?

[RrogerD]

What size jack-hammer do I need for breaking up strip-footings? They are about 400 wide by about 600 deep.
I will be hiring. Likely, 110v electric.
Hoping that I can do it myself in the one day.
Thanks

 

[23vc]

The hire place will recommend one if you tell them what it’s for. But that sounds a big job for any hand held one. Mine have what they call a “road drill”, proper low frequency percussion heavy upright thing. Your job is deffo beyond the scope of any of the smaller SDS max type kangos I’d say

 

[yorksbuilder]

Hire 3 tonne digger with rock breaker attachment and bucket as well if they're 600mm deep.

 

[RrogerD]

The hire place will recommend one if you tell them what it’s for. But that sounds a big job for any hand held one. Mine have what they call a “road drill”, proper low frequency percussion heavy upright thing. Your job is deffo beyond the scope of any of the smaller SDS max type kangos I’d say

Do you not think that it 'could' be done, but with fair bit of hard work? I'm not expecting it to go through like butter. More like just chipping away bit by bit. Currently, I have been using a lump-hammer and chisel. Working in from one edge. Surely anything has to be better than that!
I stand corrected if persuaded otherwise.
I don't really want to be hiring a digger. Never used one in anger (had a play with the back of a jcb when I was 18) and, seems a little like a sledge-hammer to crack a nut

 

[23vc]

I’m imagining trying to do this even with the heaviest (back breaking) kango I’ve used, and I think I’d be a complete nightmare/impossible. And back breaking due to the fact it’s underground and surrounded presumably by earth. Does it have to go, given it’s buried underground? Are you wanting to build above it?

 

[SFK]

How long are your footings?

Asking as a cubic metre of concrete weighs 2.4t.

Every 1m length of your 0.6m x 0.4m is a quarter of a qubic meter.

So every meter length will be you lifting 600kg of concrete from the ground and around to the front of your house !

 

[stevie888]

You don't say what length you're looking at but broadly speaking the bigger the better. Be guided by the hire shop.

I've got a Titan concrete breaker which cost about £150 and will do most breaking jobs. It is a beast and weighs about 16kg and I'd be quite happy to attack your footing with it.

You'll go better with a point rather than a chisel and don't be too greedy with the piece you try to break off: there's a sweet spot between knocking off a couple of stones at a time and simply punching the steel into the concrete.

 

[23vc]

I've got a Titan concrete breaker which cost about £150

I’ve got that too and it’s great. But it isn’t going to do this one easily.

 

[RrogerD]

It's about 6m in length. It's an old stone / brick wall that developed a crack and so have taken it down. We want to replace with a hedge and so need the footings out to provide space for root growth etc.

 

[RrogerD]

Sorry, I have that wrong. They're not 600 deep, they're about 300 deep and about 300 wide. It's a bit hard to tell as covered in soil either side.
Don't know where I got the othe figures from, in my head. :-/

 

[Ivor Windybottom]

In that case I'd recommend just buying Screwfix's Titan beast. It will probably cost less than hiring. I have one too, it's pretty unstoppable.

Buy some grease at the same time, keep topping up the pot on top of it every couple of hours while you use it for a job that size. Look after it, you can re-use it in future or just sell it for half of what you paid.

 

[Ivor Windybottom]

https://www.screwfix.com/p/titan-ttb811drh-16-4kg-hex-shank-electric-concrete-breaker-230v/326VV

 

[yorksbuilder]

Sorry, I have that wrong. They're not 600 deep, they're about 300 deep and about 300 wide. It's a bit hard to tell as covered in soil either side.
Don't know where I got the othe figures from, in my head. :-/

Ah, I would do that with my Tommy bar. Good workout. Hiring a breaker for a day is about £70, so surely you'd save £100 on buying a titan one?

 

[noseall]

What size jack-hammer do I need for breaking up strip-footings? They are about 400 wide by about 600 deep.
I will be hiring. Likely, 110v electric.
Hoping that I can do it myself in the one day.
Thanks

You’ll pull them out with a 1.5 tonne machine.

 

[noseall]

Sorry, I have that wrong. They're not 600 deep, they're about 300 deep and about 300 wide. It's a bit hard to tell as covered in soil either side.
Don't know where I got the othe figures from, in my head. :-/

I’d pull them out with my pick.