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The sidewalk leading up to my porch has sunk and shifted in various spots. I want to break up the walk in large pieces and move it to a level area. What is the best way to break it? And move it?
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Are you saying that you want to reuse the pieces to make another walk in another location?
Rich Beckman
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Yes.
I want to move the broken pieces to a new spot to creat a temporary walk.
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I don't see any way to do this and have any result other than a mess. I guess you would have to cut the sidewalk into sections with a saw, then lay them on a level bed of sand. (???)
How temporary of a walk? And how neat do you want it to be?
Rich Beckman
*Please supply me with the address of the location, and the name(s) of several good lawyer-dogs in your area. I would like to retire.Seriously, this Post is a joke?If it is honestly serious, R2D2, you need to see a lawyer first, then a decent mason or concrete contractor, and if you can't afford either one, a banker. If you can't afford to borrow the money, at least pay a year's premium on your homeowner's policy. You are absoultely crazy and should have your head examined if you want to take busted up pieces of concrete, and lay them down like an obstacle course or minefield for your postman, neighbors, and meter reader to trip and fall.If the stuff doesn't break up when one tries to remove it, will disinegrate moving it, and whats left will break up when you set it in place.
*Ahem...oh, Scooter. Be nice to the man/robot.Seriously, Concrete CAN be purposely broken to reuse. I watched--yep, watched--a friend reset an entire driveway that had slumped and buckled.Basically, you will need to crack the concrete into sections. This is easiest if there are already deep cracks. Otherwise, sawcut the concrete into sections large enough for use, but small enough to handle. 3 x 3' should do it. Now comes the "caveman physics lesson". Use a long, solid bar for a lever and a log/large rock/car wheel/etc. for the fulcrum. Give it the ole heave ho and gently lift that sucker loose from it's bed. For transport to the new site, you can use an A-frame hoist to get it into a cart/pickup bed, or roll it away on logs. Just like your great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great grandfather did.But, the absolutely best way to do this is to watch someone else do it for you.And as for liability, my take is: fergit that nonsense. Every been to Ireland? England? Any other country? We're talking OLD cities. Do they worry about people not being able to watch where they walk? You can have a perfectly flat walk and still someone will trip. I guess you can put a tall fence around your property, but someone might sue because they brushed against it. I'm trying to be nice about this.My God, what a long post! Talk just like a gurl.
*We are talking concrete here aren't we? The stuff is not that expensive.Forget liability? Remember this country has more lawyers than the rest of the world combined or at least close to it. People look at a fall as a free lunch. Totally off subject, a brick manufacturer near me is now selling crushed brick as a landscaping product looks like a pretty good idea.
*Rent a breaker. Find somewhere to recycle the concrete. Make the walk from gravel.
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Were you watching when I moved my sidewalk? I am sure my neighbors thought I was nots doing this by hand. but the sidewalk has the old patina that fits with the way that I want my front garden to look.
This is what I did when I decided to relay my walk. I used a six foot prybar to lever the sections up. Five of the six sections were broken on the joints. The one that was connected took some time to crack. I dug a little hole under one edge, near the joint, and got my High Lift jack under it. Then I jacked it high enough to slide a four foot, 4 inch tall piece of angle iron umder the joint. the two sections are now supported on an edge. Gently tap a chisel along the seam, spending more time in the center and less on the edges. It is a lot like breaking single strenght window glass.
If all that you want to do is break up the sidewalk into chunks, an old landscaper taught me to jack up the slab and slid a piece of two inch diameter tubing under and then hit with a sledge. Now the ground doesn't dampen the sledge and the slab breaks up nicely.
I relaid my sidewalk sections in a sweeping fan instead of the straight-to-the-front-door strip. Between the open edges of the fan Ihave planted sedums and low thyme to fill in the dirt. They are low enough that the snow blower doesn't scrape them in the winter.
Tom
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I set a small walk between a gravel driveway and a front stoop with broken concrete pieces. Laid them like flagstone in a fairly sandy soil. Tried to keep the joints tight. We don't worry about frost heave here.
An easy way I've found to break up slabs, is to dig under them with a shovel to relieve the support under the middle of them and hit there with a sledge. Understand where it would like to break and encourage it.
Never had any trouble with the walk, although it was a bit of a crazy quilt and attracted weeds in the cracks. Otherwise, it saved a small amount of money and material, eliminated some waste, and was good exercise. Its not for everyone however, judging from the responses here.
I probably used a wheelbarrow, gloves, eye protection, shovel, sledges, and a railroad bar. Also a hammer and level, and PT 2x4 staked border when setting the stuff.
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As a landscape contractor speciallizing in paving stone work, the only use I see for broken concrete is for hard fill, usually off-site. There are starting to be some recycling places around here that will take the stuff. They crush it and sell it as base material.
The gravel temp. walk idea from andrew makes the most sense. Depending on what "temporary" means to you, I can't see the time involved in properly leveling each piece being worth it.
As for breaking it, it depends on how much there is and how thick it is. An electric rental breaker can be had for about $50/day or less. A good investment if the sledge justs bounces off after prying it up.
Good luck.
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Thank you bearmon -- from the other responses I was starting to worry that I was just too lazy. I am all for conservation of materials, but moving sidewalks? But it sounds like it can be done! reduce .. reuse .. recycle .. etc.
We used concrete pavers -- by Balcon? -- for a patio and short walk, very nice to work with. Landscape fabric/gravel/sand base provides drainage & weed control; pavers move with freezes without breaking; easy repair (though they are tough! I starting dumping them from the wheelbarrow when carting them around without breaking even one ... 4000+ psi?). Really, the digging and moving stuff around is the only part I could really call "work," the rest was fun, even the tamper. And I think they look sharp, though I wouldn't mind a more natural look, say flagstones (see Mongo's patio). But that's more work.... :)
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I kid you not, a job i was on 2 yrs ago: architect specified that contractor build "random, concrete rubble walks". The method was to cast 4" slabs and break them w/ hammer and then relay them in random fashion w/ sand filling space. Everyone, Engineer, CM, Contractors and even some reps of the Owner found this absurd-but it was done. It actually looked OK-but I haven't been back in a year...
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The sidewalk leading up to my porch has sunk and shifted in various spots. I want to break up the walk in large pieces and move it to a level area. What is the best way to break it? And move it?