[TowerTalk] Fwd: Jackhammer removal of tower base difficulty?

[Randy]

I routinely bust through concrete slabs with a 16 lb. sledgehammer, and 
fairly quickly, too. Usually.
The big "but" is that if the concrete is thicker than typical, ~5-6", 
the hammer will bounce. Literally bounce
off of the concrete. I can usually tell that I'm going to give up very 
soon, by about the fourth whack.
If that's the case, it's time for somebody else to come in with a 
jackhammer or chipping hammer.
Six inches is really stretching it, but I have broken through even 
thicker. The key thing to remember is that,
in these cases, there is either dirt beyond the slab, or maybe nothing 
at all if there's been a water leak,
which is why I'm there busting up the slab in the first place (I locate 
underground plumbing leaks for a
living).

That guy eventually got out, in the Shawshank Redemption, with only a 
rock hammer, but it took
about 20 years.

73,
Randy
KZ4RV

On 11/2/2011 10:41 PM, HansLG at aol.com wrote:
>
> Remembering I once used a 20 lb sledge hammer removing an old house
> foundation, something about 20 x 30 feet. Didn't take long, about a day. (I did
> feel it in my back afterwards though.) It sometimes is better to use manual
> power (with a good weight in the end) than all these electric toys (tools).
> I  also dug a 300 feet ditch, 2 feet deep by hand after receiving a $1000
> quote  from a "professional". That took a couple of days though. Manual power
> rocks. :-)
>
> Hans - N2JFS
>
> In a message dated 11/2/2011 8:53:45 P.M. Eastern Daylight Time,
> n9rvee at gmail.com writes:
>
> Rich,
>
> I have personal experience with this.
>
> The older  (stronger) the concrete, the more difficult this will be.  I
> moved out  of a QTH in Ohio that was previously owned by a ham who had
> been there  since the 1960's.  I tried to bust some concrete anchors
> for elevated  guys with an electric hammer.  Fuggetaboutit.  Didn't
> even dent  them.  Next I had a local contractor come over with a big,
> trailer  mounted compressor and hammer.  Nada.  Finally I paid  some
> serious money to have a guy come over with a nitrogen-powered  hammer
> mounted on a Bobcat arm.  After several hours he was able to  chip away
> enough concrete to throw some dirt over it and call it a  day.
>
> I sure hope that new property owner never tries to use a  rototiller on
> that patch!
>
> If the concrete is old, you might be  better off with the K4JA approach
> -- just pull the entire thing out of the  ground with an excavator and
> fill the resulting hole.
>
> One the 'crete  is out of the ground it busts up really easy.
>
> Sorry to be so  pessimistic, but that is my experience with the old
> stuff.  Hopefully  you will be luckier.
>
> - Pat
> N9RV
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