[TowerTalk] Tower Base Removal

[Carl Braun]

I had a "professional demo man" try and jackhammer my concrete base apart when I was in W9 land and he quit after 18" down. That was four hours if hammering. My neighbors called the cops because it was so loud. 

Mister demo dude said the high psi concrete I used (3500) was too tough to break up. Either that or he didn't want to talk to the cops. 

If you can get a Bobcat with a jackhammer on it that may work better with its added downward force. Breaking the base into chunks that can wrestled out would be best. 

If you lived here in CA you could just hire 40 illegals to dig the thing out but ...

If you get the crane make sure they don't tear up your yard or asphalt. I would assume 2x to 3x the total weight of the concrete block for a safety factor on your crane. 

Good luck Mike and keep us posted. 

Carl AG6X


Sent from my iPhone

> On Jan 17, 2014, at 4:10 PM, "David Gilbert" <xdavid at cis-broadband.com> wrote:
> 
> 
> I suspect that it would be very difficult to remove the old foundation with a crane.  You're looking at roughly 3 cubic yards of concrete weighing roughly 10,000 pounds (not to mention whatever drag/suction there might be), and I can't imagine the tower base stubs being enough to lift that sucker out of the ground even if you thought it would hold together since it doesn't have any rebar in it.  If it needs to come out I think your only recourse is to somehow break it up ... jackhammer, expansion goop (don't remember what it's called), or dynamite.
> 
> Good luck es 73,
> Dave   AB7E
> 
> 
> 
> 
>> On 1/17/2014 3:38 PM, Mike VE3YF wrote:
>> Hi:
>> I need to have a hole for my new tower 6' x 6' x 7.5' deep. Due to limited lot size that I live in, and mainly to keep peace in the family, I am looking at removing my old tower base 4' x 4' x 5' deep and it contains no re-bar, just tower base stubs. I can't remember what grade of concrete it is, but it is about 14 years old. I am limited to 2 types of removal, crane and Armstrong method. The crane company won't make any guarantee's they can complete the job due to complications etc, and want a hefty payment up front. I am now looking at having a young guy come by and use a Jackhammer to do the job.
>> Has anyone tried demolishing their old tower base and how long did it take any problems etc. Since this undertaking is new to me I am open to suggestions and or comments and hopefully some good suggestions.
>> 
>> Thanks...
>> 
>> 
>> 73 De Mike
>> VE3YF
>> 
>> http://www.ve3yf.com/
>> 
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