Help! My Landscaping Project Involves Removing A Concrete Sidewalk!

We get calls or emails like this every once in a while. “Please help. I have this landscaping project and we need to remove the old sidewalk. How can we do this?”

Well, if removing concrete is part of the plan for your next remodeling project indoors or out, any reputable trash removal company like Big Daddy Dumpsters can help.

The hard part is still the same: getting the concrete in the dumpster.

Breaking up concrete safely

You will need to own, rent, or borrow a couple of simple tools.

Sledgehammer: a sledgehammer is built to do the difficult work of breaking up concrete. Its reinforced steel head can survive thousands of concrete-busting collisions.

Goggles: concrete is brittle. When you strike it with a sledgehammer small chips are going to fly and unpredictable directions. While your eyes are remarkably quick to react to their environment, your eyelid is not up to the task of keeping speeding concrete out. Wear goggles at all times.

Gloves: in addition to being brittle, concrete is abrasive, caustic, and absorbent. While you it may have worked with concrete bricks in the past, picking them up and moving them, it does not compared to the hardship your hands will face working all day to remove a concrete sidewalk. Hundreds of interactions with concrete will not only leave your hands dry and chapped, but also create a chance for concrete burns, as a result of the alkaline. Don’t’ take that chance.

Crow bar / spud bar: concrete breaks better when it is on top of other concrete. The best way to pry out large chunks once you start to break them apart is to use a long handled crowbar known as a spud bar. Available almost anyplace you can buy tools, this will save you hours of work and is worth the investment.

Lifting concrete safely

Early in the planning stages or even in implementation of a concrete removal project, it is common to be full of confidence. You are strong. You are healthy. You can certainly lift concrete and put it into your rented dumpster.

This is all true. However, few of us are physically up to the task of doing this work multiple times over several hours.

It is important that you first break up the concrete into smaller chunks. These easier to lift chunks will make it easier to get out of bed the next morning.

Find a concrete slab size that you can easily lift.

Bend at the knees as much as possible, keeping your back straight. This places the main weight on your large lifting muscles in your legs, instead of lesser-used standing muscles in your back.

Resist the urge to throw these large pieces of concrete, as the twisting and untwisting with the additional weight can cause serious injury.

Hauling it away safely

When it is time, you have one last lifting chore. Pick up your phone, call (937) 790-1661 and identify yourself and your project. We will haul it away for you.