Cafe1 wrote:
Here's the problem:

I have a 30" by 30" square concrete slab (underground pillar) in my yard
that is several feet (or more) deep. It used to be the base for an old ham
radio antenna tower that neighbors say was 40 or 50 feet high. The concrete
base was put in by the former owners who are now deceased. It sticks up
about 1 inch above ground level and I want to get rid of it.

You've had a lot of discussion here, but you know, it may be easier to get
a few loads of topsoil delivered, and raise the yard the 4-6" you want to
see this thing under the dirt to. Dump the dort on, grade to suit and
re-sod.

I want to either remove the concrete base entirely, or take off the top 4 to
6 inches so it will be below the ground level. I had a guy with a backhoe
try to remove it while he was taking out other concrete sidewalk slabs. He
said he couldn't get it to budge and said there is no way to know how deep
it goes. I watched him try grasping and hitting it with the backhoe scoop,
but nothing happened. It wouldn't break up, it wouldn't move, etc.

So, here's one goofy idea I was thinking about. If I made a little ridge
around the slab and poured some type of acid on it, would the acid eat away
at and/or dissolve the concrete? Anyone ever tried anything like this? Any
particular acid I should try if I am crazy enough to do this?

Acid can indeed weaken concrete, but IMO you'd need gobs of it and create
quite a mess going this way.

My other idea is to try drilling holes into the side of the pillar, about 6
inches below the top, then trying to hammer an iron wedge into the holes to
try to crack the top section off.

This is a far more reasonable idea and for a little sweat you should be
able to do just that.

I saw them doing something like this on a
TV show where they were cutting large slabs of marble. I have tried renting
a jack hammer in the past to get rid of solid concrete steps and the jack
hammer didn't do much because the concrete was so thick. So, I don't thin a
jack hammer would do much to this monster.

If you're patient, and sometimes help things along with other tools,
there's no reason why the hammer route shouldn't work, but it will be
exhausting and eventually you may end up giving up. Concrete demoltion is
the sort of thing where it's worthwhile to call in the pros, as they have
the tools to make the job easy, and they'll haul away the concrete.



John
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