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.

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?

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. 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.

My last idea is to get someone else with a backhoe and get them to dig a
hole around two sides as deep as needed, then tip it over into the hole, and
re-fill the hole to bury the sucker. I wanted to get the guy I had there
(with the backhoe) to do that, but it was a real struggle trying to
communicate with him, so I gave up.

The bottom line is that I really like my acid idea, but I don't know if it
would work.

"Cafe1" 1

Jack hammer rental JackAss

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.
snip
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?

Yes, this will work.
However, it will require an enormous amount of acid.
This might not be very expensive, as barrels of conc acid are not very
expensive.
However, it's not a safe way to do it.

A big jackhammer will take care of it.
Combining this with a diamond concrete saw, to slice the top into a grid
pattern beforehand may work.

Dynamite will be safer, acid will hurt the earth worms

Cafe1 wrote:
Here's the problem:

That sure brings back a few memories. I had an uncle who loved to build
with concrete and I ended up with his home.

A professional strength jack hammer will be able to take a foot or so
off without all that much of a problem. I suggest having someone come in
and do it, it will likely not cost you more than renting and doing it
yourself.

As for my uncle, he left a 4 ft cube solid block of concrete by the back
door. While it was handy to drop off a bag a groceries while I unlocked the
door, I did want to get rid of it. I tried all kinds of do it yourself
ideas. In the end I dug a large hole and with the help of several other
college age guys we rolled it into the hole.

Later when I was having a 24'x24' concrete pad removed from the back
yard I insisted on a dollar quote. everyone wanted to give me an hourly
rate. I am glad I did. That little pad was reinforced with 4" angle iron.
It took them forever to break it up and get it out. They lost money, but
they did the work.


--
Joseph E. Meehan

26 + 6 = 1 It's Irish Math

"Joseph Meehan" wrote in message
...

A professional strength jack hammer will be able to take a foot or so
off without all that much of a problem. I suggest having someone come in
and do it, it will likely not cost you more than renting and doing it
yourself.

Thanks. I hadn't thought about a "professional strength" jack hammer. Now
that I think about it, the one time that I rented a jack hammer in the past,
the one I rented was an electric plug-in type because I had no way to
transport the bigger one that was available to my house from the rental
center.

As for my uncle, he left a 4 ft cube solid block of concrete by the
back
door. While it was handy to drop off a bag a groceries while I unlocked
the
door, I did want to get rid of it. I tried all kinds of do it yourself
ideas. In the end I dug a large hole and with the help of several other
college age guys we rolled it into the hole.

That's what happened to me when I tried to get rid of concrete back steps,
three steps high (same house as where the antenna tower base/pillar is). I
tried all kinds of tricks -- drilling holes, sledge hammer, heavy duty
chisels, etc. -- then I ended up renting an electric jack hammer. Somehow I
thought the steps would be partially hollow or would have cinder blocks in
the center, etc. Instead, it was solid concrete and was a nightmare to
break up. The best I could do was jack hammer pieces off along any corners
or edges. But, eventually I ended up with a concrete ball that I just plain
could not break up. So, like you, I dug a hole, rolled it in, and buried
it.

Frankly, I would get a ham license and put up another nice tower !!


Just kidding............


--James-- K4PYT

"James Nipper" wrote in message
...

Frankly, I would get a ham license and put up another nice tower !!

I like that idea. I had a novice license when I was a kid. Mostly all I
remember about it was having to learn Morse Code and some things like, "CQ,
CQ" and "QLF" (which sort of stood for, "try sending with your left foot").

Concrete saw to put groove in it then a jackhammer! I would also think
about adding some soil and making a mound and maybe a planter?

If the tower was that high I would guess the pad is 5' deep or more

You could rent a backhoe and dig the side out if you are handy but if you
are going to do that get a backhoe with a hammer on the end and go to town
with it!

more fun same cost

Wayne


"Cafe1" wrote in message
news
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.

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?

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. 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.

My last idea is to get someone else with a backhoe and get them to dig a
hole around two sides as deep as needed, then tip it over into the hole,
and
re-fill the hole to bury the sucker. I wanted to get the guy I had there
(with the backhoe) to do that, but it was a real struggle trying to
communicate with him, so I gave up.

The bottom line is that I really like my acid idea, but I don't know if it
would work.

On Sun, 09 May 2004 19:42:59 GMT, "wayne" wrote:

Concrete saw to put groove in it then a jackhammer! I would also think
about adding some soil and making a mound and maybe a planter?

This is probably a silly question, but what about combining the
concrete saw with a high-pressure washer?

A friend's driveway was badly eroded by a fellow with a high-pressure
washer (although in fairness I have to admit the big oil stain was
also removed), so I know that these will remove concrete. It didn't
take long to damage the driveway, either, so I assume that taking the
concrete apart wouldn't take forever.

Groove it with the saw and then use the washer to widen and deepen the
cut, eventually undercutting chunks until it's gone?

This sounds too simple, so I'm sure there are good reasons that it's a
bad idea.

Mary

--
Mary Shafer Retired aerospace research engineer

Thanks. The concrete I have is rock solid and smooth, so I'm not sure that
a high-pressure washer would be able to break it up. I have seen concrete
where the very top layer can become degraded and scrapes off, but I think
that's from when the concrete was first poured and maybe too much water was
used when they "floated" the top to smooth it out.

In a way, that's why I was wondering about my acid idea. I just wondered if
the acid would degrade the structure of the concrete enough to enable it to
break up easily. But I have a hunch that what others said about needing too
much acid, etc., is probably correct. But, who knows, I might just try a
little and see what happens.

"Mary Shafer" wrote in message
...
On Sun, 09 May 2004 19:42:59 GMT, "wayne" wrote:

Concrete saw to put groove in it then a jackhammer! I would also think
about adding some soil and making a mound and maybe a planter?

This is probably a silly question, but what about combining the
concrete saw with a high-pressure washer?

A friend's driveway was badly eroded by a fellow with a high-pressure
washer (although in fairness I have to admit the big oil stain was
also removed), so I know that these will remove concrete. It didn't
take long to damage the driveway, either, so I assume that taking the
concrete apart wouldn't take forever.

Groove it with the saw and then use the washer to widen and deepen the
cut, eventually undercutting chunks until it's gone?

This sounds too simple, so I'm sure there are good reasons that it's a
bad idea.

Mary

--
Mary Shafer Retired aerospace research engineer

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.

[...]

There's bad news.

Like an iceberg, there's more there than you see.

Consider the torque on a fifty foot tower in a modest wind.

The hunk of concrete you see is probably at the intersection of a large
"T" - maybe 20x20 feet with the out-riggers a foot square with rebar. You
are NOT going to tip this sucker into a nearby hole.

You have a genuine Caddy Shack moment.

Probably not that big: I am planning to erect a 60' tower, and the spec.
calls for only a 5' x 5' x 6' base (the same even for the 100' model).
The manufacturer gives maximum antenna sizes for wind speeds as high as
70mph for the 100' one and 120mph for the 60' one.

AB2OS


JerryMouse wrote:

There's bad news.

Like an iceberg, there's more there than you see.

Consider the torque on a fifty foot tower in a modest wind.

The hunk of concrete you see is probably at the intersection of a large
"T" - maybe 20x20 feet with the out-riggers a foot square with rebar. You
are NOT going to tip this sucker into a nearby hole.

Minnie Bannister wrote:
Probably not that big: I am planning to erect a 60' tower, and the
spec. calls for only a 5' x 5' x 6' base (the same even for the 100'
model). The manufacturer gives maximum antenna sizes for wind speeds
as high as 70mph for the 100' one and 120mph for the 60' one.

AB2OS


Maybe you should talk to Cafe1 I understand he has just what you need,
all you need do is stop by and pick it up. ;-)

--
Joseph E. Meehan

26 + 6 = 1 It's Irish Math

"JerryMouse" wrote in message
...
There's bad news.

Like an iceberg, there's more there than you see.

Consider the torque on a fifty foot tower in a modest wind.

The hunk of concrete you see is probably at the intersection of a large
"T" - maybe 20x20 feet with the out-riggers a foot square with rebar. You
are NOT going to tip this sucker into a nearby hole.

You have a genuine Caddy Shack moment.

You might be right. While I don't know if it would be 20x20 feet, it would
make sense that there would be some kind of cross-bar setup below ground.

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
--
Remove the dead poet to e-mail, tho CC'd posts are unwelcome.
Ask me about joining the NRA.