Best tool for the job? - Pneumatic drill or stone cutter?

[tigers238]

Hi - Richard the Newby here. I have 40m of tatty concrete pathway made up of roughly 1m square slabs 60mm thick. Those sections which haven't been screened by the house have suffered badly from frost damage in recent years and are breaking up on the surface. The others are just plain ugly and dangerously slimey in between pressure washings.

My plan is to take up the concrete and replace it with a 10 mm gravel path which will match what we have on the other side of the house and will also improve the surface run off adjacent to a cob wall which is prone to damp.

Am I better off using a rotary stone cutter to get the concrete slabs into easy to handle chunks for removal or a pneumatic drill? I will be hiring from Jewsons or somewhere similar.

Additionally any top tips on the necessary prep for laying the gravel successfully once the concrete is out of the way would be hugely welcome.

Many thanks.

[Tony McC]

Jack hammer (pneumatic drill) - much quicker!

Gravel Path Construction

[Dave_L]

JCB Beaver breaker, available from most hire shops.

[KLS]

I second the beaver

[Dave_L]

This is what we are referring to as a Beaver Breaker

[lutonlagerlout]

^^ breaker all day
LLL

[rxbren]

if its only 60mm thick lift one edge side up and hit the slab with a sledgehammer

[Dave_L]

Might only be 60mm thick where he can see it, could be double elsewhere!

But I agree, it might be worth trying the sledge method as it will save you £60ish or so

[Mikey_C]

see other thread about hitting services, no matter how thick or thin and what tool is used make sure there are no services buried shallowly underneath, I've got one these that i brought, rather than hire, because I had several different jobs to do when I finish the last one, I'll be flogging it, if you were local you could have borrowed it!

[lutonlagerlout]

I normally try the pin/14lb persuader first
but if its over 100mm thick its a no go

some old council estates the paths are 150 concrete on 150 of hardcore

I have caught a cold on this type of thing before

LLL

[tigers238]

Many thanks for all these replies - very helpful.

Sounds like sledge followed by Beaver!

[Tony McC]

What's the hire rate nowadays for a Beaver vs that for a compressor and breaker?

We used to bring in a Beaver when we were doing remedials on estate roads prior to adoption, and they were OK at chewing through small areas of bitmac, but they always lacked whoomph for breaking up concrete. A compressor, meanwhile, would serve two or even four jack-hammers with plenty of whoomph, even for reinforced concrete.

We had our own comp, but I know the going hire rate back them was more or less the same for both a comp c/w hose and hammers, or a Beaver. The only advantage of the Beaver was its portability.

[Dave_L]

Compressors are becoming somewhat of a rarity at hire places these days given the popularity of machine mounted breakers etc.

[lutonlagerlout]

beaver pack is around £50 a day plus delivery plus VAT
LLL