FIVE POINTS
EXCAVATING
Concrete Demolition & Removal
There are certain situations when using a patching compound and resurfacing product would only work for a short period of time. Under these conditions, patching the concrete before resurfacing or doing a decorative topping would be a waste of time and money. The surface or topping would soon display the same characteristics as the concrete you tried to repair. These conditions include deep/widespread cracks, sunken concrete slabs, slabs with obvious signs of frost heave, or slabs with too much spalling.
Concrete demolition has 2 different main methods, the first one is pressure bursting. Pressure bursting can be used in cases where relatively quiet, dust-free, controlled demolition is needed. Both mechanical and chemical pressure bursting split the concrete, either with a splitting machine operating on hydraulic pressure provided by a motor in the case of mechanical bursting, or through the insertion of an expansive slurry into a pre-determined pattern of boreholes in the case of chemical bursting.
The split concrete is then easily removed, either by hand or by crane.
Hydraulic and chemical pressure bursting break up concrete structures with a minimum of noise and flying debris. Both methods work by applying lateral forces against the inside of holes drilled into the concrete, and can do virtually any job other demolition methods are capable of. However, rather than shattering the concrete into bits as dynamite and impact tools would, the lateral forces build up over time to crack the concrete into smaller sections.
The second concrete demolition method uses pneumatic and hydraulic breakers. Often used in concrete demolition projects involving bridge decks, foundations and pavement, hand-held or boom mounted pneumatic and hydraulic breakers are currently the toolof choice.
The amount of work accomplished using these methods depends on the hammer size, strength of the concrete, the amount of steel reinforcing used in the concrete, and working conditions.
