We loved our house from the first time we went through, but it really didn't have enough living space. We have worked on improving the layout of the home and increasing the living area of the home to create a modern and more pleasant layout to the home. We are really proud of how the job has turned out and we wanted to share some of the details of how the extension and layout changes where designed and constructed. This blog has some of the photos of our extension as well as tips that we have learnt along the journey,.
Construction & Contractors Blog
So, you've finally decided to get rid of your concrete drive and replace it with something prettier. You want to save money, so you're doing the job yourself. Read on to find out how to break up your drive and what to do with the concrete you're left with.
Easiest Ways to Break up Concrete
You're going to need to be a reasonably strong person (or have access to a reasonably strong person) to do the job. For concrete drives up to 4 inches thick, a sledgehammer should suffice. The sledgehammer approach is simple enough: you strike the concrete hard enough, and it should break up. Before you commit to the sledgehammer method, it's worth conducting a test on the concrete before you start the demolition. You want to know that the concrete is thin enough to use a sledgehammer. If it's too thick to be broken this way, you'll need to hire some equipment. A pneumatic jackhammer will come with a large compressor to power it. It will be heavy and can be difficult to manoeuvre, so you'll still need some strength to use it.
How to Dispose of Your Leftover Concrete
Once you've got through the laborious job of breaking up your driveway, you're going to be left with a heap of concrete to dispose of. If you simply want rid of the concrete, you can hire a skip that is purposely meant for concrete disposal. You'll need to make sure you break up the concrete into small enough pieces to lift into the skip. The skip hire company will remove the concrete and usually arrange for it to be recycled. If you're looking for a cheaper method of disposal, you can recycle concrete in the following ways.
1. Look for concrete recycling companies in your area that are willing to collect the concrete from you. A recycling company will come and collect your concrete, either for free or a small fee. They'll take it to their concrete crushing plant and reduce your pieces to rubble for use as aggregate. You should check whether any fee is cheaper than hiring a skip.
2. If you'd like to avoid paying for any form of disposal, consider giving the concrete pieces away. Advertise on recycling sites and allow people to collect it for their building projects. If you choose this method, you should break up the pieces as small as possible. It will be easier to get rid of it if people can collect bags of the concrete in their car.
3. Finally, if you have a building project that you're undertaking yourself, consider reusing your concrete as aggregate. If you can't break it small enough yourself, you can hire a mini concrete crusher for a day. The cost of the crusher hire may be cheaper than the cost of buying aggregate.
For more information, contact South Coast Concrete Crushing & Recycling or a similar company.
Share1 August 2016
