Jackhammer anyone?

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Rick.a

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I will be remodeling a bathroom in a house on a slab. I need to move some plumbing that runs in/under the slab. I have never used a jackhammer so my question is: How long might it take to cut a 8 ft x 6 inch trench through a six inch thick slab. Slab thickness is estimated and might be more like 4 inches (i hope). Will this job kill me or might it to pretty quickly. I'm 175 lbs and 55 years old, and am in decent shape.

Do I score the concrete in some way first or just draw a line and chug away at it?
 

bonawizer

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If you don't score it first you will crack the rest of the slab. Beware of hitting rebar or mesh inbedded in the slab. That can really slow things down.
 

Gary Swart

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Ditto on the scoring and rebar caution. As far as a jack hammer is concerned, you can use a rotary hammer for breaking that amount of concrete. I would suggest that you first contact a professional concrete cutting company. Breaking concrete with a hammer is a dirty job. Dust gets everywhere. The pros can make a cut like you need quickly and cleanly. Of course, the trade off is money. I own my own small rotary hammer/drill, but if you have to rent tools, you might end up paying almost as much rent as the pros would charge to do the job.
 

Leejosepho

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Kind of like Gary said, I would compare the cost of hiring a contractor with a rolling saw and the cost of renting one. The saw you want would have a water-cooled blade that leaves no dust and is large enough and tough enough to cut all the way through everything, including embedded steel.

I once rented a rotary hammer drill to use for cutting a hole for a sump and about 4' of 4" trench, but my concrete was only 4" thick and had no steel.

By using/hiring the correct saw, your job could be done faster and more cleanly than mine.
 

HandyAndy

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I have a bosh electric jack hammer,
and my Daughter was or could run it when she was 16, and she was not a big girl.

doing a narrow area like that is difficult, but if you can get a diamond blade and even jsut get an inch deep cut in the floor it will help tremendously, and it will make a neat look to the job, the deeper the cut the better, especially on some thing that narrow,

if the cut is not possible,

take a sharp bull point chisel, and make a series of dimples spaced about every 2" to 3" just drive the tip about no more than 1/2" deep along a line you want to have for the edges, then come back deepen them some, if you have a 3" bit, you can then place that on the dimples, and make a longer mark, and more than likely you will create a crack in the slab that will give you a place to keep it from breaking out more of the slab.

the saw cut is best tho,

on a slab start in one area about 6" to 8" around and work it in multiple areas, until it is pulverized, clean out the broke cement as you go if possible.

clean out as much broken cement as possible once you get a hole, then start and jsut take off a few inches at a time, unless the concrete has some place to go it is hard to break, up,

I will repeat again take small bits, and it should go fast,

If you cut the trench wider say 12" to 16" I think you will find it easier, unless you have deep cuts on each side,
 

Toolaholic

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rent a gas cut off masonary saw

I have 3 jackhammers , but would use My hilti diamond wet saw first.
Make 2 parallel cuts then use sledge.
 

Rick.a

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OK, thanks. I think that I will go with the saw technique, cut as deep as possible and bonk it out with a sledge, a little at a time.
 

Prashster

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I wouldn't use a sledge. It'll be harder than you think.

Rent a wet diamond saw and score the lines. Don't do dry, or you'll rue the day you ruined yr house with dust.

A rotohammer - even an SDSMax will kill your back. Even a demo hammer will be hard work. It took me a couple hours to chip an area about twice the size of yours. It was very tiring work. And I'm only 35.

Rent a Bosch yellow and chip with that. The hardest part will be finding someone to help you lug it down/up any stairs. But once in place, you'll be thankful for the ease of operation.

Both items can be rented from HD or any decent rental place for about $150 total.
 

Markts30

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Another point...
No matter which way you decide to go...
Eye and ear protection is a must - mask for dust as well when chipping... (wet saws do not create dust if used properly...)
 

Prashster

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A friend of mine sledged his floor and found a huge boulder under the foundation in the way of the proposed drain line. Tried to micky mouse it with the sledge. Sprained his wrist. Ended up renting the yellowjack anyway.

If yr LUCKY the sledge'll work out fine. The yellowjack is well spent insurance IMHO. Also, don't forget that you have to break up the bits into fair sized chunks that can be lifted and xported easily. The jack'll make short work of creating small sized rocks. The sledge'll be a tad more difficult.

You can also use the jack with a shovel bit to loosen up the ground underneath for easy trenching.


Here's one place I wouldn't go for the 'bare minimum'. Save yr back, spend yr money.
 

Prashster

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rick.a said:
OK, it looks like this might be uglier than I suspected. I will hire someone to do this part.
Thanks.

Rick-
I'm no pro, so don't be dissuaded by my experience...
 

Rick.a

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No Problem. I regularly hire someone else to do part of big jobs, usually for the lack of wither expertise, time, or muscle. There will still be plenty for me to do.

thanks everyone.
 
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