How to Crush Concrete Slabs Into Stone Sized Pieces

Concrete is often a difficult material to break up.

If a building is being demolished or renovated, it is likely that a concrete floor slab will need to be broken up. It will need to be crushed into small pieces, which are easy to carry and could be reused elsewhere beneath roads, footpaths or driveways. This is physically demanding work, and time should be taken to ensure that you rest often and do not overexert yourself.

Things You'll Need

• Hard hat
• Boots or heavy work shoes
• Heavy work gloves
• Safety glasses
• Sledge hammer
• Pickax
• Shovel

Instructions

1. Put on your personal protective equipment: a hard hat, safety glasses, and heavy duty gloves. These will protect you from any chips of concrete that shard away from the slab and could cause injury.

2. Use a shovel to dig away at the edge of the slab to see how thick it is.

3. Request that a colleague wedge the head of the ax under one corner of the slab. He should then push down on the shaft of the ax, lifting the slab from beneath.

4. Strike the slab with a sledge hammer about 12 inches from the point where the pickax touches the underside of the slab. Do this repeatedly, and after a short time the slab will break up into small pieces.

Tips & Warnings

• Use a pneumatic hammer to break up the concrete if it is more than 3 inches thick.

References

• Corner Hardware: How to Break Up Concrete