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how easy it it to remove concrete from a garden

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jamminjamaica
jamminjamaica Posts: 862 Forumite
in House buying, renting & selling
hi there

i have viewed a house that i really like only downside is that they have concreted over the back garden. Just wondered how easy / difficult it would be to put the grass back in.

any ideas welcome
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  • silvercar
    silvercar Posts: 47,084 Ambassador
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    is there sufficient access to get a digger into the back garden? if there isn't then its a manual job that takes time.
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  • jamminjamaica
    jamminjamaica Posts: 862 Forumite
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    yes i could get a digger in as they currently park three cars in the back.
  • Raggie
    Raggie Posts: 613 Forumite
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    just a word to the wise...

    we had our front concreted over for cars.. "patern imprinted concrete" (looks real nice BTW)..

    the company we has in laid the cement some 18 inches plus deep.. to take the weight of the cars.. not sying yours will be that deep.. but its good to be prepared..
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  • jamminjamaica
    jamminjamaica Posts: 862 Forumite
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    Raggie wrote:
    just a word to the wise...

    we had our front concreted over for cars.. "patern imprinted concrete" (looks real nice BTW)..

    the company we has in laid the cement some 18 inches plus deep.. to take the weight of the cars.. not sying yours will be that deep.. but its good to be prepared..


    i never thought about how deep the concrete might be. suppose i should buy the house first
  • mrcow
    mrcow Posts: 15,170 Forumite
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    We had a massive slab of concrete to break in our garden only about a foot deep and it was a tough job as we had to do it manually and use a heavy concrete breaker and then skip it all.

    Good luck!
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  • fabwitch_2
    fabwitch_2 Posts: 1,756 Forumite
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    When I moved into this house there was a driveway in the back garden, my Husband hired a hand held drill for digging out contrete and breaking it up. It was very deap and alot of hard work but he manmnaged to do it all by himself. Looks great now all grassed over with a gizebo . Good luck it can be done.
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  • Parks
    Parks Posts: 298 Forumite
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    Breaking up concrete is a hard job but can be made easier if; There are two doing it and you have the right tools. Basically my drive was 18 inch concrete and a number of years ago I decided to have block paving. The way to do it is that you first need

    A big heavy duty Sledge hammer
    I 5ft long crow bar
    Jigger Pick (Hire shop 4 a day)

    The jiger pick will start to break up the concrete and form cracks between it. One of you uses the large crow bar to slightly lift the concrete (less than an inch will do) and the other hits the slab lifted in the middle. The concrete then breaks like chocolate.

    All this sounds well and good and it is quite easy UNLESS metal grids have been used to bind the concrete, then you are looking at a big job.

    When i did it two people 2 hours to break up a slab 18 inch thick, 8 ft wide and 16ft long. Good Luck
  • jamminjamaica
    jamminjamaica Posts: 862 Forumite
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    just hope the people accept our offer.
  • linda.b_4
    linda.b_4 Posts: 126 Forumite
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    We had a concrete patio that looked unsightly. rather than take it out, we got some of the fancy slate and covered it over and put some pots round with plants in. It looked good and was much less hassle than smashing up the concrete.
  • Naetha
    Naetha Posts: 72 Forumite
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    For about £300 you can probably hire a digger, driver and pecker (pneumatic drill attachment) for a day to get it all out. It's also likely that you'll then need a skip for it as well which could cost up to £200. However, you should get it all broken up and out within a day.
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