The Best Way to Remove a Concrete Wall

You might look into renting a handheld concrete saw and cut it up into smaller pieces to remove with a prybar or sledge hammer.

Most rental places have these and they can be quite efficient at cutting through reinforced concrete. Especially if it is a softer variety tensil strength.

Not much else to suggest on that particular problem excapt the old hammer and chisel method.

Sorry.

Invite the neighbours to a bring a hammer and chisel party.

Or spread the word about the previous owner that buried a treasure there.

On a serious note - use an acid to soften he slab.

What kind of acid can be used please? And where is the simplest place i can get it?

Best bet would be to rent a backhoe and rip the wall out. Of course you will need a big enough machine to get it out. Other option is to rent a bobcat with a concrete breaker attachment. This will permit you to chop up the foundation wall so you can easily remove it. You will probably have to dig down to the bottom of the footings to be able to get all of the concrete out.

Back to the Tool Rental option - Hilti has a 900 series hammer which is set up to be used laterally. Start at the bottom more or less parallel to the floor and be patient.

I always admire the simplicity of my peers technical approaches in answering these questions. Particulalryl that of inviting the neighbours to a working bee.! Could well be the cheapest . Make sure that you have enough : saussages , beer and that it is a cool day !

My contributions are :

1.I assume that this is a reinforced concrete wall and that therefore it will resist the strains of the following :

a.dig out in at least two places enough room to slide a steel rod which can pull through, under the foundation , one or more steel wire sling(s).

b.Use a suitably sized crane or even an excavator if it has the reach (depending on the weight -you have not given measurement and therefore no weight ? ) to lift the whole thing out (without hitting your house !) and haul it away to the dump yard.

2.Ask around for a contractor who has fitted an hydraulic shear to his excavators.These will cut through anything and can assist in cutting the wall in smaller pieces. They are used in demolition work and steel scrap handling

Check which one will be the cheapest but make sure the guys know what they are doing and are not "bums" who will wreck your house. Good luck.

Labor.

It's a front porch! Probably designed for 10 kids and a couple of rocking chairs.........

Let's not get carried away with elegance when simplicity should work just fine.

Try an electric-powered jack hammer. Choose a suitable size that is powerful enough but not too heavy for your arms.

There is a material readily available that you drill a hole, fill it with the mix, wait about a day, and bye bye a huge area around where you put the material in. We use it here in Arizona to break rock. Check with your COMMERCIAL building supply house for the product and specific instructions for use. It is NOT an explosive.

So........ What is it???

dig out the footings and push or pull?

Rent a BOB CAT with a jack hammer attachment.

You are facing a real task my friend. I removed part of a 4 inch thick patio from my back yard using a diamond saw then a jack hammer then a lot of sweat.

A vertical wall 6 inches thick IMHO begs for a wrecking ball.

bobguz

In the yellow pages look under concrete cutting and coring. Hire the contractor to do the work. Invite your neighbors to watch but they have to bring the sausage & beer. Make sure there's enough for the demo crew when they get done.

Best idea yet. The thing everyone forgets is how do you get rid of the stuff. Thats where the contractor shines.

Greetings:

There is an air tool that can be used sideways; its called a single jack; like a jack hammer but more maneuverable than a jack hammer.

Wish i could tell you were to get it but i cant but they do make a expanding foam that will over 24 to 36 hours break the concrete. Drill a bunch of holes fill em up on Friday and clean up the pieces on Sunday. Its a commercial product. ...... Always do it with water and wait till winter ... ;)

The Breaking Bee method suggested early on works best with a beer keg attached...

Is the wall still standing ?

If yes use another simple method.

Get a lenght of 3 to 4 " diam. galvanised pipe,.(exact lenght to be suited to simple system which follows :

-weld a bottom plate as a shoe say 8" x 8 ". Plate to be 1/2" thick.

-weld a similar plate for the top of the pipe but with drill holes on four sides (say 1/2 to 3/4 inch diameter ). These holes are to be used for :

On three sides to couple plain nylon rope guys. The guys should be anchored properly onto ground anchors (steel spikes) driven at an angle away from the mast. The guys are to steady your temporary mast.

-Obtain a chain block ( these can be hired ) of : one to two tonnes capacity.(these come in very portable sizes which can be man-handled ) Through shackles attach same to the top of the mast (Mast to be situated very close to the wall ) Drill hole into the wall at what appears to be its center of gravity and with a concrete drill endeavour to secure one of the reinforcing wires (if it is re-inforced) If it is not try again to thread (dig) a steel wire rope under the footings of the wall. Activate the chain block (one man deal ) and move the d. thing out.

The above solution will NOT lift the wall onto a truck or trailer . What it will definitely do is get it out of the ground so that you can use whatever cheaper means are at hand (including your beer drinking friends ) to break it up into manageable pieces away from harms way of the house or porch. (You will still have to find someone to take it to the dump. I can not help you there) Good luck

Labor.

This is more work than originally thought.

Thanks so much for all the advice! The walls are now down. Although we tried to entice friends and neighbors to join in, the sweat pouring off our brows scared them off. They did however all seemed to enjoy watching us. How did we do it? The handheld electric jackhammer did the trick. We chipped and chipped at it, then once we discovered the technique of working on a fault line near the end of the wall, it began to come off in large chunks. Now that it is done, we are working on all the beer and chips that we got to entice our friends, ha ha! Thanks again!

I'm glad you we're able to worked it out with the electric jackhammer. I've used this kind of tool for some small demo work, especially in tight spaces and was able to do the job well.

Explosives.