Does anyone have any great concrete removal tips please?
We're exposing an old fireplace. It's only going to be decorative, never used. The main reason for doing this is to reduce a damp issue that it's causing. The chimney stack was removed in around 1965. It was blocked in without any kind of ventilation and filled with rubble. Then whoever did it poured a very strong concrete mix down it. I'm trying to remove this because it's all causing a damp problem in that room. I started with using masonry chisels and hammers which were great at first and then progressed to a kango type hammer drill as the rubble became more "concretey". I've now reached a bit now where the block is so hard that I can only convert it into powder cm by cm as I go and it's infuriating. Yesterday I spent 6 hours at the workface making frustratingly little progress. Today's plan is to get an angle grinder and cut a "grid" into it and then try to chisel out the squares. This is going to prove messy and be hard work too but after that I'm out of ideas. Can anyone suggest another way because if this doesn't help progress the concrete will have won. Is it just a matter of getting more industrial tools which I don't want to do because I don't want to cause any damage from vibration etc in the surrounding area.
We're exposing an old fireplace. It's only going to be decorative, never used. The main reason for doing this is to reduce a damp issue that it's causing. The chimney stack was removed in around 1965. It was blocked in without any kind of ventilation and filled with rubble. Then whoever did it poured a very strong concrete mix down it. I'm trying to remove this because it's all causing a damp problem in that room. I started with using masonry chisels and hammers which were great at first and then progressed to a kango type hammer drill as the rubble became more "concretey". I've now reached a bit now where the block is so hard that I can only convert it into powder cm by cm as I go and it's infuriating. Yesterday I spent 6 hours at the workface making frustratingly little progress. Today's plan is to get an angle grinder and cut a "grid" into it and then try to chisel out the squares. This is going to prove messy and be hard work too but after that I'm out of ideas. Can anyone suggest another way because if this doesn't help progress the concrete will have won. Is it just a matter of getting more industrial tools which I don't want to do because I don't want to cause any damage from vibration etc in the surrounding area.
