Removing a Concrete Patio or Driveway in Central Florida

A cracked driveway or a patio nobody uses is a slab of rock in your yard. Getting it out is a machine job, and the haul-out works differently from every other load I run. Here's the whole process, from the first break to bare dirt, and where the price comes from.

How do you break up a concrete patio?

With a breaker on the Kubota skid steer. It's a hydraulic hammer that cracks the slab into pieces the grapple can lift, about the size of a laptop. A thin walkway or a little stoop sometimes just takes a sledge and a bar. A driveway is breaker work start to finish. The photo on this post is my machine on a patio at exactly that stage.

What I'm looking at before the first hit:

• Thickness. A patio poured at four inches breaks fast. An old driveway poured thick takes more passes.
• Rebar or wire mesh. Reinforced slabs hold together after they crack. I cut the steel as I go and it's hauled with the concrete.
• What's next to it. A slab against the house, the pool or a lanai gets broken from the outside in so nothing else takes a hit.
• What's under it. Call Sunshine 811 a few days ahead so buried lines get marked. It's free. I also ask about irrigation and pool plumbing, because 811 doesn't mark those.

Why doesn't concrete ride in your dump trailers?

Weight. A trailer full of broken concrete weighs far more than the same trailer full of furniture, and the trailer isn't built for it. So concrete never goes in mine. I partner with dump trucks and concrete recyclers who haul it where it can be crushed and reused, and I quote that with the breaking as one number for the job. Dirt is handled the same way.

That's why concrete is priced per job instead of by the trailer. There's no quarter, half or full for a driveway. You send photos, tell me the rough square footage and whether you think it's reinforced, and I give you one price for breaking it, loading it and getting it off the property.

What about pavers and brick?

Those do ride in the trailers. Pavers, brick and stone come up whole, or mostly whole, and they stack. They're heavy, and that's in the number, but they go out on the same trailer I'd use for a shed. A paver patio is a load-size job. A poured patio is a partner-truck job. Same yard, two different prices, and I'll tell you which yours is from the photo.

What's under the slab?

Usually a few inches of compacted sand or gravel. Sometimes nothing but Florida sand. If you're pouring new concrete or laying pavers, that base is worth keeping and I leave it. If you want grass, I scrape it and you're at bare dirt. Tell me what's going in next and I'll leave the right thing behind.

Rebar and mesh are the surprise on older slabs. You can't see them from the top. If the slab cracks and the pieces stay locked together, there's steel in it, and that adds time. I'd rather know ahead from a photo of an existing crack or an exposed edge.

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What happens after the concrete is gone?

You have a footprint. Three things people do with it:

1. New concrete. A concrete contractor pours on the base I left. Schedule me a day or two before them.
2. Pavers. Same idea. The base stays and the paver crew builds on it.
3. Grass or beds. I can grade the spot level with the bucket while the machine is already there. Sod and plants are yours or your landscaper's.

If it's a driveway, some people switch to gravel instead of a new pour. One customer had me take out the driveway and planned to have me spread the gravel next. That's light grading, and it's the kind I do.

Can I haul broken concrete myself?

If you break up a small patio by hand, yes. Polk County residents can take construction and demolition debris to the North Central Transfer Station in Auburndale at $46 per ton with a $10 minimum on every load. Concrete is heavy, so a pickup bed doesn't hold much before you're past what the truck should carry. For anything bigger than a stoop, the machine and the partner truck are the sane route.

What Big Rob's does here

The concrete removal page has the full scope. Landscape demolition covers paver patios and retaining walls, and the Polk County disposal guide has the transfer station hours. Concrete calls come from Davenport, Haines City, Poinciana, Kissimmee and Winter Haven.

Text a photo of the slab and a photo of any crack to (863) 225-2147 and I'll quote the whole job.