Knocking down a concretar pillar - nightmare job

v638sg7k1a92bx

We have a concrete pillar in the cellar which has been there since before we moved in. It’s about 6ft tall and 4ft wide and has cavity blocks around the outside. The wall pillar doesn’t support anything. We now need extra room in the cellar and started to remove the pillar and my god it has turned out to be a massive task. The block on the outside are covering poured concrete that has steel and wires and cable inside. Have hired kango hammers but cannot use pneumatic drill because the compressor is too big and uses diesel in a confined space.

Can anyone suggest another effective way to tackle this pillar?

https://imgur.com/a/GC1TsEA

Atlantic Dawn

Why would it be there if it doesn't support anything?

high_king

imagine someone just putting a reinforced column there for the craic ?

best thing to do would be get the local quarry lads to lend you some fuses and gelignite to blast it.

smelly sock

I wont bite.

SmartinMartin

Are there chains and manacles embedded in it? :eek:

keepalive213

Could you not keep the compressor outside, run in long air lines and use a small jackhammer / cp9
And some way of keeping the dust extracted...

drunkmonkey

Sounds like a Hitobashira if it's not supporting anything.

Lumen

Wall Saw?

https://www.hilti.ie/content/hilti/E1/IE/en/products/homepage-and-new-products/diamond-coring/diamond-sawing-tools/dst-20-ca-electric-wall-saw.html

Atlantic Dawn

Lumen wrote: »

Wall Saw?

https://www.hilti.ie/content/hilti/E1/IE/en/products/homepage-and-new-products/diamond-coring/diamond-sawing-tools/dst-20-ca-electric-wall-saw.html

Only just under €55k , you could have a crowd of people working on it for a week for a fraction of that.

Discounted net
From EUR54 700,00

Lumen

Atlantic Dawn wrote: »

Only just under €55k , you could have a crowd of people working on it for a week for a fraction of that.

Ah, OK. Bad example. But there are presumably cheaper rental options, e.g.

https://www.powerplant.ie/our-range/cutting-sawing-grinding/cut-break-wall-saw/

Cutting depth is less though, and it's petrol so fumes are a problem.

v638sg7k1a92bx

keepalive213 wrote: »

Could you not keep the compressor outside, run in long air lines and use a small jackhammer / cp9
And some way of keeping the dust extracted...

Public footpath so couldn't put compressor outside.

irishgeo

Malcolm Fit Supervisor wrote: »

We have a concrete pillar in the cellar which has been there since before we moved in. It’s about 6ft tall and 4ft wide and has cavity blocks around the outside. The wall pillar doesn’t support anything. We now need extra room in the cellar and started to remove the pillar and my god it has turned out to be a massive task. The block on the outside are covering poured concrete that has steel and wires and cable inside. Have hired kango hammers but cannot use pneumatic drill because the compressor is too big and uses diesel in a confined space.

Can anyone suggest another effective way to tackle this pillar?

Which engineer did you consult to ensure its not supporting anything or was self diagnosis?

BarryD2

Malcolm Fit Supervisor wrote: »

Public footpath so couldn't put compressor outside.

Why is the pillar there? Somebody went to the trouble of building it, for some purpose. Hardly done for the crack

v638sg7k1a92bx

BarryD2 wrote: »

Why is the pillar there? Somebody went to the trouble of building it, for some purpose. Hardly done for the crack��

No idea, the building is old.

mordeith

OP said it's 6 foot so presumably not meeting ceiling/floor? Unless it's a very low cellar.

smelly sock

smelly sock wrote: »

I wont bite.

Probably best if it's reinforced concrete. Dental bills would be massive, and of doubtful benefit.

BDI

Consaw and a lad from one of our new European Union countries (nothing they can’t cut through) seems to be the standard practice in the Dublin building trade.

I’m sure there are oxygen type masks for such adventures.

Whoever mentioned the japenese sacrifice pillar has provided me with a morning of reading.

v638sg7k1a92bx

BDI wrote: »

Consaw and a lad from one of our new European Union countries (nothing they can’t cut through) seems to be the standard practice in the Dublin building trade.

I’m sure there are oxygen type masks for such adventures.

Whoever mentioned the japenese sacrifice pillar has provided me with a morning of reading.

Consaw and the Kango?

smelly sock

Who has a cellar in ireland.

v638sg7k1a92bx

smelly sock wrote: »

Who has a cellar in ireland.

Any suggestions?

Captain Red Beard

smelly sock wrote: »

Who has a cellar in ireland.

Protestants.

shesty

First off I am an engineer, so I am going to say that you would want to be 100%sure that is not supporting anything before you go at it.Something with that much reinforcement is not just thrown in as an ornament, and if the place is old (and in the cellar!) You really should get somebody to look at it before starting to hack away at it.

Otherwise at this stage you may be looking at getting a small contractor in to remove it.Not ideal costwise I would say, but they will have the gear and manpower needed.Since your other options seem to be exhausted.

v638sg7k1a92bx

shesty wrote: »

First off I am an engineer, so I am going to say that you would want to be 100%sure that is not supporting anything before you go at it.Something with that much reinforcement is not just thrown in as an ornament, and if the place is old (and in the cellar!) You really should get somebody to look at it before starting to hack away at it.

Otherwise at this stage you may be looking at getting a small contractor in to remove it.Not ideal costwise I would say, but they will have the gear and manpower needed.Since your other options seem to be exhausted.

Definitely not supporting anything. Contractor is what I will use but their tools are limited in terms compressor and relying on electrical tools. They've been hacking away for a week but seems to be making marginal progress.

PirateShampoo

If its not supporting anything, just push it over.

irishgeo

PirateShampoo wrote: »

If its not supporting anything, just push it over.

Yeah it's not supporting anything but it's got rebar and concrete in it.

PirateShampoo

irishgeo wrote: »

Yeah it's not supporting anything but it's got rebar and concrete in it.

Exactly my point.

BDI

irishgeo wrote: »

Yeah it's not supporting anything but it's got rebar and concrete in it.

So they poured foundations with rebar sticking up from the foundation. Then shuttered around the rebar and poured concrete to make a pillar. For no reason at all.

I wonder did this support the basement ceiling/ground floor at one stage but the ceiling was since raised using rsj s and they just never bothered removing the pillar.

That’s all I can think of.

Maybe it’s holding down the foundations and if you remove it the house will float away like in that film.

Is there balloons tied to the exterior of the structure?

the_pen_turner

Con saw it into sections vertically and horizontally. That will make breaking it a lot easier. Use plenty of water

BDI

the_pen_turner wrote: »

Con saw it into sections vertically and horizontally. That will make breaking it a lot easier. Use plenty of water

Yeah with water and a hole drilling company they can strap a drill to the pillar and drill holes right across the bottom of it with minimal dust.

Stigura

I feel this thread needs pictures

v638sg7k1a92bx

shesty wrote: »

First off I am an engineer, so I am going to say that you would want to be 100%sure that is not supporting anything before you go at it.Something with that much reinforcement is not just thrown in as an ornament, and if the place is old (and in the cellar!) You really should get somebody to look at it before starting to hack away at it.

Otherwise at this stage you may be looking at getting a small contractor in to remove it.Not ideal costwise I would say, but they will have the gear and manpower needed.Since your other options seem to be exhausted.

Could it be supporting the building next door but they had their basement filled in with concrete years ago and there is. I thing sitting on top of this pillar so it’s a mystery what it’s doing there. There’s also bits of wire and cabling mixed in there.

Video here https://imgur.com/a/GC1TsEA

BDI

That used to support something I am sure of it.

Hopefully whatever it supported is supported some other way now.

Read back through your last post. It's not clear, what's sitting on top of the pillar?

v638sg7k1a92bx

Deleted User wrote: »

Read back through your last post. It's not clear, what's sitting on top of the pillar?

Nothing. There is nothing on top of it. Nothing.

BorneTobyWilde

There is a way to drill these things, you then pour some special mix into the holes that expands and cranks it into pieces, usually with rock though, this is reinforced concrete

Del2005

Malcolm Fit Supervisor wrote: »

Could it be supporting the building next door but they had their basement filled in with concrete years ago and there is. I thing sitting on top of this pillar so it’s a mystery what it’s doing there. There’s also bits of wire and cabling mixed in there.

Video here https://imgur.com/a/GC1TsEA

Have you had an engineer look over the house? That's a massive construction to have nothing over it now. What previous work/modifications were done?

Del2005

Del2005 wrote: »

Have you had an engineer look over the house? That's a massive construction to have nothing over it now. What previous work/modifications were done?

From the video you can see metal beams - possibly replacing the other structure.

SmartinMartin

BorneTobyWilde wrote: »

There is a way to drill these things, you then pour some special mix into the holes that expands and cranks it into pieces, usually with rock though, this is reinforced concrete

Think it's called Chinese dynamite. Google it OP, it might actually be of help.

iano.p

That's not a pillar. I reckon it's an old support wall that's not used now with the rsj doing its job now. was the floor is raised up. Is the house an old 3 story? Con saw and Jack hammer mixed with a few bangs of a sledge will get there.

99nsr125

the_pen_turner wrote: »

Con saw it into sections vertically and horizontally. That will make breaking it a lot easier. Use plenty of water

Yep

I've done this taking down piles

Con saw plus lots and lots of water for dust supression

Odelay

Was the building always a dwelling? I wonder if the structure was a base for a machine on the first floor?

Silent Running

I reckon there's a safe in it.

https://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?p=83284149

CH3OH

No builder here!
Could it have been built as a buttress to the main wall of the building?
Not supporting anything above it but giving support to the structure of the building

v638sg7k1a92bx

Odelay wrote: »

Was the building always a dwelling? I wonder if the structure was a base for a machine on the first floor?

I think that’s the most likely scenario because even the location of it is unusual in that if it was supporting the floor, it was only supporting a very small part of the floor and what the put in was overkill.

foxy farmer

Quite possibly a footing for a chimney.

Idbatterim

Get a few of the lads down and a crate or two. Just needs a good bit of manpower!

v638sg7k1a92bx

Idbatterim wrote: »

Get a few of the lads down and a crate or two. Just needs a good bit of manpower!

A crate or two of what?

BarryD2

An old urban building, a business premises? Cellars in quite a few of these, whether pubs or whatever for storing down below? Presume that large supporting column was built in at a later date, maybe when the building was converted to some other industrial/ business use? Easier to make anyway that take it out!

Still waters

Would there have been a big chimney built over it at one stage and they just made a big casing and filled with concrete as a foundation, theres not a lot you can do only keep at it, I've been there before many times, try renting a hydraulic pack with a couple of big hammers, it might help the job on a bit

senorG

Small electric mini digger with breaker would sort it - not sure if you could lift it down from the street if you remove some of the timber(?) floor..


Failing that make sure the contractor is using the best equipment. A modern kango - Hilti TE3000 or the lighter 1000 are better than compressor driven hammers. Both can be hired. Cutting strips in to it with a track wallsaw will help but it's another cost. Plenty of companies supply this service.

Idbatterim

Malcolm Fit Supervisor wrote: »

A crate or two of what?

Guinness for strength!