Cutting concrete pipe

[andyvh1959]

I have two pieces of concrete pipe in my back yard behind the shop. Got moved there when I had them lifted out of the ground alongside the driveway. Previous home may thought to use them as elevated planting tub. One is 73" diameter and is at 24" tall. The other is 45" diameter and also 24" tall. I'd like to get rid of them, but its no easy to move task, even for a large skid steer loader. But, had a thought.

Is it reasonable to hire someone with a concrete saw to cut the pipes into segments? The pipe wall thickness is about three inches, and I don't think there is any reinforcing metal in them. If each is cut into six segments I'll have enough chord length from each, stood on end, to make a 30 foot long retaining wall about 30" in from the fence. Then a portion of the soil area behind my shop can be leveled off, and the third smallest remaining concrete pipe section (about 24" diameter) will be set on end into the soil about a foot, to make a fire pit. I can rent a mini-skid steer to push and lift the segments on end into place onto a leveled/packed gravel bed trench. Then back fill with gravel and about 8" of dirt near the top for Hostas plantings. It'd be a way to repurpose the concrete pipe, not have to haul them out, and give me an interesting retaining wall to clean up the area behind my shop.

 

[PoorUB]

Rent a saw and cut them up yourself.

 

[larry4406]

Roll them down the street till the land somewhere else?

 

[RegeSullivan]

It would surprise me if a few good swings with a 10 -12 lb sledge didn't make short work of those. At my age I'd have to recruit one of my grand kids.

 

[nadogail]

I would leave them in the alley behind my house with a For Sale Sign on them. Add a good price on the sign. They will be Stolen by Morning.

 

[BillK]

I was thinking the same thing as Rege. Wail on them a few times and I bet they will break into pieces.
The other option is to put them on Facebook marketplace for free and I bet someone will come and get them.

 

[Kaizen]

yea i'd give them away if easy access. You can also buy an electric jack hammer pretty cheap.

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[PopcornSutton]

Guaranteed they have mesh in them.

 

[andyvh1959]

Thought about renting a saw, but never used one of them. My son-in-law manages a local concrete company, probably my best reference for local work. Plus if it has wire in it, hmmm. I have no idea if these are RCP, reinforced concrete pipe. If they are RCP then busting them up with a sledge hammer is WAY more than my 68 year old body will susstain for too many blows. Even If I got them to the curb for "free" pickup no one is going to take them away.

These things are very heavy, the 72" pipe is like small car heavy. When I had my shop build area prepped I hired a guy with a 75hp skid-steer and it could "just" handle lifting the 72" diameter pipe section. It would tip forward a bit as he lifted it just enough to move it. According to this:

https://www.rinkerpipe.com/wp-content/uploads/Reinforced_Concrete_Pipe_Tongue_and_Groove.pdf

The 72" diameter pipe, at 24" high (standing on end) weighs 3,620lbs. Even wonder if a concrete saw has a big enough blade diameter to cut through the 7" thick wall. Would probalby require a couple passes per cut. Now, based on that 3,620 weight, cut into six segments, each would weigh 603 lbs. I'd definitely need to rent a mini skid-steer just to move the pieces. The smaller 42" diameter pipe weighs 1,370lbs, so in six segments each would weigh 228 lbs. So a mini skid-steer like a Bobcat MT52 easily can handle a 1,000 lb load.

 

[LiketoFix]

They usually have a number #4 road gauge, 4 inch x 4 inch square mesh, and it's brutal on a diamond blade saw, even though, it'll get the job done, it's just labor intensive.

LTF

 

[andyvh1959]

Thanks for the details. I'll find out more when I discuss it with contacts in concrete as far as what I can access for equipment and experience, to see if this idea is worth going after.

 

[strength_and_power]

I was building a jewelry vault using reinforced concrete panels. Somewhere in the back and forth revisions, the roof panels ended up 6” oversized. The two options were to have the manufacturer recast the panels which would have been a 4 week lead time or saw cut them ( approved by the manufacturer and still maintained the security rating). Saw cut company was out the next day. Took most of the day to cut 24 linear feet 4” thick. Saw/blade had no issue with the reinforced concrete or all the rebar.
I like your idea of repurposing them, I’d go the saw cut route.

 

[mm08822]

Rent a saw from the orange box. Buy ear muffs and a marker crayon. Get set up before you rent.

 

[BurtEggley]

If wailing with a sledge hammer is more than you can handle, standing there for a day with a saw, which seems to be what people are saying, is likely to be more than your back will handle too. That is my 2 cents worth. I would start getting bids, or an make alternative plans for them. Maybe someone has a used saw for sale on facebook marketplace or craigslist that is big and powerful enough. Usually on the rentals you need to buy new blades for them because they don't want to give out a new blade and get back a used one - at least the rental yards around here are like that. If you buy a used one, you can cut a couple hours a day whenever you feel like it, and then sell the saw when you are done and get most, if not all, of your money back. I looked locally here before posting this reply, and there were like 22 concrete saws of all kinds for sale in a 20 mile radius. There may be some near you too that could work, I checked your local FB but not CL, and a bunch popped up. You'd have to decide which ones would work plus probably buy a blade or two.

 

[NUTTSGT]

How about getting a few guys from your SIL's concrete company to come over on a Saturday for a cash job and make them disappear ?

 

[andyvh1959]

Exactly my plan, cash into their hands, I'll have everything ready, they do the cutting and I'm good to go. They'll know better than me how to make it cut the best. If each cut takes five minutes they can be done in an hour.

 

[Dig Doug]

They make good fire pits post an ad FREE come pick up !

a roto hammer drill and a sledgehammer can make quick work on destroying those bad boys

drill a bunch of holes to weaken a spot then BAM !

another thought -

loop a chain thru it and drag it (roll it ) with the skid steer

 

[PopcornSutton]

Back in the day when they had to cut one to fit in a manhole, they would do it with hammers. Just kept beating it around the circumference then used bolt cutters to cut the mesh. Then it was all parged up in the manhole.

 

[BobnCO]

Precast concrete does not just “crumble”. Also concrete gets harder with age.. those that said they would be surprised if…. Would be surprised. Cutting would be brutal as well. Bobcat with a breaker!

 

[racecougar]

How about getting a few guys from your SIL's concrete company to come over on a Saturday for a cash job and make them disappear ?

How is disappearing a few guys from his SIL's company going to help him with these concrete pipes?

 

[NUTTSGT]

How is disappearing a few guys from his SIL's company going to help him with these concrete pipes?

Them, the pipes, not the guys from the concrete company.. . . but hey, if you don't want to pay them after the job is done. . .