The city wants me to remove a sidewalk and replace with grass. This involves removal of around 4-5 slabs of concrete and bringing in dirt and sod. There's a place that will recycle of pickup load of concrete for $ 20.00, so no heavy dump fees are involved. If I had to guess, the area is about 3 x 30 with a 4 inch thickness. I don't think it would take long to handle.

I got a quote of $ 1000 which is ridiculous. I'm thinking of just renting a jackhammer and just do it myself. I can hire a couple of people to load the concrete into my truck or trailer and take it to the recycling place. Am I underestimating this job?

Ken--the only thing I'd do is jackhammer it. I'd hire folks to haul. I have someone who handles my grass that would take care of the dirt and sod.

As it turns out, the $ 1000 quote is cheap. I've gotten other quotes just under $ 2000.

Ken---the city is just being a PITA. The issue is that they've added sidewalk inspections to their rental license renewal regime, so unless I do it, they won't renew my license. It's BS but I have to comply.

Ken---the city is just being a PITA. The issue is that they've added sidewalk inspections to their rental license renewal regime, so unless I do it, they won't renew my license. It's BS but I have to comply.

12 pound sledge, two people, and a couple of scrap 2x4 s to wedge under. Oh, and a crow bar for starting to lift the slab up. The slab ONLY breaks with the sledge if it is slightly suspended, thus the crow bar to lift, scrap lumber to wedge underneath.

Hubby and I knocked one out in two weekends. He has back issues, I have carpal tunnel syndrome ( and really puny, girly hands) so we took two weekends. Jackhammer would certainly be harder on my hands than the sledge.

The heck with jackhammers. Just get a good sledge and have at it. It won't take 2 hours to bust it up and throw it into buckets. My wife did about 100 feet of sidewalk plus a 10x10 pad (about 400 square feet of concrete) and hauled it around in buckets to the curb from the backyard in one afternoon in 100 degree heat. Really. After that I reminded myself not to anger her.

Get the dirt from a recycle place where they process yard waste and dirt and spread some seeds on it, water and done.

The reason the city wants this removed is that the sidewalk is already heaved and badly cracked in places. Given that, a sledgehammer might very well be the ticket as there's already voids. I may try that first before attempting the jackhammer. This is really some work I could get a couple of my roomers to do. They wouldn't mind the extra money. Also, the recycled dirt makes a lot of sense. They sell a seeding kit that makes growing grass quite easy as I think about it. I used some at home this summer.

As I started reading this I thought about posting you need a sledge, a couple 2x4s and a pry bar.

Too late to the party.

If they just want you to start the project run some, break some and load the waste in the trash that you already pay for.

Have your roomers do the work, as long as you aren't worried they will hurt themselves and sue.

3' x 40' x 4 inches would be about 3 tons. Assuming a person would pick up a 20 pound piece each time, that's 300 times a person would have to bend down, pick up a piece, and throw it in a truck. Assuming you could move each piece in about 20 seconds, that would mean about 100 minutes to load into the truck. Add 30 minutes each way for travel (must drive from your house to the location, then from the location to the recycle place) and 20 minutes to dump it at the recycling place, and maybe 2 hours for jackhammering...that's 5 hours total time. Figure $40/hour for your time, that's $200.

Then add in the cost of renting a jackhammer, 60 cents/mile for the use of your truck to load and drive to the dump...let's just estimate $150 for all that. That's a total of $350.

Add in money for the chiropractor needed afterwards, some bandaids for all the scratches you get, sodas and lunch during the work, and another $100 "inconvenience factor", and you're probably close to $1,000.

So I'd say it's about a wash.

$1000 sounds responsible.

Wait, they are tying to scam you. After you put in the grass area, they will then require sprinklers. As you water use goes up, you will be placed in Tier 2 and have a 30% increase in your water costs, plus a hike is sewer fee's, around 40%.

My City, Los Angeles, required all owners to fix or replace damaged sidewalks in front of their property. Since this was going to be a burden on owners, the City waived the permit fee's. Before raised from $54 to $97.

So I applied for the "Free" permit. Building and safety said, this applies only to single family homes. I found over 400 free permits issued to owners of a duplex, and some to owners of larger properties.

In short, I used tow jacks and lifted the side walk slabs, I had cut them at their stress seam markings. Then leveled the dirt and added sand. Placing the sidewalk slabs back in place.

They will not make me replace with another sidewalk. In a way, this is a good thing as the sidewalk is unsightly and I'm tired of periodically patching the cracks.

East of Mississippi River, no sprinkler systems should EVER be required, IF the small water cycle is working properly. Anybody who waters regularly on plants that are already established in the eastern US is either wasting water, or planted the wrong plants.

I wouldn't be jackhammering. I would be writing that $1,000 check out. Unless they have a skid steer, they are going to be having a sore back tomorrow. Is two or more days of back pain worth $1,000?

The sidewalk the city inspector required me to remove was a sidewalk to nowhere. They do exist. Why? Dunno! But ya looked at the yard and thought, well, that sidewalk is stupid. And it was sloped to drain towards the house, which apparently is a problem, oh, in case we get, ya know, 14” of rain in a few short hours.

Well, the sidewalk did go somewhere, just not anywhere useful. It went from the front door, around the south side of the house, to the backdoor. Driveway is along north side of house, with No sidewalks connecting driveway to the house. Stoopid. I put in some paver walkways, and eventually will do proper sidewalks leading from front and back doors to driveway.

*snicker*

Good one Ken.