How to Remove a Curb

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Things You'll Need

  • Safety equipment (steel toe boots, eye protection, gloves)

  • Sledge hammer

  • Shovel

  • Wheel barrow

  • Pry bar

  • Hacksaw (optional)

Once set, concrete is not easy to remove.

Removing a concrete curb is not an easy task. Concrete is hard and is meant to last a long time. When it comes time to remove concrete, large machinery is often used. To remove a relatively small section of concrete curb, use manual tools to save the expense of heavy machinery. With a little time and a lot of hard work, you can break and remove a concrete curb and maybe even build a little muscle.

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Step 1

Put on safety equipment

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Step 2

Strike the concrete curb starting at an edge with the sledge hammer to attempt to form a crack.

Step 3

Insert the pry bar into the crack and apply force to it in order to break off small sections of concrete or to increase the size and depth of the crack.

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Step 4

Place any pieces you break off into a wheel barrow to be removed from the site.

Step 5

Repeat steps 1 and 2 until the curb is removed.

Tip

If you have more than only a few feet of concrete to remove, or if the depth of concrete is more than 3 to 4 inches, renting a pneumatic jackhammer will save a good deal of time. If metal reinforcing bars are found in the curb, cut using a hacksaw, and remove in sections with the concrete. Using a heavier headed sledge hammer can make the job slightly faster by letting the hammer do the work.

Warning

Always wear eye, toe and hand protection when using a sledgehammer and when working with concrete.

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