I have a tree that is causing some damage to the sidewalk. Our forestry department told me they would remove it if I was to remove the two sections of sidewalk. They also said the easiest way would be to pry them up and then lay them back down when the tree was gone. Anyone ever attempt this? Just how easy is it and whats the best strategy?
I broke up sidewalks back in college when I worked on the road crew for a summer job. It’s possible to save the sections but it’s certainly not easy.
First step would be to cut the sections if they haven’t broken along the “cracks” naturally. I’m guessing they already did if they have been lifted by roots.
The main challenge is the weight. They are really heavy. You can do it manually with a few strong people who don’t mind throwing out their back, but it’s easier with a Bobcat. The best you can do either way is flip them over to the side, so you’ll also have to make sure you have a soft place for them to land. Otherwise they’ll probably crack if you don’t have a way to lower them gently.
Good luck.
Might want to check with your local municipality and see who is responsible for handling that - for example the city might “own” the sidewalk and have to take care of it.
Rather than levering up big chunks of concrete and setting them gently aside it might turn out to be easier to have someone with a jackhammer break out the buckled section and dispose of it, then after the tree/roots are gone have the missing sidewalk repoured. Again, I would confirm who has the legal responsibility to do this.
I’m thinking a heavy duty dolly might work…kinda like one would use in moving a refrigerator. IF the section isn’t too huge.
I have done this a couple of times. Getting the pieces up is pretty easy, assuming they are not broken and poured even and thick enough that they don’t break in a thin place. (was true first time, not second) Getting them back in place is not. You will need at least one stout steel bar to use for a lever. Pick heads also make good levers. (used sort of like a claw hammer)
Though they are scored at the expansion joints, and usually cracked there, it is not a clean break. All the pieces of aggregate lock the two pieces together. So when you lift the end of one piece, it’s neighbor comes up too, at least until there is enough clearance for the neighbor to drop away. You need to make sure it drops away gently, or it may crack.
To replace the pieces you have to get the right amount of dirt under them. Note that they are not anything approaching flat on the bottom, so this takes some trial and error. You also have to clean all the dirt and rocks and stuff from between the mating surfaces or there will not be room for them to go back in place.
To get the last piece back in, you have to set one end in place, then lift the neighbor piece on the opposite end and key them together. You have to do this without getting anything important like your fingers pinched under or between them. Then you have to simultaneously gently lower them into place. Then you have to lift them up again and make adjustments to the dirt under them. Note that the surface of all blocks has to be level (or equally off level) or the last block won’t key in on both ends.
It is pretty easy to end up cracking the pieces when trying to get them back in position. If this happens, be sure to feign ignorance when the city crew shows up a few months later to fix the cracked sidewalk. I did fix them coffee at least.
Well, we tried, and gave up.
Turns out this is much harder then my wife and I could handle. Went out and got a 60 inch 18 pound pry bar. We could wiggle the sections and thats about it. They are 5 feet by 4 feet and appear to be around 5 or 6 inches thick.(not connected to each other which was good). Got the pry bar under it with a block as a fulcrum. With all our strength we could lift it only an inch or two. No way we were going to be able to get this up in standing position in front of our retaining wall. We are eliciting help from other people to join in next weekend. Doesnt look like people are jumping on the chance to help us though.
So sad. 
I do appreciate the suggestions. We may end up breaking it up with a jackhammer though that doesnt appear easy either lol. Not looking forward to that method due to cost and skill required in re-laying concrete. The whole sidewalk on this old street is just shit really, not worried about looks. Just really want the tree gone!
Whammo,
You could try to cut the concrete pieces in half (or thirds) using a diamond saw. You can rent these from your local tool rental place (you should be able to find one where they don’t require you to buy a new blade).
There is a hand-held version:
Hand-held cutoff saw
There is also a walk-behind version as well:
Walk-behind saw
I had to make about 40 cuts through concrete, 2 ft. wide each, so I used the walk-behind type. You can cut 1-2" deep at a time. Then you lower the blade and go through the next 1-2", etc. It’s surprisingly quick (maybe half as fast as going through wood with a circular saw). For only 2 cuts, I’d seriously consider the hand-held version (which should be cheaper to rent).
Even if you only cut 3-4" through a 6" thick piece, you can then just lever up the piece and put a small log under the cut and tap the ends with a sledge hammer and it will break where you scored it.
This should at least give you reasonably rectangular pieces that will be (relatively) easy to reinstall - you’ll just be missing the 1/8" width of the blade. You can also use the saw to clean up the rough edges where the pre-scored blocks have already broken.
Plus 1.
It seems much easier to pour a small section of sidewalk. Even if you got the old pieces up undamaged it would be a headache laying them back in place. Getting the dirt perfectly level and supporting the slab could be a challenge. If it’s off even a little the slab will rock and that’s a safety issue.
Concrete is easy to work with. Either in bags from Home Depot or premix from a truck. Quikrete has a calculator on their website.
plug in length and width. 4 inches is the standard depth for sidewalks.
Concrete self levels (to a degree) . A tiny depression in the dirt won’t matter. It’ll all level out in the form.
Any handyman can do the job for you (assuming we’re talking about a tiny area. 4 ft or 5 ft of sidewalk?). That’s not even big enough to need premix. Bags work best for small jobs.