Cutting up Concrete - The good, bad & the dusty

Backyard diy project cutting up concrete in preparation for a sidewalk

You usually get to see the pretty, when it comes to my blog. The staged home, the tablescapes or my Garden, flowers...the "pretty".

My front porch, all spruced up for guests and the seasonal decor. Well, not today!



Today is all about the ugly. The work in progress. The coughing.

First, let me introduce you to the blue beast. My husband's version of Yard Art. 

This      is      parked      in     my      driveway 


This is what "G" customized to his needs, to go 4 wheeling. I call it the Blue Beast. It has a roll cage inside, racing seats and harnesses. So even if when 4 wheeling, you roll over off a boulder?

As long as you are wearing your seatbelt, you will not get hurt. The windshield is gone, as well as any other type of glass. The fun part of going wheeling? 

"G" would say yes. He is proud to mention that the heater still works. When this beast is started, it sounds suspiciously like someone poked the BEAR.

This is my view, my oasis.

Bet ya wanna live next to me right now, huh! Well it can get a bit worse. Ya ready? In preparation for the new sidewalk going in, (and hopefully a backyard fence one day) we needed to cut up some of the old concrete. So off to the equipment rental store we went. and by 8 am my neighbors heard and saw this:

Backyard diy project cutting up concrete in preparation for a sidewalk

We planned out any and all cuts we'd need for
the sidewalk and the fence. Since we had to rent a concrete saw, I decided we might as well try and use it for future projects so we didn't have to rent it twice.

See that downspout just useless on the driveway? It runs all the way down toward the street. It leaks, it sucks. So when you're at the home improvement store and a twenty something says "oh yeah, this will help divert the water"?

Tell him to go get you some french fries. It's hideous, it doesn't "lock" together properly, so wet snow or rain seep through and we get puddles or worse. Lakes of ice building up in our driveway.

Diverting water away from the house by creating a trench for the downspout

So "G" cut a 10" wide trench running parallel to the garage through the driveway and in a future weekend we will install a PVC pipe to divert water away from the house. To pretty it up, I will do my magic and "cover" it, with a dark colored rock, thus making a pretty "stripe". This method will be repeated for the front, but only after we "test" the theory that the pipe will not get crushed, with cars/trucks pulling in the driveway. If it does, we will replace the pipe and pour new concrete.

Diverting water away from the house by creating a trench for the downspout

"G" being supervised by Blitz.

Notice how both "Boys" have the same wide stance?

Must be a testosterone thing

Diverting water away from the house by creating a trench for the downspout

Now, for the concrete cuts so we can install a 5' fence with two 4' gates between the house and garage. The future gates will enable us to drive the riding mower through to cut the grass.

diy - cutting up concrete

 My poor SUV during this dirty job.

dirty job

 Blitz

Checking daddy's cuts for accuracy.

Blitz our german shephard checking out our diy project

 The saw work started at 8:07 am

on Saturday

I hope my neighbors weren't planning on sleeping in.

Do It Yourself Project Cutting up Concrete

Some of my current driveway/patio area was also cut up for the fence. "G" cut up 20" pieces, so that we have the possibility of reusing them for a future patio or a walkway from the garage door to the new sidewalk.

Do It Yourself Project Cutting up Concrete

 We jack hammered last year about half of our sidewalk and hauled it away. But after 7 hours of a 60lb jackhammer, "G" used the forks on the Bobcat and simply moved the last piece behind the garage.

Using a jackhammer for a sidewalk was like trying to use a butter knife to cut steak. So I highly recommend renting a concrete saw and cutting it up instead. It goes much faster, plus you have the added bonus of not having to pick up 12 thousand pieces of itsy bitsy concrete.

 Do It Yourself Project Cutting up Concrete

However it is still a dirty job and tiring.


So, my original question still stands?

Renting a concrete saw to cut up concrete


Who wants to live next door to me?

XO,