The patio slab is cracked, one corner sits an inch high, and patching it stopped working two summers ago.
Most concrete removal calls we get in Providence start the same way. Somebody has been patching the same slab for years, the patches keep letting go, and the trip edge is still there.
We break out and cart off driveways, patios, walks, steps and old footings for homeowners and small commercial properties around Providence, Cranston, Pawtucket and Johnston. Concrete demolition is loud and dirty, so we tarp whatever is planted, sheet the siding near the work, and run water on the saw so your neighbors aren't wearing your old driveway by lunch.
Your concrete removal cost is driven by thickness, whether there's wire mesh or bar buried in it, and how close a truck can get to the pile.
Further down: how the work actually goes, when tearing it out is the wrong answer, and the questions we hear most. Or call us at (401) 394-6425 and we will come take a look.
Hydro Demolition
Hydro demolition is how we take out failing concrete without wrecking the good material underneath it. High pressure water, generally in the 15,000 to 40,000 psi range, chews the deteriorated concrete out and leaves the rebar clean and the sound slab unfractured. A jackhammer can't tell the difference between rotten and solid, and every blow micro-fractures the surface you're about to bond new material to. That's how a parking deck patch lets go in three winters.
The part nobody warns you about is the water. A deck job puts hundreds of gallons an hour on the ground, and that slurry runs high pH and full of fines, so we contain it, vacuum it and haul it off. It does not go down a storm drain toward the river. Like most concrete contractors in Providence, we keep this work to the warm months.
Robotic Demolition
Robotic demolition is what I send in when a machine has to stand where a person shouldn't. It's a remote-controlled breaker, electric, no exhaust to vent, narrow enough to fit through a 32-inch doorway and down the stairs of a College Hill basement or into an old Jewelry District mill.
I run it from fifteen feet back with the control box strapped to my chest, closest thing on a job site to a video game controller, and nobody's under the slab when it lets go.
It earns its keep on interior footings, elevator pits and machine bases. Hand breakers might chew three days on a 12-inch pad. The robot's done by lunch.
Done badly, it hammers one spot and rattles the whole building, so we work edges inward, watch floor loading and keep water on the silica dust. Not many concrete contractors in Providence own one, so we get called onto other outfits' concrete demolition jobs too.
A 1 Concrete Cutting Demolition
Folks call here asking for A 1 Concrete Cutting Demolition, and what they usually want is the saw work: a clean straight line cut through the slab before anything gets broken out. That's how most of our concrete removal starts. We score the perimeter with a walk-behind saw, then break inside that line so the patio or sidewalk you're keeping doesn't come up in sympathy with the piece you're not.
Skip the cut and a breaker sends cracks running well past where you wanted the job to stop. I've been called to fix that more than once.
What moves the price on a concrete removal service like this is thickness, whether there's rebar or just wire mesh in it, and how tight the access is. A one-way street off Broadway with no truck parking changes the day considerably.
Northwest Rock And Concrete Demolition
Northwest Rock And Concrete Demolition is the kind of search you end up making when the slab isn't the only thing in your way, and around here that happens a lot. Dig past an old patio on the East Side and you can hit ledge, that hard gray granite the whole hill sits on, which shrugs off a handheld breaker the way Ortiz shrugged off a fastball.
That's a hydraulic hammer on a mini excavator job, and rock runs three to four times slower than a four inch slab. So we separate the two: concrete demolition first, rebar cut and pulled, then the stone. Mixed loads get you charged as rock for the whole truck, and clean broken concrete can go out as fill instead.
Vibration matters too, since a lot of Federal Hill sits on rubble foundations, so we work back from the neighbor's wall rather than into it. Most concrete contractors in Providence will price the slab and find the ledge later, which is how a two day concrete removal turns into a week.
What the job involves
Concrete removal starts with a saw cut around the perimeter, so the slab breaks where we want it to and not six inches into your foundation wall or the neighbor's pad. Then we find out what is inside it. A four inch patio over wire mesh comes up in pieces two people can lift. An eight inch apron with rebar running through needs a hydraulic breaker on the machine, and that is a longer day.
Access moves the price more than square footage does. Concrete demolition removal behind a triple decker with a four foot gate means every chunk leaves by wheelbarrow. Depth, reinforcement and how far the truck can back in all push concrete removal cost per square foot around.
Then the part that gets skipped: we dig the rubble and tired base out properly. Pour fresh concrete over broken chunks and it settles into ridges by the second year.
What it costs
Price on a concrete removal job comes down to four things: square footage, thickness, what's buried inside it, and whether a machine can reach it. A four inch patio slab with wire mesh breaks apart quickly. A six inch driveway with rebar running through it is heavier work, and since disposal is charged by weight, thickness moves the number more than most people expect. A slab behind a narrow gate means hand hauling to the truck, which adds hours.
Some concrete removal companies bid off a photo and a measurement, then find footings or an older slab poured underneath and revise on day one. Interior work and breaking near a foundation is where robotic demolition changes the math.
Call us at (401) 394-6425 with dimensions and we'll price the actual slab, not a guess about it.
When concrete removal is the wrong fix
Concrete removal is the wrong call more often than people expect. If your concrete driveway has cracks you can trace with a pencil and the slab still sits dead level under a loaded truck, tearing it out buys you nothing, and concrete repair holds for years. Same story with a stamped concrete patio that's gone pale and chalky. That's a color and sealer afternoon, not a teardown.
And if a plow clipped twelve feet of a long run of curbs, we saw out that section and pour it back rather than losing the whole line.
Removal earns its keep when the base has washed away, when the slab rocks under your heel, or when you're changing the layout and need fresh concrete paving regardless. Some concrete removal companies quote the full demolition because it's the bigger ticket.
Why choose us for this
You have a slab, a patio or a set of steps that's finished, and what you really want is for the concrete removal to happen once, by somebody who takes the pieces with them, and then never to think about that corner of the property again.
What moves the job is thickness, whether there's wire mesh or rebar buried in the pour, and access. A machine that can reach the slab is one day; breaking it out by hand and wheeling it down a narrow drive off Wickenden Street is another thing entirely, and that matters more than square footage does.
Concrete demolition services get priced two ways, with disposal and without. The lighter number is usually the one without. What I will not do is bust a slab into rubble and stack it by your fence to wait on a truck.
Coming out to look at it costs you nothing and books nothing.
Frequently asked questions
Will concrete removal damage the sidewalk and steps I am keeping?
Not if we saw cut the line first. We score a clean edge through the full four to six inches before a breaker ever touches the slab, so the break stops where we put it instead of traveling under your front stoop. Mats and plywood go over whatever stays.
Do I have to take the whole slab out, or can it be resurfaced?
One settled corner or a few hairline cracks, resurfacing is the cheaper road. Once a slab is in three or more floating pieces, or water has scoured the base out beneath it, an overlay just buys you a season.
Who hauls the broken concrete away?
We do. Plenty of concrete removal contractors sub that out. Ours goes to a recycler to be crushed into base stone. Access and depth move that cost most.
Contact The Providence Concrete Company now
If you want a Providence concrete company that turns up with a saw, a breaker, a dumpster and a plan for where the broken slab goes, call us at (401) 394-6425 and tell us what you are staring at. The things worth mentioning on that call: rough dimensions, how thick you figure the slab is, whether there is wire or rebar in it, and how close a truck can get.
Rear yards behind a triple decker often mean a chute and wheelbarrows instead of a machine, and that changes the whole day.
We probe for the water service and the sewer lateral before anything starts swinging. Catching a line with a hammer turns a one-day concrete removal into a plumber's week.
Most jobs get on the schedule inside a week or two. We work weekdays, nine to five, and the odd weekend when a pour is already booked behind us.