I'm not in the digging business at all, never been, I retired 2 years ago from 35 years in managing advertising campaigns, Yes a overstressed computer & phone slave. Watching you break that slab in big pieces and breaking 'hem is so relaxing and soothing. Total control. A real pro. I guess you could pick a penny with your awesome machine. Thanks for your videos.
I've been running equipment for the better part of 20 years and I still love watching these types of videos. You are definitely a top notch operator. One of the best i've seen and I've been around it for lots of years. Great videos!!!!!
Extra thick concrete and 2 layers of rebar on my dads 100 ft driveway. Its 40yrs old and not a crack in it !!! I spent weeks tying it all together.. I pity the guy who wants t tear it out!!!!!!
That's how my foundation walls and floor are and on 12" centers, all tied. I know the steel is in the center of the walls. I even used a level! lol The concrete guy laughed but I built an earth contact home and was scared in 1991. My foundation drain is all hard and glued with Ts and 90s with 3 clean outs and 3 feet of clean rock that all tie into 3 places and empty 200 ft in front of my house. Gutters are tied in too 10/12 roof. 30 years later when I get a lot of rain it looks like a water main break in my front yard, but I am dry...
Hey there Chris , I didn’t see any reobar or mesh in the concrete that sure makes it easier to break up and load out. Stay safe out there,Cheers and beers from Aus
Jeff Gray you must have an action packed life, sitting on you tube pulling people over a typo? Meanwhile the guy with fat fingers is pleasuring your girl
I do roads and hwys plus ditch cleaning also pads it never seems to get old because every job is so different. Chris your like me in one way leaven your work clean like if you were doing it in front of your home. Great job you do and Tim are Timmy lol
I used to build bucket for Cat for several years. On the excavator buckets as long as you're hitting on the wear bars the bucket should be fine. Not sure what carbon content or if hardox is used by Volvo or not. But I'm sure the bucket will take the abuse. As for cutting with the teeth. I wouldn't one of those thing pops off it will make racing stripes in your britches. The cutting edge to the cutter bars is usually a full pin 25mm+ weld but still that's slot of force and torque when trying to score rock or concrete. Keep up the good work
Chris, Do you ever notice when you take up or break up concrete the peices resemble the shape of south Carolina on the map?? Just saying, the things that goes through ones mind when running an excavator. Dabo
Man i wish our operators would put concrete in my truck as gently as you do.... I have to replace the passenger flare on my bed now when they dropped a 2 ton block down the side of it. Reliance beds are not cheap to get parts for and have to come out of Washington.
8:11 "I almost said a bad word." This ain't no christian channel. :P Really loved the concrete ripping, and smart using one piece of concrete to get all the others where you want.
Looks like they used that self leveling concrete since they couldn’t grade 😂 I usually just drop the concrete my little excavator has a hard time breaking it like the 160!
That thumb never ceases to amaze me. As a construction inspector I remember watching guys try to move mud mats with the bucket only and was amazed they could do it. The thumb must increase our productivity by a considerable amount. What is the carrying capacity of the bucket and thumb?
I wouldn’t have thought it would reduce the lifting Capacity much less than the weight of the extra ram and thumb? If you think about it all you are really doing is clamping/trapping the material(s) between it and the bucket?
Kind of a dumb question from a guy who's never run a track hoe a day in his life, but why did you start breaking up the driveway before the truck got there, instead of just loading it directly into the truck without having to move the same material a couple times? I'm sure there's a reason for it, I'm just curious what it is.
I demoed a house once that had a monolithic slab and the footings were 4’x4’. Yes, the footing was 4’ wide and 4’ deep. That Cat 320CL had all it wanted working with some of those pieces. Once I got them in pieces small enough to pick up, I would drop them on each other to break them into smaller pieces.
Helped some family members demo a 15ft concrete block chimney that was next to my sisters house when she bought it. Previous owners had a wood burner in the basement and she didn't want it/insurance wouldn't cover the house with it there. The chimney itself took about 45 minuets to take down. But the footing they had poured under it was a different story 4x5ft square and 2.5ft deep block of concrete One rental of a commercial air jackhammer and 4 hours later it was out, complete with various steel re-enforcement that included the following; -1 section of wrought iron porch railing -4 or 5 various sized/lengths and shaped pieces of actual rebar -2 or 3 pieces of short angle iron -1 bmx bike frame Would have left it in there, but their was a 4ft crack in the foundation down from the vent and clean out hole that was obviously leaking water every time it rained so the concrete had to go to waterproof the exterior of the foundation.
The poor grading under that concrete made me think of Charlie's millimeter GPS grader, and how negotiated with the client on how much concrete he could save them. I was thinking that it would have been difficult to estimate how much concrete to order for the garage pour, but I suspect that this was not a professionally laid slab, and that the home owner and his I-know-how-to-do-concrete mate mixed this up on site, and had to go back to Home Depot for more bags of cement after discovering the slab was eating concrete way faster than they estimated.
Ever dig into something unexpected? Do not mean pipe lines or wire. Here in Ohio can dig into old mine shafts. Some not to deep. There is not much documentation on very old ones.
Many of the old cisterns are full of old glass bottles. People just discarded their garbage in them. I’ve actually had people pay me to dig through them after bottles.
Is there a specific reason for breaking the concrete into small pieces, other than it would be easier loading into a dump truck. As to the concretes poured uneven thickness, more than likely was due as you said, to poor operator grading. But there again, the layout could have been done by manual labor using shovels and sighting the level by eye alone.
Man some of that was 6+ and some less than 3" thick. Must have been a Friday grade job lol. Bad grade jobs like that can and will throw cracks where you dont want em just as bad as un compacted fill can.
Hey Chris you got any tips for being able to be an owner operator and also estimate and procure new work simultaneously? Doesn’t the estimating and accounting and cost management take away from your time in the field?
Lol my dad wanted an old dragline to dig a pond.. they’re cool but throwing all those big levers all day is a lot more work than two sticks in an excavator. They still have their place for sure but I’m glad he went with an excavator.
There's an 80 year old man that checks all the loads coming in at my local recycle plant. He's so anal about dirt and roots he would've turned this truck away.
Many small time contractors and homeowners will skip any re-enforcing, because depending on your climate it might not crack for 3-4 years even without any re-enforcing. Even today its not a requirement outside of government maintained roads to have any re-enforcing in concrete far as I know. Though it should be noted that their are company's that have developed fiber additives that are mixed into the concrete that provide the same benefits without the extra time/money of laying metal mesh or rebar.
I could have done a better jobof grading with a long piece of string, tape measure, and turning a garden hose into a level by attaching clear hose on the ends water and food dye.
Way more costly to have a truck siting there while you break up the concrete. Had there been rebar, would have been a right mess. He did it the most cost-efficient way.
In the 1920's and 1930's, cars and trucks both weighed less than cars and trucks from the 70's and 80's.....concrete really didn't need to be a 4 inch or a 6 inch pour. I say this because that drive appears to be from the 1920's or 30's...….
Chris I'm a retired home builder PM with single family, multi family to 12 story experiance, all vetrical What are long reach sticks used for when grading and can you send me a link and for an matriculated bucket?
I'm not in the digging business at all, never been, I retired 2 years ago from 35 years in managing advertising campaigns, Yes a overstressed computer & phone slave.
Watching you break that slab in big pieces and breaking 'hem is so relaxing and soothing. Total control. A real pro.
I guess you could pick a penny with your awesome machine. Thanks for your videos.
That looks a lot more fun than digging mud out of a pond.
At least you don't have to worry about sinking.
I've been running equipment for the better part of 20 years and I still love watching these types of videos. You are definitely a top notch operator. One of the best i've seen and I've been around it for lots of years. Great videos!!!!!
Extra thick concrete and 2 layers of rebar on my dads 100 ft driveway. Its 40yrs old and not a crack in it !!! I spent weeks tying it all together.. I pity the guy who wants t tear it out!!!!!!
That's how my foundation walls and floor are and on 12" centers, all tied. I know the steel is in the center of the walls. I even used a level! lol The concrete guy laughed but I built an earth contact home and was scared in 1991. My foundation drain is all hard and glued with Ts and 90s with 3 clean outs and 3 feet of clean rock that all tie into 3 places and empty 200 ft in front of my house. Gutters are tied in too 10/12 roof. 30 years later when I get a lot of rain it looks like a water main break in my front yard, but I am dry...
Done and done! Thanks for the video.
I didn't know there was such a thing as an old timer half assin something. Learn something new every day. LOL
Somebody deserves a cookie and a gold star with that sweeping of the small pieces of concrete. Use what you have.
Pure talent with the machine! This guy uses it like it’s a third arm and hand.
First a log, then a slab of concrete for a squeegee, Cool stuff!
Those are nice "flat lots", a builder's dream! ....13
Hey there Chris , I didn’t see any reobar or mesh in the concrete that sure makes it easier to break up and load out. Stay safe out there,Cheers and beers from Aus
Thick and Thin concrete, sure sign of a professional.
Just like dad used to do it........by eye!!!!
Jeff Gray you must have an action packed life, sitting on you tube pulling people over a typo? Meanwhile the guy with fat fingers is pleasuring your girl
Looks it Andrew camera poured it.
I am subscribe l just did it
@Jeff Gray you sound like you need to get yourself a life..
I do roads and hwys plus ditch cleaning also pads it never seems to get old because every job is so different. Chris your like me in one way leaven your work clean like if you were doing it in front of your home. Great job you do and Tim are Timmy lol
I used to build bucket for Cat for several years. On the excavator buckets as long as you're hitting on the wear bars the bucket should be fine. Not sure what carbon content or if hardox is used by Volvo or not. But I'm sure the bucket will take the abuse.
As for cutting with the teeth. I wouldn't one of those thing pops off it will make racing stripes in your britches. The cutting edge to the cutter bars is usually a full pin 25mm+ weld but still that's slot of force and torque when trying to score rock or concrete.
Keep up the good work
i love all your videos. thank you
Back when you had your TL150 how well did it handle the brush cutter being it was a low flow machine?
Chris,
Do you ever notice when you take up or break up concrete the peices resemble the shape of south Carolina on the map?? Just saying, the things that goes through ones mind when running an excavator.
Dabo
At the beginning he said oh looks like north carolina, oh wait no it doesn't😂
Using that big concrete slab as a scraper was extremely clever on your part.
Gotta love the way Chris just invented a shovel....lol
I believe that's another job well done
Does using the bucket as a hammer create extra wear on the joints of the boom?
Damn good operator
Man i wish our operators would put concrete in my truck as gently as you do.... I have to replace the passenger flare on my bed now when they dropped a 2 ton block down the side of it. Reliance beds are not cheap to get parts for and have to come out of Washington.
8:11 "I almost said a bad word." This ain't no christian channel. :P Really loved the concrete ripping, and smart using one piece of concrete to get all the others where you want.
Looks like they used that self leveling concrete since they couldn’t grade 😂 I usually just drop the concrete my little excavator has a hard time breaking it like the 160!
Where I live, you wouldnèt dare go without re-bar. Way too much frost heaving.
Chris the yoda of excavator operators....
Did that guy out there get every crumb in the truck it looked like he expected you to rack up the gravel size stuff
What controls do you use. Cat? or does Volvo have their own?
what happened to the new big lake project?
The back of the bucket has more surface area so isn't it natural to use the back vs the teeth?
Didn't Timmy just clean that up?
That thumb never ceases to amaze me. As a construction inspector I remember watching guys try to move mud mats with the bucket only and was amazed they could do it. The thumb must increase our productivity by a considerable amount. What is the carrying capacity of the bucket and thumb?
John Lowe, Photographist my boss uses his all the time. It’s amazing all the little things you wouldnt think of that it can do.
I wouldn’t have thought it would reduce the lifting Capacity much less than the weight of the extra ram and thumb?
If you think about it all you are really doing is clamping/trapping the material(s) between it and the bucket?
If you cant pick it up with the thumb, at least you can drag it haha
Ok using a piece of the concrete as a flat scraping attachment genius!!!!
I live in NC and have about 2500 hours in operating excavator type equipment. Is there any jobs you know about ?
I always keep a big piece of concrete in the bucket, held tight with the thumb when I break it all apart
Kind of a dumb question from a guy who's never run a track hoe a day in his life, but why did you start breaking up the driveway before the truck got there, instead of just loading it directly into the truck without having to move the same material a couple times? I'm sure there's a reason for it, I'm just curious what it is.
The concrete slab trIck just like the log trick you got them all trickster
Never thought I’d see a huge chunk of concrete used as a broom, but here we are.
Very good...but "brick" not hit back.
i like the concrete screed
Demo work is usually pretty fun and relaxing
Grading was only invented in the 90s
That one Big Ass Driveway!
Can’t stop laughing from your comment that says “even the old timers half-ass stuff”
I demoed a house once that had a monolithic slab and the footings were 4’x4’. Yes, the footing was 4’ wide and 4’ deep. That Cat 320CL had all it wanted working with some of those pieces. Once I got them in pieces small enough to pick up, I would drop them on each other to break them into smaller pieces.
Helped some family members demo a 15ft concrete block chimney that was next to my sisters house when she bought it. Previous owners had a wood burner in the basement and she didn't want it/insurance wouldn't cover the house with it there.
The chimney itself took about 45 minuets to take down.
But the footing they had poured under it was a different story 4x5ft square and 2.5ft deep block of concrete
One rental of a commercial air jackhammer and 4 hours later it was out, complete with various steel re-enforcement that included the following;
-1 section of wrought iron porch railing
-4 or 5 various sized/lengths and shaped pieces of actual rebar
-2 or 3 pieces of short angle iron
-1 bmx bike frame
Would have left it in there, but their was a 4ft crack in the foundation down from the vent and clean out hole that was obviously leaking water every time it rained so the concrete had to go to waterproof the exterior of the foundation.
That’s some crazy reinforcement! IIRC the footing had 4 pieces 3/4” rebar in it. Didn’t find any porch rails though!😂
My guess is that it was one of those whatever they had laying around situations. It was a pain to jackhammer out.
The poor grading under that concrete made me think of Charlie's millimeter GPS grader, and how negotiated with the client on how much concrete he could save them. I was thinking that it would have been difficult to estimate how much concrete to order for the garage pour, but I suspect that this was not a professionally laid slab, and that the home owner and his I-know-how-to-do-concrete mate mixed this up on site, and had to go back to Home Depot for more bags of cement after discovering the slab was eating concrete way faster than they estimated.
Ever dig into something unexpected? Do not mean pipe lines or wire. Here in Ohio can dig into old mine shafts. Some not to deep. There is not much documentation on very old ones.
Ted Ohio, I have uncovered dozens of old cisterns digging with in older areas of Akron.
Thanks Adam, am just south of Canton. Our town has many old septic systems . Was no requirement to fill-in when sewer system built in earlier 80s
Many of the old cisterns are full of old glass bottles. People just discarded their garbage in them. I’ve actually had people pay me to dig through them after bottles.
Watched a number of reality shows on TV few years back where they did dough up old outhouses in cities on east coast for same reason
thats some skills
How do you know when dump truck has reached max load?
As I'm watching this video I can't help but think of Chief Wigam from the Simpsons when he says "smashy, smashy."
Is there a specific reason for breaking the concrete into small pieces, other than it would be easier loading into a dump truck. As to the concretes poured uneven thickness, more than likely was due as you said, to poor operator grading. But there again, the layout could have been done by manual labor using shovels and sighting the level by eye alone.
Quarries, at least near me, won’t accept pieces larger than 3’, because it’s extra work for them to break it up to fit it in their crushers to recycle
I saw that you missed a piece
Man some of that was 6+ and some less than 3" thick. Must have been a Friday grade job lol. Bad grade jobs like that can and will throw cracks where you dont want em just as bad as un compacted fill can.
Does the toothpick help you concentrate? :)
it's a center alignment device
Adds 4 more Horsepower to the mind!
Can't tell you how many times I've had to grab a huge slab of concrete to use as a broom.😉
is that your own truck
Loader man likes to back drag. Put that bucket down going forward too.
Backdrag Timmy
Is that your uncle we see around the job sites helping you ?
Kem Stewart I think he’s called mr moneybags. He’s the big dog around there.
you ever buy a excavator with oil Quick?
Hey Chris you got any tips for being able to be an owner operator and also estimate and procure new work simultaneously? Doesn’t the estimating and accounting and cost management take away from your time in the field?
Shoulda used a dragline duh.
A dragline is great for everything
Lol my dad wanted an old dragline to dig a pond.. they’re cool but throwing all those big levers all day is a lot more work than two sticks in an excavator. They still have their place for sure but I’m glad he went with an excavator.
There's an 80 year old man that checks all the loads coming in at my local recycle plant. He's so anal about dirt and roots he would've turned this truck away.
its going to a landfill to be buried so I wasnt worried about it being clean
Camera is a little off ain’t it ?
If its Level, srong enough for the job then it works ...
I'm Just a huge fan.
them fly-by-nights must have poured that slab
Rebar must be expensive there 😫
LOL BEEP LOL GOT YOU COVERED
Which excavator are you using?
I believe that is the 160
@@levistuck3960 thanks
It looks to be the 160.
I usually tell by the window tint. 160= none (or very little), 220=very dark, and 250= medium dark.
Hey Chris, My cousin would say Oh Shookie or Dookie., but never around his mother or my mother. or our grand parents.
Good job
QUICK JOB ---SIZE DOES MATTER
Foundation slab and no rebar...smh
Its hard to believe they do not use re-bar or at least wire mesh.
Many small time contractors and homeowners will skip any re-enforcing, because depending on your climate it might not crack for 3-4 years even without any re-enforcing.
Even today its not a requirement outside of government maintained roads to have any re-enforcing in concrete far as I know.
Though it should be noted that their are company's that have developed fiber additives that are mixed into the concrete that provide the same benefits without the extra time/money of laying metal mesh or rebar.
Have you ever dug up human bones?
What did you do if you found bones?
When concrete breaks easy like that it's because it had too much water in it when it was placed.
Can you not use them as tomb stones
i liked that picture on instagram
Homes built during WW2 when material was scarce were to todays code. 1x4 studs, thin concrete, etc
Good operator. Poor use of time and fuel. Always better to load it as you take it out so you’re not moving it twice
Can you do a vid ripping up a conc slab that has rebar?
Avery big piece of concrete.
I could have done a better jobof grading with a long piece of string, tape measure, and turning a garden hose into a level by attaching clear hose on the ends water and food dye.
Did you find JIMMY HOFFA digging all that concrete chit up ? ? ? .............lol
"Almost said a bad word" I would have
Nice broom did TIMMY teach you that 😂😂😀
I cant believe nobody else was made nervous by the who ever that was walking now I am watching on a phone but he looked to close for me
Is there a reason for the double handling?
Andrew Parry “ Smarter Not Harder $$$”
I had to leave and go to another job and it made it easier for my uncle to just load out of one pile
@@letsdig18 makes sense. Thanks for the reply
@@letsdig18 -- Chris, you let your uncle use YOUR machine to load the concrete? How did he get special privileges?
Way more costly to have a truck siting there while you break up the concrete. Had there been rebar, would have been a right mess. He did it the most cost-efficient way.
In the 1920's and 1930's, cars and trucks both weighed less than cars and trucks from the 70's and 80's.....concrete really didn't need to be a 4 inch or a 6 inch pour. I say this because that drive appears to be from the 1920's or 30's...….
My dentist never said concrete was bad for my teeth
Inspector must of been sick that day no rebar and shitty grade work
wow no steel in the concrete
sometimes rebar will make it crack.
Yes!
THATS A LOT DIFFERENT THAN ALL THAT MUD
Hells yea picture time! Lol
Have you ever had someone stop and watch you work, Chris?
All the time
@@letsdig18 To me an excavator is the most interesting, my opinion
@@letsdig18 sometimes I want to setup bleachers and sell them hotdogs
No steel in that concrete
Like to have done that Chris 👍🇬🇧
Chris I'm a retired home builder PM with single family, multi family to 12 story experiance, all vetrical
What are long reach sticks used for when grading and can you send me a link and for an matriculated bucket?