We are intending to set up a set of rolls to feed material into our saw inside the buildng. Before we set up the rools and frame we want to put down a proper concrete foundation. Any quick and effective ways to take out a nice square section of pavement? We do have a large Hilti impact drill with chisel tips. We want to avoid the high cost of having a diamond saw guy come in to do the job. The shop is quiet right now so time is not an important factor. Randy
You probably don't need a rental saw. Use your Skill Saw with a cheap diamond masonry blade. ... cut it dry ....... no water. It's no big deal & works just fine.... believe me. OTOH, most of the asphalt out here (San Diego) is 2" thick.
That's what I was thinking. Check the local tool rental store. I rented a saw to cut about 20' of concrete driveway for $30 for a half day last year. Asphaly should be an easier if a good bit nastier job.
Call your local Home Depot or Lowe's with a Tool Rental department or a good local rental yard. You can rent a standard gas-powered wet diamond saw for about $70 to $80 for the full day - but you need a special diamond wheel for asphalt, so tell them what you're doing.
Don't forget to bring in enough garden hose from home to reach from the faucet to the cut or you'll have to buy more. DAMHIKT...
Mark and measure the square you want to cut in the asphalt floor (and do diagonals to make sure the square is, in fact, a square), and then get some cotton clothesline and a can of "Upside Down" marking paint. Use the clothesline like a big chalk-line, and "Snap" it with the can of paint - this way you have a nice cut line to follow with the wet saw that won't wash away.
When you take the saw back, rent a Bosch Brute electric pavement breaker, or you can get a compressor and air breaker. With an Asphalt Spade point you can break up the square of asphalt into nice convenient chunks for disposal.
The larger Hilti TE-series impact drill might do it for small areas, if you have the right chisel. But if we're talking 100 square feet or more to remove, don't screw around all day - go rent the Bosch bad boy and be done in an hour.
Nail some wooden guides onto the asphalt and use a masonry blade in a skill saw.
You dont need to saw all the way through, just score it fairly deep, you can take multiple passes if you have guides nailed down.
Make another hole in the middle to start breaking it out from, you can use a heavy steel bar with a chisel edge ground onto the end, 6 ft long and 1-1/4 dia is about right........
I have cut literally miles of asphalt and have never used a diamond blade, the black disposable blades do just fine. Do it dry and use a dust mask. A thinner blade will make a lot less dust, with somewhat greater chance of breaking. I suggest that you rent the walk-behind kind that looks like a big lawn edger. Another choice is the hand-held type that uses a chain saw-type engine. For small jobs, a skill saw might work, but the dust will not do the bearings any good.
Sticking was usually only a problem on really hot days and with new asphalt.
We usually just used a good chalk line, but another way is too have someone hold the string down tight while you spray paint over it. Remove the string and you will end up with an easy-to-see paint line with a perfectly straight, unpainted, center line where the string was.
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