With an average cost of almost $4,000, replacing a damaged concrete driveway is an expensive but necessary project. Removing the old driveway yourself is often the best way to save on some of those costs if you’re comfortable with the level of physical effort and caution involved. This job is hard work but it’s usually something an experienced  can accomplish if they’re comfortable using equipment like a jackhammer or skidsteer loader. Follow these steps to learn how to tear up your driveway without calling in a pro.

Removing a Concrete Driveway in a Safe way!

Does Your Driveway Really Need to Be Removed?

Luckily for your wallet, you might be able to repair the damage to your driveway without totally replacing it. Your driveway will need to be removed if: it has cracked and been repaired in the past, it currently has cracks that are wide or more than 2 inches deep, or it has sunken in places so that it no longer sits level.

If these factors aren’t in play, you can repair the damage without shelling out for a full driveway replacement. If it turns out your driveway really is too far gone to be repaired, use the following steps for removing a concrete driveway.

Step 1: Find Out Where Utility Lines Are Located

Before beginning any work, contact the city to have an inspector mark the location and depth of any utility lines that run under your driveway. This way, you can take extra precaution when tearing up the driveway in those areas. DO NOT skip this step: if you damage any utility lines, you’ll be the one to foot that hefty bill, not the city. 904-751-2177

Mayor Lenny Curry helped kick off the collection effort this week when he joined a crew using heavy machinery to collect debris from a Northside neighborhood.

“We recognize that if you have storm debris in front of your yard for three to four weeks, that’s a long time, but we are moving aggressively to get it done,” Curry said.

Residents know the drill from last year when crews collected 808,000 cubic yards of debris in Jacksonville after Hurricane Matthew.

For Irma, city officials expect the range will be 800,000 to 1 million cubic yards.

It’s one of the most costly impacts of storm damage. Last year’s cost for tree debris collection totalled about $18.6 million, but a large portion of the expense is eligible for reimbursement by the Federal Emergency Management Agency and the state.

The faster the city gets the job done, the more it can get reimbursed through a pilot program for debris removal. FEMA will cover 85 percent and the state will handle 7.5 percent of the expense for debris collected within the first 30 days. For days 31 through 90, FEMA reimbursement drops to 80 percent and the state’s share is 10 percent. After 90 days, FEMA’s share dips to 75 percent and the state is at 12.5 percent.

Damage from historic flooding adds another layer to the collection effort.

Sontag said in her East Trout River Neighborhood, it’s worse than after Matthew.

“There’s so much more on the curb now from where the flooding came in, and people were having to get it out of their house so it didn’t get mold,” she said.

She still has drywall awaiting pickup in front of her house.

J.B. Coxwell Contracting & Arwood Waste, based in Jacksonville, is the contractor in charge of collecting the debris. It sub-contracts with other businesses to help with the citywide pickup, which takes debris to temporary collection sites J.B. Coxwell set up in different parts of the city.

Residents have two options for getting rid of debris.

They can break down vegetative debris into pieces that are put into containers or bags for collection on their regular, weekly yard waste pickup days. Residents can put out as much as five cubic yards for regular yard-waste collection, which equates to up to 30 bags.

The city’s regular trucks won’t pick up tree debris that’s in open piles. Those piles get collected by the contractors hired specifically for storm cleanup, often using trucks equipped with giant claws.

Unlike the city’s regular waste pickup, there is no schedule for when the storm debris trucks will make their stops. They started in the most hard-hit neighborhoods and then will keep working seven days a week to get the rest of the city.

To make it easier for crews to work, residents should keep routine household waste, vegetative debris, construction and demolition debris, and white goods/appliances separate from each other.

 

The ultimate fate of the tree debris is unknown at this time. The city encourages the contractor to find a way to recycle the material, but the contractor makes the decision on disposal, with city approval.

The East Trout River Neighborhood got hit every which way when Hurricane Irma plowed through Jacksonville, knocking down trees and shoving rivers over their banks.