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Concrete contractors often spend their workdays placing new concrete, but on occasion they're also called on to remove old concrete from a work site. The first step in the demolition process is finding a piece of breaking equipment that's easy to work with and efficient. This story is a breakdown of the concrete breaking equipment available on the market for light to mid-sized concrete demolition jobs. All these products can break concrete - you want to make sure that you choose a machine that will help you do a job in the quickest and most sensible way to save time and therefore money.

Hand-held breakers
Hand-held concrete breaking equipment is available in a range of sizes. The 60- and 90-lb. classes of hand-held breakers are popular among general contractors and are effective in breaking up sidewalks, curbs and city streets. They can also be used in situations where rig-mounted breakers couldn't maneuver or would be too big, like alleyways, bridge decks and tight spaces. Models in the 30-, 40-, and 50-lb. classes can be used on small commercial and residential applications with less stress on the operator.

Contractors can choose from pneumatic, two-cycle gas and hydraulic hand-held concrete breaking equipment. Pneumatic power systems are very popular in the industry, and convenient for many operators.

"The nice thing about air compressors is they are everywhere," says Jonathan Cook, key account manager with Chicago Pneumatic Construction Tools. "Some contractors might already own one, and if not, they can be found at every rental store."

Eudes Defoe, applications manager - handheld products with Atlas Copco Construction Tools, LLC, says he has seen a rise in the number of hydraulic breakers in the field. "The power-to-weight ratio of hydraulic breakers is usually about 30 percent greater than pneumatic machines in the same class," he says. "[A contractor] can use a 40-lb. hydraulic breaker that will deliver the same impact energy as a 60-lb. pneumatic breaker."