Breaking Out Old Concrete Footers to Prep for a New Pad

Before any new concrete goes in, the old stuff has to come out - and that's not always as simple as it sounds. Old footers can be thick, heavily reinforced, and stubborn. Skipping proper demolition or cutting corners on removal is one of the fastest ways to end up with a new pad that fails early.

Here's what we were working with on this one. Existing footers that had run their course and needed to go - all the way down to bare, clean ground. We brought in a hydraulic breaker mounted on a tracked skid steer to do the heavy lifting. That combination lets us break through even the thickest slabs and get into tight spaces without tearing up everything around the work zone.

Once it's broken up, the debris doesn't just disappear. We clear it all out so the site is genuinely ready for the next phase - not just pushed to the side. The ground prep underneath is just as important as the pour itself. If the base isn't right, the concrete on top won't last.

This is the kind of work that doesn't always get a lot of attention, but it matters. Whether we're talking about a driveway repair, a full driveway refurbishing job, or a fresh concrete pad, what's underneath determines how long the finished product holds up. We take that seriously on every job.