Robotic and remote-controlled demolition in Cork

Robotic demolition is breaking out concrete and masonry with a compact tracked machine that carries a hydraulic breaker on a jointed arm, driven by an operator with a remote control. Euro Concrete uses it inside buildings, in tight or hazardous spaces, and where a crew with hand breakers would be at risk.

The operator walks alongside at a safe distance, with a clear view of the work. The arm reaches up to ceilings and walls as well as down to floors and bases, and the machine is built narrow to get through door openings and, once the floor has been checked for its weight, to work on upper levels. Taking hand breakers out of the job cuts the vibration and noise the crew is exposed to, and keeps people away from falling material. The work pairs with diamond cutting: a saw cuts the outline so the structure that stays has a clean edge, and the machine then clears the section inside the cuts.

Euro Concrete prices each robotic demolition job on how much concrete is coming out, how heavily it is reinforced, how the machine gets to it, and whether the broken material is cleared away as part of the job. Ring Sean on 086 881 9848 with photos and rough sizes for a price.

Volume and reinforcement set the breaking time, since the steel has to be exposed and cut free as the concrete comes away. A section already cut free by a saw breaks out faster than a solid wall. Getting the machine in matters: a ground-floor room with a wide door is set up quickly, while a basement or an upper floor needs the machine brought in and, on a suspended floor, the floor checked for its weight. Clearing the rubble is priced in where it is part of the job, so say whether it is when you ring. A load-bearing element adds the engineer's input and propping before any breaking starts.

The best way to break down concrete depends on its size and where it is. Euro Concrete cuts the outline with a diamond saw first, then breaks out the section with a remote-controlled demolition machine, which leaves a clean edge on the concrete that stays and keeps vibration through the building low.

For a thin, unreinforced path or patio outdoors, a hydraulic breaker on a digger or a hand breaker does the job quickly, and the edge left behind matters little. Inside a building, or where the concrete that stays has to be sound, breaking alone shakes the structure and leaves a ragged edge that needs making good, so cutting comes first. Heavy reinforced sections can be cut into blocks with a wall saw or wire saw and lifted out whole, with no breaking at all. Whatever the method, services in or under the concrete are found and made safe before work starts, and anything carrying load is propped first.

The machine that knocks down walls depends on the building. Euro Concrete uses a remote-controlled demolition machine with a hydraulic breaker for concrete and masonry walls inside buildings, while whole structures are taken down by large excavators fitted with breakers, crushers or shears.

Inside a building the choice narrows quickly. A full-size excavator cannot get through the door or stand on the floor, and a crew with hand breakers is slow and exposed to vibration and falling debris. A remote demolition machine is built to fit through door openings, reach a wall at height and be worked from a safe distance. Where only an opening is needed and the rest of the wall must stay, a wall saw cuts it instead, since breaking would crack the wall around the opening. Before any wall comes down, whether it carries load is established, and if it does, the engineer's temporary propping goes in first.

You can break up a small, thin, unreinforced slab yourself, such as a garden path or a shed base, with a hired breaker or a mini digger with a breaker attachment, which Euro Concrete hires out. Anything reinforced, structural, load-bearing or inside a lived-in building is a job for a contractor.

A thin path or patio breaks up readily once an edge is started, and the pieces can be levered out and loaded. Wear eye and hearing protection and a dust mask, keep others clear, and find out where drains, water pipes, gas and cables run before you start. Reinforced concrete is another matter: the steel holds the broken pieces together, so it needs cutting as well as breaking. Anything that carries load, such as a wall, a column or a suspended floor, needs an engineer and temporary support before it is touched. Inside a finished building, cutting the outline first keeps dust, noise and damage down.

Euro Concrete Services does concrete demolition across County Cork, based in Skibbereen and Cork city, breaking out walls, floors and plinths with a remote-controlled machine and diamond saws. Ring Sean on 086 881 9848 with the address, a description of the concrete to be removed and the way in for the machine, and he will give you a date.

The machine goes to sites in and around Cork city, around the harbour and in East Cork, North Cork towns such as Mallow and Fermoy, and West Cork out to Bantry and Schull. Access is the question to answer first: the width of the door or opening the machine comes in through, any steps or ramps, and whether it has to work on an upper floor. Photos of the route in, as well as of the concrete itself, let us plan the job before we arrive.