has anyone ever ripped up a cement yard...?

[Droflove]

And replanted it as grass? What's the process and how big a job is it? I'm imagining drilling and hacking it off in slabs, then top soil.

Part of our garden was cement, in both this garden and our last. We didn't get rid of it ourselves, but did see close up how it happened.
A lot will depend on how deep it is. Our recent bit was 4 inches, which isn't that deep but still made a lot of rubbish to get rid of.
They used a sledgehammer for most of it. I then went over it by hand to get the smaller lumps of cement.
We then ordered topsoil and it's now a happy flowerbed.
We did have soil underneath which helped. I suppose your first step would be to work out how deep the cement is, and what's underneath.

Yes!

I have pulled out 50 tonnes of concrete from my back garden which wasn't even completely concreted over, but rather had concrete laid out in a very strange 1970s style parterre layout. It is still not completely done.

I didn't use powertools, but a mattock and a wheelbarrow. It took SIX 8 tonne skips in total. I got properly toned doing it.

However, mine had been properly concreted - there was about 20cm of the stuff, and then a foot of hardcore underneath. You might be lucky and find someone has done a half-arsed job. Maybe prise up a little bit somewhere it doesn't show and have a look?

Sort of, we had flags in the back garden so lifted them and found they were on about 3 inches of concrete.

Used a sledge hammer to break them up and were left with dust / soil underneath.

We bought loads of top soil and my lovely dad laid a lawn (turf). That was three years ago and the grass is doing really well. I was worried as the dust / soil we uncovered looked awful but it's been fine.

Good luck.

We moved tonnes of concrete from the front of our house. I used a kango drill (and ear defenders for my toddler DS who helped!) and broke through the top layer of concrete. It took many, many car loads full of rubble sacks to get rid of it all. We ended up having to go down about 3 feet and got rid of all the concrete (about 6" thick) and then all the hard core. I then filled it up with a load of topsoil. It was well worth doing though :)

There's something noble about the way that whoever laid these monstrosities did a good job.

We merely wanted to make a bed down the side of our drive, about forty feet. Bugger me: asphalt, hardcore, rebar. It was well made, and so it should be, built on sand and meant bear the weight of two cars and a boat.

Happy digging.

Thanks for this; I am about to empty a garage, take it down and turn it into garden; it has a cement floor.

Not meaning to high jack thread but those who did it yourselves, how long did it take (the cement part)?

Echt - - it's true! Imagine a Mumsnet in the 70s where threads started 'I want to lay a concrete yard, how long do you think it will take and how many tonnes of hardcore should I order?'

Romey: It really depends on:

• how big the area is
• how thick the concrete is (the job is exponentially harder the thicker it gets)
• whether you have power tools at your disposal to break it up
• how far you need to transport the rubble to a skip
• how many people are doing the job
• how fit and strong you are

I would think a couple of fit people would be able to deal with a cement floor in a small garage during a weekend if the site was already cleared of everything else. Hiring a powertool will speed things up. You'll probably need a mattock too to get through compacted hardcore. Oh, and a decent shovel is way handier than a spade.

I would have a little dig around the edges of the garage if you can, and see how deep the concrete is. Then add on a decent amount of hardcore underneath - could be quite a few inches. I would add a little bit extra to what you anticipate when ordering a skip, just to be on the safe side.

Thank you so much, shovetheholly

Good idea about digging down; I can certainly do that. I don't have any power tools but can hire something, we have a couple of places in town. The garage is wooden, so itself should be relatively easy.

Apologies again for the hi-jack.

I misread and thought you asked if anybody had ripped up a cemetery yard!!

HA! That would be a very different and disturbing kind of gardening!!

Roney - I just dismantled a wooden shed in my garden and it was fairly straightforward once we'd got one section off, if you see what I mean. We used a wrecking bar to get in, and then just unscrewed the rest.

If the concrete is thin and/or knackered, you may be able to get through it fairly easy with a mattock. It's hard work, but quite rewarding in a weird kind of way.

I watched our builders do it, with a kango and a skip (predictive text keeps changing Kango to mango, now that would have been interesting)

It was hard work and they were cursing whoever had laid the yard originally cos apparently they'd done a solid job.

It was exhausting work. It took me months to get it to the point where DH and I could move the top soil from the back garden round to the front. We were unable to have a skip though so I would fill up rubble sacks with hardcore and then take it to the tip.

shovetheholly, believe me, I cannot wait to get rid of the monstrosity that is this garage! I shall be digging down this weekend to check concrete level.

Romey - oh, you will be able to vent all that frustration on it when you demolish it! It will be wonderful to get rid!

And you may be surprised how big the plot looks without it, and how many options you have! I recently pulled down three small brick buildings (3m x 1m) which ran at right angles to my house. I didn't think they took up much room, but it opened the garden right up. It was only when they were gone that I realised how bloody hideous they had looked! The rubble filled a massive skip, though, which surprised me as I thought there wouldn't be that much!

Oh and that reminds me - what's the roof of your garage made of? Just checking - in a slightly paranoid and clucky way - that it's not asbestos!!