The former owner of my house installed a basketball goal in the backyard, so for 2 years I have had a useless metal pole in my backyard. So I pulled it over with hope of taking it down and cutting it up. but alas the guy used a 2 foot round 2 foot deep concrete base, and filled the entire pole with concrete.

So how do i get rid of this thing? No saw I own will cut through it, I can't blow it up (all my co-workers references mythbusters...)

any ideas? i figure I can use a decent sized sledge to break up the shit at the bottom but what about the pole?

3/20/2008 9:22:21 PM

i was gonna say throw it in the lake

but i guess they're all still dried up, aren't they?

3/20/2008 9:27:11 PM

haha. we had the same problem at our house. we had the sledge hammer idea, but after about 10 mins we gave up on that. would've taken hours. we just dug out all around it, choked a strap around it, and pulled it up a ramp onto a utility trailer with a come-a-long.

you could rent a jackhammer. that'd be fun as shit.

3/20/2008 9:32:33 PM

Aha, so he installed it properly eh? Had to remove a rusting metal basketball pole from my dad's property. The arrangement was that we all dug around it for about 45 minutes, then tilted it out of the ground, then just slapped the concrete with a mini sledge a few times (poof, breaks apart into manageable chunks, just wear glasses unless you like rocks in your eyes) and threw the pole in the back of the car to take it to a dump.

As far as breaking it down, it should be in a few segments with the concrete inside. I'd be willing to bet that if you hit it pretty hard around the joints with a mini sledge (not hard enough to dent it, just to send shockwaves through to crack the concrete in half), you should be able to wiggle the thing apart into multiple pieces so you could more easily take it to the dump. Otherwise you're going to be doing a side-of-the-road styled dump to get rid of the damn thing.

3/20/2008 9:48:18 PM

you can use a torch or rent a plasma cutter to cut the pole into manageable pieces, then hammer on it and the concrete will break inside in a snap. do that to the base, then dig the bitch up and snatch it out of the ground

3/20/2008 9:50:44 PM

i'm telling you

artificial reef

3/20/2008 9:53:03 PM

Dig hole.
Put pole in.
Cover up.

Think simple.

[Edited on March 20, 2008 at 10:30 PM. Reason : l]

3/20/2008 10:30:02 PM

Sell it on Craigslist.

Advertise it as something cool.

That way, someone ELSE takes care of it AND you make some money.

3/20/2008 11:15:24 PM

easiest thing is take an angle grinder with a metal cut off wheel or even a sawzall and cut around the pipe. the concrete will snap in half easily after that. if for some reason it doesn't, switch up to a masonry cutting disc on the grinder.

3/20/2008 11:53:17 PM

^torch will do the same job in 1/100th the time, without getting shit all over you, and cutting discs on pipe = I hate life

3/21/2008 12:12:21 AM

torch won't do as well with that concrete packed in there, not to mention it gives slag a nice surface to spray back at you off of. i'd still use one, but not everyone has access to one. angle grinder is a basic thing you can get for 25 bucks if you don't have one.

3/21/2008 12:24:22 AM

neither steel nor concrete float, do they?

3/21/2008 12:34:21 AM

sell as art.

3/21/2008 1:17:11 AM

^^ How does an aircraft carrier not sink

But, it depends mostly on the geometry...

3/21/2008 1:27:33 AM

^cause it aint filled with concrete

3/21/2008 1:29:57 AM

Quote :

"neither steel nor concrete float, do they?"

you def. arent in the navy....

3/21/2008 8:49:05 AM

Quote :

"Dig hole. Put pole in. Cover up. Think simple."

exact same thing i was thinking

3/21/2008 9:28:48 AM

I have a porta-band, We can cut the base, break the concrete with a hammer then knock it over.

[Edited on March 21, 2008 at 11:56 AM. Reason : jh]

3/21/2008 11:56:11 AM

angle grinder + sledge seems like the cheapest solution that will work

3/21/2008 12:19:50 PM

all you need is a truck and a tow strap. i had an old goal at my new house and the previous owner installed it the same way. i just hooked the strap up to the base of the pole and pulled the whole thing out of the ground. the fucking ball of concrete was huge. i would say the diameter of the concrete was 4 ft. and probably 3 ft deep. after it was free and sitting on top of my driveway i just used a come-along and winched the whole thing onto my trailer and hauled it off to the dump.

3/21/2008 2:44:09 PM

he's already got it down, he's just trying to get rid of it somehow.

3/21/2008 4:06:12 PM

if you've got a skilsaw, you can get an abrasive blade for it for a few dollars and cut through the pipe above where the concrete stops and cut it into manageable sized pieces.

3/21/2008 5:26:52 PM

the pipe is filled with concrete

3/21/2008 5:32:50 PM

Well I hauled it out of the ground by hand, and got the pipe into pieces with nothing but rope and a sledge, but now I am to the point where I have 2 5 foot sections of concrete filled pipe, and a ball of concrete that weighs as much as a boat with 3 feet of concrete filled pole sticking out. Broke up some with a sledge and a pick, but I can't do much sledging before my hands give out (carpel tunnel problems.)

3/22/2008 10:04:25 AM

tilt your trash can on its side, roll the chunk into it, tilt it up, set it at the curb, watch hilarity ensue

3/22/2008 10:20:23 AM

cant you just pull it out with a truck or something?

3/22/2008 12:19:02 PM

^^ hahaha

too bad you can't disguise it in a load of metal & take it to the scrap yard

3/22/2008 2:02:12 PM

tt&e would take it... too bad it's maybe $5 in metal for a royal pain in the ass.

3/22/2008 2:13:09 PM

ok not to thread hijack...i'm just curious if any of yall garage posters have ever seen a woman do this:

http://youporn.com/watch/149676

3/23/2008 3:32:22 AM

impressive... and no comment.

3/23/2008 4:46:44 AM

^don't be scared to comment.
all garage regulars internet sessions go like this:
check tww garage for any new comments to previous posts.
respond back to the few.
look at new pictures and a few videos.
jerk off
go back to tww garage to get more in depth with the new threads.
when done with the garage, check a few more porn sites for some jerk material later that day.
log off.
start working on something automotive related.
15 minutes into it A.D.D. kicks in and mind is deterred to thinking about the last slut you looked at.
get side tracked and wind up inside back at the computer to get one last look at the last slut.
jerk off to her.
check the tww garage one last time.
go back outside to finish project you started and get pissed because you can't remember where those bolts came from.
get frustrated enough to say you'll finish it tomorrow.
come back inside to get just another look at that last slut.
jerk off to her once more.
wash, rinse, repeat.

3/23/2008 8:55:59 AM

uh oh....i bet bigblueram has seen that shit in person before

3/23/2008 11:08:31 AM