Concrete Removal Weight & Hauling Calculator

How it works

Weight = area × thickness ÷ 12 × 150 lb/ft³ (× 1.05 mesh, × 1.08 rebar); loose yd³ = bank yd³ × (1 + swell); loads = max(weight ÷ capacity, volume ÷ capacity); time = area ÷ (rate × (4 ÷ thickness)^1.5 × reinforcement factor)

Concrete weighs about 150 pounds per cubic foot, so an ordinary 4-inch patio carries 50 pounds in every square foot and a modest driveway runs to ten tons or more — the reason removal jobs are quoted by weight and hauled in small, half-filled containers rather than the big boxes used for light debris. Breaking it up increases the volume by half but not the weight, and reinforcement adds both weight and, more importantly, time, since mesh must be snipped and rebar cut. Clean concrete is one of the most recycled materials in the world: crushed into road base it is accepted cheaply or free, while mixed loads pay full landfill rates, so keeping dirt and trash out of the pile is worth real money.

Worked example

A 600 ft² × 4″ patio with wire mesh is 200 ft³ of concrete — 15.8 tons — that breaks into about 11 yd³ of rubble. That is three half-filled 10 yd heavy-debris boxes (about 5 t each) at roughly $1,600 including a $25/t recycling fee, and around 15 labour-hours with an electric breaker before loading.

Frequently asked questions