DIY Asphalt Removal

Heavy Equipment

• 1

  Rent an excavator from an equipment rental company. Choose a small-sized excavator that is easy to operate and requires no special operator's license.

• 2

  Drive the shovel on the excavator into the driveway to break through the asphalt and access the gravel layer underneath. Lower the bucket controls and move the bucket toward the excavator while scraping up the asphalt. Move the bucket over a dumpster and drop the asphalt into the dumpster. Continue to drive the bucket into the asphalt, scrape the asphalt up and unload the bucket into a dumpster until asphalt only remains around the edges or near structures.

• 3

  Drive a pick ax into the remaining asphalt to break it up into small, manageable pieces. Force a coal shovel under smaller pieces of asphalt. Push down on the shovel to break up the remaining pieces. Pick up the pieces by hand or with the shovel and place them in the dumpster or wheelbarrow. Use a wheelbarrow to move small pieces of asphalt to the dumpster. Continue to break off pieces of asphalt until no asphalt remains.

Light Equipment

• 4

  Rent a jackhammer from a rental equipment company.

• 5

  Put on safety glasses, ear protection, hardhat and a dust mask.

• 6

  Place the jackhammer on the asphalt surface and turn the jackhammer on. Let the force of the jackhammer break through the asphalt. Move the jackhammer over the surface to break the asphalt into pieces that you are able to lift. Continue to move the jackhammer about the asphalt surface until asphalt is broken into manageable pieces.

• 7

  Strike the areas next to sheds, buildings, concretes slabs or fences with a pick ax to break up the remaining asphalt. Wedge a coal shovel under the asphalt and lift out smaller broken pieces.

• 8

  Load the broken pieces of asphalt into a dumpster. Use a wheelbarrow to transport the asphalt to the dumpster.