Removing Rock Hump on Cottage Access Road
PROJECT
Rock hump in middle of access road that sticks up about 8"
Remove the top so that cars don't get damaged by it.
(Scroll down for pictures)
LOCATION
Parry Sound region in Ontario, Canada
CHALLENGE
Very hard granite
Blasting not an option due to location and cost
CUSTOMER FEEDBACK
"We have a Canadian shield type rock which the frost pushes out a bit more each year in the middle of our cottage access road.
Some cars began to hit it, a few getting damaged in the process. Last winter, the farmer who clears our road, damaged his snowplow. It had become imperative to remove the rock.
We had no idea how deep it extended, or how heavy it was. The risk was that if we tried to dig it out, we might end up having a huge hole, which would just create another problem to solve. It seemed like an intractable problem.
We tried drilling three eights inch holes with a hammer drill and using a sledgehammer, but this had little effect.
Last August, our son and his wife arrived at the cottage at night - they had just hit the rock with their new Tesla. But luckily they had used a product called Dexpan to remove an old basement floor, leading to their suggestion to try Dexpan on our rogue rock.
Having no other options in hand, we began to research this approach, including getting helpful suggestions from Shawn at Dexpan Canada.
The project blossomed into a family enterprise, with grandsons and their friends renting suitable rock drills, dragging a heavy electrical generator to the work site, and taking turns drilling holes in the offending rock. This phase involved the most man-hours work.
My wife and I procured 11 lb of Dexpan, a large funnel, a mixing bit for our drill, and bucket. We dried out the drill holes with a leaf blower for which we’d fashioned a special nozzle, mixed the Dexpan, and using the large funnel, poured the mixture into the holes.
Quite frankly, we didn’t expect much to happen!
But next morning, after a night of below zero temperatures, we were astounded and delighted to see that fine cracks had appeared in the rogue rock! And on the following day, the cracks were wider. On the third day, the cracks had widened sufficiently for us to remove small fragments. The large fragments extended into the ground and were too heavy for a pair of octogenarians to lift!
Fortunately our grandson-in-law, a builder, was coming to the cottage the following weekend. He brought 6’ crowbars and a diamond saw, and removed the shattered fragments of the rogue rock, leaving a fair sized hole. Our grand-daughter and her three children collected stones and sand in a wheelbarrow, with which they filled the hole.
The rock problem had been solved!."
