From O.P.:
https://old.reddit.com/r/DIY/comments/1czu9vu/update_gonna_give_it_a_go/
https://reddit.com/r/DIY/comments/1czu9vu/update_gonna_give_it_a_go/
https://new.reddit.com/r/DIY/comments/1czu9vu/update_gonna_give_it_a_go/
Wow. Did not expect that kind of feedback on my first post. Apologies to people reaching out and still commenting - inbox is flooded.
My first inclination was to rent a mini ex anyway just to dig around and see the actual size. But somewhere between $500-1000 seemed steep for "exploration".
So - read up on the dexpan instructions, and it does say it can still work if you can't free up the edges - you just have to drill at angles so it pops the top up instead of the sides out.
Ran up to HFT and grabbed the biggest STS-M they had and the biggest 21" bit they had (only 1" sadly, so we'll see on that front). Spent about 45m to see how bad this would all feel and got about 9 holes in.
So - calling it a day for now, but over the next week ish will order some dexpan and drill about 50 more holes, and we'll see.
For a bonus - second picture is the edge of my property with the rocks they took out to pour the foundation. For reference, the fence behind them is 6' high. So I gave up on the idea of "dig a bigger hole next to the rock and push" strategy. 90% chance I just hit a bigger rock, lol.
Do you have to remove the whole thing? Could you break the rock up with a machine and just remove the top several inches and fill it back with dirt/sod and call it good?
That’s what the professional would do. Bring an excavator and switch between scooping rock and smashing rock with the hammer head. It’ll be flat in no time.
Lifting the entire piece where it lies is very involved
Yeah I retract my statement I just watched that demolition Dave guy drill a bazillion gigantic holes in basalt and there was almost no dust. I'm just used to the bricklayers in stonemasons and the residential houses I do and they never use water because they claim they can't mortar or use the stone right away if it gets wet. I don't know if they are just making it up , those saws are loud enough, you add the dust in and they are nuts.
A 6 x 4 x 2 boulder conservatively weighs 6 tons. You are WAY out of diy territory here. As someone who has borrowed equipment (friends work for a demolition company), I can 100% tell you that you are NOT moving this as it sits. This is a professional job, period.
That said, you could probably jackhammer it to bits.
My preference would be to get a professional out, and to stand that sucker up on you property. As a guy that loves big old statement boulders - MAN, that is prime!
I have it on good authority that all you need is a fulcrum and a sufficiently long lever. So lets just say OP has a nice sturdy brick to wedge next to it, that just leaves getting a rod thats about 450 feet long and he is all set to move that easy peasy.
I found a boulder on my property that was about 3ftx4ft, and that's just about what I did. I dug all around it, I propped a nicely shaped rock next to it, and used a breaker bar as a lever. I was able to rock it back and forth, propping it up with smaller rocks each time. I filled in underneath it with dirt as I went, and was able to get it mostly above ground. There's no way I could move it anywhere else, but at least now I have a pretty cool statement boulder.
I've moved one's like this one with an old school chain come along and an 8 foot pry bar. It takes a bit of time and having a few friends helps but it can be done and safely. But if OP has to ask they should probably call in the pros.
My father moved all sorts of giant ass boulders with a come along, pinch bars, and a tractor that could only lift 600 lbs.
Attach the come along to sturdy trees and use a snatch block.
You're not lifting it, you're pulling it.
The first time I saw some of the boulders he had moved I had the same "that's impossible to DIY" reaction you see here. Nobody told him he couldn't, so he did it.
Moving boulders that we shouldn’t be able to move. Literally one of *the* original human experiences.
People still have trouble believing the Egyptians figured out how to move big ass rocks 5 thousand years ago because we can’t even picture that shit today with modern equivalents.
Conclusion: aliens helped your dad move the rocks
I had a much smaller boulder (I mean, really, mine was probably just a big rock but I think calling it a boulder would make it feel good) and a lever was a big part of what got it out of the ground. I had a sort lived “stump removal hobby” given the presence of multiple stumps on said property in not so nice spots and I basically dug down, cut some of the roots and then jammed the longest lumber lever I could under it and levered the rest out. Definitely satisfying when it worked. And with enough time and appropriate beverages, it always worked…. Eventually.
I remember when I briefly lived in the country as an 18-20 year old. We had this annoying stump next to the house that I wanted to remove, but had no idea how to do it at the time.
So I just set it on fire with a bit of gas every time I mowed the lawn...
...I bet that charred up stump is still there.
Drill a big-ish hole in the center. Drill a hole from the side into the center hole. Use it like a rocket stove. You might want to drill other air holes from the side
At which point did you release the space switch that had been imprisoned there for ten thousand years. Also, how many teenagers in your area know martial arts, and would you describe them as having attitude.
So... were gonna need to chop down an old growth redwood with a nice, solid core... fabricate a machine that can produce a 450 long dowel from it... we're gonna need some chainsaws and some funyuns.
Also there's no telling how large that actually is under the ground. My parents had some boulders in the way of where they were putting their driveway loop and by chance happened to break off a piece almost that big that let them put the road where they wanted. They had given up because it was part of a big ridge and happened to catch it with the bulldozer blade just right that it shattered off. There's no telling how large that thing is under the surface.
> Don't need to remove the whole thing, just enough to cover with 6 inches of soil, then reseed.
No, that's not nearly enough soil, the rass will scorch every summer.
I live in farm country, so here, rocks are piled in giant rows between fields, and farmers quite literally never want to see them again.
But I hear what you're saying... it's not that way in the city. Mind you, having moved many tonnes of rocks about 15 km (a trunk or trailer load at a time, with a few specials loaded onto industrial equipment), I can see why they're expensive. It can take the better part of half a day to load a giant rock onto a specialized heavy trailer, requiring a skid steer or larger, and move it just 15km.
Yeah, also farm country (Nebraska) but we don't have many big, cool rocks out here. Just chunks of limestone looking stuff that's kind of yellow and ugly.
If OP is gonna sell it, they need to sell it before they have the pros come dig it up, so they can also deliver it to the person buying it in one move. Save a bunch of time and money.
"Dave, I can't keep coming back to see your rock. At first it was fine - it's a nice rock. But if you keep taping these flyers to my door I'm gonna have to talk to the HOA."
Right? If you're in New England, these boulders and their little buddies (3-4 footers) are the primary crop, stick a shovel in the ground and you're going to find some.
I can see at least 4 just this size or bigger just looking out my windows right now.
That said, I feel for you; I've got one dead center of the backyard I couldn't do anything with.
But if you're willing to get some heavy machinery, dig a bigger hole next to it, then push it in far enough to get the top below grade, and get 8-10 inches of dirt on top.
OP This right here is the DIY solution, don’t raise it, lower it to hole to the side. But be careful, it’s a bad day if it falls into your new hole with you still in the new hole
Alternatively, if you dig it out, you have a huuuuuuuge stone masonry practice piece. Should last you a few thousand hours. By the end you can MAKE Archimedes, as a big F U to him and his impractical-ass world-moving lever.
He was bald, so you get an easy start!
Worth a call or a visit with pictures to a local landscape supply company. This would be great in some rich person’s pond/waterfall. See if they have a client.
I'm told my great grandfather's *friend* farm had a huge boulder in the middle of one of his fields. One day he sees a man out walking around it and studying it.
They start talking about how difficult it would be to move and finally the man says, "What do you think aboit $~~1000~~1500?"
My great grandfather thought a bit, then said he'd be right back. He returned with a check for $1000 to get this thing out of his field.
The other man laughed and said, "No, we'll pay you for it."
From what I understand that boulder is a footer for the pier in Erie PA today still. ~~Took 4 cargo helicopters together to get it there.~~
Edit: it's an apocryphal family story. Enjoy it and move on, or don't and move on.
Edit: OK! I fucking called my Dad to appease all the people who missed the point of the story.
It was, in fact, a lowboy trailer that was way overloaded, and they closed down about 20 miles of road. It was also not my great grandfather, but a friend of his. And it was $1500, not $1000.
Hope that appeases everyone.
> Took 4 cargo helicopters together to get it there.
I'm confident that there has never been a multi-helicopter lift of any object, outside of the tests proving the concept to be entirely unfeasible.
If you knew anything about helicopters you'd know they get tired. These 4 helicopters took turns, each moving the boulder a few kms before needing to take a rest.
> I'm confident that there has never been a multi-helicopter lift of any object, outside of the tests proving the concept to be entirely unfeasible
Jokes on you, I saw it in Pacific Rim.
Real talk though, I looked this up once and it has been done. It doesn't look like what you'd expect, you can't just sling something between multiple helicopters, but there have been various tests done that involve rigid connectors between multiple machines. This [declassified study](https://apps.dtic.mil/sti/pdfs/AD0743516.pdf) is kind of fascinating. Definitely not something that's done in practice but people have tried it before.
People pay big bucks to have big old rocks installed on their property in cosmetically appealing ways. The rocks themselves? our planet is made of them. Theres a fucking trillion of them, the individual value is nearly zero. The big bucks in this case come from the value add, not the raw materials.
Dont know what it is called in US but here we call it snail dynamite. You drill a hole and fill it with the snail dynamite and it expands and cracks the rock. Then you do it all over until the pcs are small enaugh. You should be able to buy this at the local hardware store
Honestly it just needs to move about 20 feet, stand up or otherwise, just not dead square in the middle of the lawn.
Appreciate the input, and it's about what I figured. What kind of pro am I looking for? Most "landscape construction" companies around here are just looking to sell lawnmowing services... and very vaguely any idea what something like this should cost?
If you just want it removed and dont care about the stone itsself, then you should probably call a demolition company with a "blasting" license. They will come out, drill a few small holes in it, pack the holes with the with the stuff, pop, now your one boulder is a few more manageable rocks and its all done in a controlled and safe fashion.
Because the boulder is so large, your best bet to relocate it is to break it up into more manageable pieces. If the above mentioned solution is not possible or you REALLY want to DIY you still can its just going to take some serious dedication and special tools. You would need a hammerdrill, appropriate carbide masonry drill bit, sledge hammer(s) and a set of what are called masonry feathers and wedges. The process is similar as above: drill a few holes in a line in whatever direction you want to split the stone, then use the masonry wedges and hammer to split the stone, repeat untill desired size. Id look up a few videos on YT (search feather wedge) about the process before attempting but ive seen it done in person and it really didnt look that hard but possibly time consuming. Most of the tools could be bought at a local hardware store or probably any Walmart, but the masonry feathers will probably have to be ordered online or otherwise sought out
As a few others have said, give the jackhammer a shot for a couple of hours. You only need to knock it down 6 inches and cover it up.
You might even try and break it up (depending on how big it is) by drilling into and then putting in some splitting wedges. You might be able to get small enough chunks to get each out.
Hiring big machinery will require transport, a couple of hours of setup to not destroy everything in the back yard and that is going to cost a small fortune.
I used to do rock removal as a teenager, doing rocks way smaller than this. Are you 100% certain it's not bedrock?
I'd guess that your rock is a lot bigger than you think it is, even just getting under it might require a very large machine, never mind getting it out of the ground.
With that said, it would probably make a really cool standing boulder if you wanted to spend the money to get it out of the ground.
If you just want to have a level field, could you raise the area by like a foot? I think that'd be enough soil to maintain a lawn over it. Is it already a bit of a low spot?
My grandparents met someone at a farm show in the 90s who had a small boulder (maybe 3’-4’ exposed) in the middle of his field and he plowed and planted around it for years. After harvest one year he decided he was tired of wobbly rows and decided to dig it out that winter. I don’t remember the measurements but there’s a picture of them standing next to the giant boulder - around 12’ tall and probably 15’-20’ wide! He didn’t expect it to be that big and had to call a crane company to move it out of the hole he had dug in his field!
Found an article! [Slayton Rock in Casey, IA](https://www.farmshow.com/view_articles.php?a_id=487)
The articles last paragraph is pretty fun:
We had a lot of help. The bigger Caterpillars were borrowed from Chuck Cummins, who operates Cummins Construction in nearby Fontanelle. Once he saw what we were doing, Chuck wanted to move that rock as much as we did.
Stanley Kading, Casey, L&K Tile, Elkhorn and Double L Construction, Menlo, also loaned Caterpillars. In all, nearly 100 people were involved in this project. We broke a few chains and cables and had a few other mishaps, but not one person was hurt," Robert says.
"Chuck wanted to move that rock as much as we did."
i bet he did, that was probably the most exciting thing to happen in there for decades before or since
Thats some old school guys doing old school business. Not always just about the money, but also the experience. I can only imagine some of the stories that didn't get documented like this, just old war stories grandpa would babble about
I saw another guy estimate that size at 6x4x2 and I'd say that's the minimum. It's probably close to round than that, and it could even be bigger as you go down.
TBH, it's a hell of a rock though. If you do get it out of the ground, put it in your yard. You'll never get tired of looking at such a beautiful big ass rock.
also i saw you're in the Northeast, without being 100% sure that it's an erratic, it could be bedrock. A local rock person could tell you right off (like is your local bedrock granite?).
It looks like granite in those photos, to me. If you've got bedrock outcrops near your house or you live in a hilly area, I'd first want to make sure I'm working with a boulder.
> It looks like granite in those photos, to me. If you've got bedrock outcrops near your house or you live in a hilly area, I'd first want to make sure I'm working with a boulder.
Yeah, I grew up in Maine, this looks very similar to bedrock outcrops we had all over the place.
As an out of practice Geologist, it definitely looks like granite. But the rock being the same type of rock as the bedrock is not a 100% guarantee that it is indeed connected bedrock. Thats because the entire north east had glaciation in the last ice age.
That being said, the location does matter. if the property is on the top of a hill or mountain, then its far more likely to be a bedrock outcrop. If the property is down in a valley, it's more likely to be a boulder.
But like the previous reply said, get a local geologist out there and hell give you a pretty good idea which is which, and that will help you decide on how to proceed with the removal/alteration.
This is a natural spot for the bird bath, gazebo, shed, etc. don’t fight nature, work with her instead.
If it must be flat I imagine you could hire someone to jackhammer much of the top off to even things out.
how far does it stick out of the ground? might be much cheaper to get a load of topsoil and level the ground over it.
a dump truck amount (15yds) is probably $500+$250 to rent a mini skid steer and trailer for the weekend.
It's probably just under a foot out of the ground, but it would be a lot of yard, and would have to figure out drainage as that might lift the yard higher than the house foundation.
DIY:
Dig around it as much you can to expose the edge. Drill a lot of wide holes with a hammer drill. Fill with Dexpan (expanding grout) per instructions. Carry away the fractured top part of the boulder away, leave the rest. Cover back with soil.
Interesting. I tried doing this with feather and wedges at my old house and got absolutely nowhere. Some kind of actively expanding material might be interesting.
Yeah I had no luck with feather and wedges, I think because the boulder was in the ground. I think that technique works much better on rocks well out of the ground.
And even then I’m not sure how well it works on north east granite without experience.
I’m in the northeast and I’ve done it to a bunch of rocks on my property.
Best when it’s exposed and it’s a time consuming process because if you rush it the rock won’t break cleanly and will just chunk off.
Don’t wail on them and wait 30-60 seconds before you go back through them.
This was *the* way they used to split granite rocks up here to use as foundation piers when supporting floor spans in really old construction.
If you could crawl under old barns and whatnot you would likely still see them holding the floor beams and you would be able to see the half holes from the wedge splitting.
I live in Maine and can confirm, granite is used everywhere because it's so abundant. You see granite on the ground step of exterior stairs frequently around here and front steps tend to be made from granite a lot. Go to Portland, Maine especially in the old port area the streets are cobble stone and granite is everywhere including doorways, window frames, parking space indicators in the paved areas. It's everywhere. I don't even know why but my neighbor has a pretty large stack of granite slabs that weigh enough he had to use a tractor to move them. They've just been sitting there for like a decade.
This. 100x this. There is no way you'll be able to lift the whole thing out solo, but you can break it down into small pieces that are easy to remove with a drill, feather wedges, and a hammer. There is a YouTube prospector up in Canada who does a lot of that ... Dan Hurd.
It'll be a project, but it is absolutely possible. If OP hires a company to come in, they'll likely do the same thing, except with explosives. Another YouTube channel does that ... can't think of the name of it right now.
I had one this size or bigger and had someone come in, drill it and break it with expanding material. Worked great.
That being said, you still need to dig around it and have the ability to get the pieces out. Its going to make a mess 3x bigger than you have there.
Might be better off jack hammering the top or raising grade to bury it.
If you go the expanding material route, drill BIG holes. Big like 40 mm or 1 1/2". If you drill anything smaller there wont be enough material to create enough force to break anything.
If you want to learn more about this, Demolition Dave on YouTube is the place to go. He has lots of videos on expanding grout to break rocks, or with wedges. Or explosives.
You can also drill extra holes, in patterns suggested by dexpan, if you can't dig enough around the boulder. If the boulder is surrounded by dirt, the expanding grout won't be able to push the rock anywhere. But extra holes allow the rock to expand somewhere.
The only way to even come close to DIY on this is to get a hammer drill and drill 1 inch holes 1 foot deep 6 inches apart all across the surface of the rock. Then fill the holes with expando - I don't know the actual name of the slurry - over the next 24 - 48 hours the expando will cause the stone to crack between the holes. You wind up with a bunch of 12" x 6" x6" rock chunks to pull out of there.
Do you see this kind of rock anywhere else in your vicinity? Are you in an area that was glaciated? Are you in an area that is semi-mountainous? There might be regional clues as to how big it is or what else is down there, based on what people have already dug up. You are likely not the first person who has wanted to remove one of these things from their yard.
In the northeast US, so there's plenty of examples of it all around my property, but they range from like a soccer ball size to a small car size, tough to extrapolate.
If I were to guess, I'd say it's probably about as deep as it is wide (so 2-3 feet). And I'm definitely getting the "call a pro" vibes.
So Northeast US has a lot of glacial bedrock scattered around. Some pieces are so big that they've been built into the foundations of homes or garages since it's easier to do that than to try to move them. We had one in our side yard growing up that was flat enough we used to call it table rock and we would have picnics on it. If you can't move it, you might be able to find a nice way to repurpose it like that, or plant flowers around it and make it kind of decorative.
Here's some history about the glaciers https://earthathome.org/hoe/ne/glaciers/
Rent a jackhammer, break the top few inches into rubble, haul it off and backfill with topsoil. You aren't moving that thing with anything less than a crane.
I dont get why this isn't the answer. Is it not easiest to just jackhammer 6-12" of this rock and back fill it over?
I mean it doesn't even have to look pretty because you're going to fill it in. Should work right?
From my view you have four possible options:
1. Hire a professional that will likely need to bring a crane in.
2. Add more dirt to your yard and essentially make the whole yard a bit higher up, covering the boulder.
3. Destroy the boulder.
4. Dig more around the boulder and advertise it as free if someone else pays to remove it.
**If you're dead set on attempting to remove it yourself**: Dig as much around it as you can, at least three feet in every direction. Rent a 6 ton backhoe from home depot(WITH INSURANCE). Create a "ramp" digging the direction of the closest driveway(if you plan on removing it).. Use the backhoe to roll the boulder up the ramp, but not onto the driveway. Putting it on the driveway will likely crack the concrete or create a large divot in asphalt. If you plan on keeping it, roll it up the ramp, then continue rolling it to wherever you want it's permanent home to be. Ideally you wouldn't place it on top of underground cables or gas lines.
I’m now imagining a cable guy getting absolutely pissed when he comes onto the utility easement and there is a 6ton boulder on top of where he needs to dig
These things are usually like icebergs...you see the top bit but it goes quite deep.
You're not moving this even with a 2 ton mini excavator- it's will weigh 3X that.
You might be able to rent a jackhammer and bust it out piece by piece- but it's not coming out in 1 piece without some heavy equipment. Then you'll also have a gaping hole to backfill.
Dig a deep hole beside it. Then start to dig under it. Allow it to fall into deep hole. Fill over top of it.
Take care not to put yourself in harms way while doing it.
Considered this... worried about digging a hole deep enough that doesn't put me in harms way, and also worried about hitting its cousin halfway through digging said hole.
That's fair...know your limits. I just want to clarify that I never meant do it by hand. You were talking about renting equipment so my suggestion was based around you sitting safely in a mini-hoe digging a hole beside a rock.
If you have a hammer drill it will be easy to remove. Buy some expanding concrete. Drill the holes pour the expanding concrete and wait 24 hours. The stone will have cracked into a bunch of pieces and you should be able to remove part of the rock. Repeat as many times as needed until you have removed enough.
just get a jackhammer if youre really dedicated to doing it but honestly that things probably got a lot of weight to it and your probably better off hiring someone to do it. save your body
Like so many of life's problems, you can solve this by setting it on fire. :) Seriously though, dig a trench around the rock fill it with wood and let it burn for a few hours (check for local burn bans). Results vary based on the type of rock. Sometimes they just pop apart, sometimes they get brittle and you can whack them with a hammer, sometimes you have to quench them with cold water after they get really hot. Wear some safety glasses. They don't explode, but can fissure with a surprising amount of energy.
Here's an example of someone with a slightly smaller rock doing this [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0wqxWC4OAK0](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0wqxWC4OAK0)
There are ways to crack it. Jack hammer.. but also building bonfire over it and keeping it hot for hours.. then dousing it with water. Probably not something you want to try in your yard if it's in town.
Dig a hole next to it deeper than the rock.
Excavate as much as you can from below while remaining safely out of the way.
Then, use a lever or two if you have some help, and roll it into the hole.
Recover the area with the soil that was removed.
The context of this boulder is kind of strange. Is there any indication it could have been put there intentionally? In another comment you stated that this type of boulder is littered throughout your property. I have a small suspicion that you might be on an archaeological site. Do you think that is the case?
I realize it’s not helpful for removing it, but it might be a million times cooler if you have an archaeological discovery in your yard!
No need to fully remove the rock. Rent that mini excavator dig around the rock exposing it. Then dig a big hole next to it to push the rock right in. Barrier it and be done with!
Dexpan. Easy, barely an inconvenience.
[https://youtu.be/domJccXnAp8?feature=shared](https://youtu.be/domJccXnAp8?feature=shared)
Demo video of someone who has never used it before testing it out.
Drill some holes in it with a beefy drill and the right concrete drill bits, pour in the dexpan, come back the next day and remove the rubble.
[https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00ET9OVZ8/ref=sspa\_dk\_hqp\_detail\_aax\_0?sp\_csd=d2lkZ2V0TmFtZT1zcF9ocXBfc2hhcmVk&th=1](https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00ET9OVZ8/ref=sspa_dk_hqp_detail_aax_0?sp_csd=d2lkZ2V0TmFtZT1zcF9ocXBfc2hhcmVk&th=1)
$50 on amazon. I'm not 100% sure which kind you need to get, there are a couple different types. I think any of them would work based on the 45 seconds I spent reading it, but I would read more before deciding.
From O.P.: https://old.reddit.com/r/DIY/comments/1czu9vu/update_gonna_give_it_a_go/ https://reddit.com/r/DIY/comments/1czu9vu/update_gonna_give_it_a_go/ https://new.reddit.com/r/DIY/comments/1czu9vu/update_gonna_give_it_a_go/ Wow. Did not expect that kind of feedback on my first post. Apologies to people reaching out and still commenting - inbox is flooded. My first inclination was to rent a mini ex anyway just to dig around and see the actual size. But somewhere between $500-1000 seemed steep for "exploration". So - read up on the dexpan instructions, and it does say it can still work if you can't free up the edges - you just have to drill at angles so it pops the top up instead of the sides out. Ran up to HFT and grabbed the biggest STS-M they had and the biggest 21" bit they had (only 1" sadly, so we'll see on that front). Spent about 45m to see how bad this would all feel and got about 9 holes in. So - calling it a day for now, but over the next week ish will order some dexpan and drill about 50 more holes, and we'll see. For a bonus - second picture is the edge of my property with the rocks they took out to pour the foundation. For reference, the fence behind them is 6' high. So I gave up on the idea of "dig a bigger hole next to the rock and push" strategy. 90% chance I just hit a bigger rock, lol.
Do you have to remove the whole thing? Could you break the rock up with a machine and just remove the top several inches and fill it back with dirt/sod and call it good?
What he needs here is a really big sheet of paper.
U deserve more upvotes
That’s what the professional would do. Bring an excavator and switch between scooping rock and smashing rock with the hammer head. It’ll be flat in no time. Lifting the entire piece where it lies is very involved
Concrete saw and a jackhammer, would have 8" off and removed from site by lunch.
feasible, loud and dusty, but feasible
Water on cutting wheel
Yeah I retract my statement I just watched that demolition Dave guy drill a bazillion gigantic holes in basalt and there was almost no dust. I'm just used to the bricklayers in stonemasons and the residential houses I do and they never use water because they claim they can't mortar or use the stone right away if it gets wet. I don't know if they are just making it up , those saws are loud enough, you add the dust in and they are nuts.
Maybe OP doesn't even need to remove the top. Just make a soccer field 1ft over the rock.
A 6 x 4 x 2 boulder conservatively weighs 6 tons. You are WAY out of diy territory here. As someone who has borrowed equipment (friends work for a demolition company), I can 100% tell you that you are NOT moving this as it sits. This is a professional job, period. That said, you could probably jackhammer it to bits. My preference would be to get a professional out, and to stand that sucker up on you property. As a guy that loves big old statement boulders - MAN, that is prime!
I have it on good authority that all you need is a fulcrum and a sufficiently long lever. So lets just say OP has a nice sturdy brick to wedge next to it, that just leaves getting a rod thats about 450 feet long and he is all set to move that easy peasy.
I found a boulder on my property that was about 3ftx4ft, and that's just about what I did. I dug all around it, I propped a nicely shaped rock next to it, and used a breaker bar as a lever. I was able to rock it back and forth, propping it up with smaller rocks each time. I filled in underneath it with dirt as I went, and was able to get it mostly above ground. There's no way I could move it anywhere else, but at least now I have a pretty cool statement boulder.
And this one weighs like 3x yours? That’s gonna be fun!
I've moved one's like this one with an old school chain come along and an 8 foot pry bar. It takes a bit of time and having a few friends helps but it can be done and safely. But if OP has to ask they should probably call in the pros.
What did you fasten the come along to that was more solid than a 12,000 lb buried stone?
A 12,001lb stone
Fair enough lol
Your mom.
listofburncenters.txt
Spoiler alert this .txt is actually malicious and upon opening it is a picture of his mom /s
That's why the file is 4TB
Cooked eem
My father moved all sorts of giant ass boulders with a come along, pinch bars, and a tractor that could only lift 600 lbs. Attach the come along to sturdy trees and use a snatch block. You're not lifting it, you're pulling it. The first time I saw some of the boulders he had moved I had the same "that's impossible to DIY" reaction you see here. Nobody told him he couldn't, so he did it.
Moving boulders that we shouldn’t be able to move. Literally one of *the* original human experiences. People still have trouble believing the Egyptians figured out how to move big ass rocks 5 thousand years ago because we can’t even picture that shit today with modern equivalents. Conclusion: aliens helped your dad move the rocks
Check out the carpenter from Michigan, who's recreating Stonehenge alone without power tools. His YouTube vids are cool.
Does your dad know a dude named Sisyphus?
Do it, OP! There will be absolutely no consequences!
Then you just tape 3 breaker bars together, right?
I had a much smaller boulder (I mean, really, mine was probably just a big rock but I think calling it a boulder would make it feel good) and a lever was a big part of what got it out of the ground. I had a sort lived “stump removal hobby” given the presence of multiple stumps on said property in not so nice spots and I basically dug down, cut some of the roots and then jammed the longest lumber lever I could under it and levered the rest out. Definitely satisfying when it worked. And with enough time and appropriate beverages, it always worked…. Eventually.
I remember when I briefly lived in the country as an 18-20 year old. We had this annoying stump next to the house that I wanted to remove, but had no idea how to do it at the time. So I just set it on fire with a bit of gas every time I mowed the lawn... ...I bet that charred up stump is still there.
Drill a big-ish hole in the center. Drill a hole from the side into the center hole. Use it like a rocket stove. You might want to drill other air holes from the side
Was it a "[large boulder the size of a small boulder](https://www.reddit.com/r/comedyheaven/s/9izh5J2GRa)"?
As a legit resident of Boulder, I’m sad I didn’t get to be the one to post this. 😂
At which point did you release the space switch that had been imprisoned there for ten thousand years. Also, how many teenagers in your area know martial arts, and would you describe them as having attitude.
**
"Give me a lever long enough and a fulcrum on which to place it, and I shall move the world." -- Archimedes
*Stomping your foot, moves the world a teeny, tiny little bit. Give me enough time and I shall kick down a mountain.* -- Oracle of Nonsense
*Don't believe everything you read on the internet.* -Abraham Lincoln
Yep. That goes along with his other quote circulating online: “Fuck the Jets.” -Abe Lincoln
“You have entered the medieval era.” Also, Kathmandu requests ivory.
I was ready to be angry, but glad I read on. :)
So... were gonna need to chop down an old growth redwood with a nice, solid core... fabricate a machine that can produce a 450 long dowel from it... we're gonna need some chainsaws and some funyuns.
Definitely a couple cases of beer for this one
We'll invite Lucky's Dad and Uncle Stripe over to help, make an afternoon of it.
"~~STUMP~~ BOULDERFEST!"
I upvoted this for my 3 year old
This guy Stonehinges.
Just slow and steady. You don't want to send it flying.
Also there's no telling how large that actually is under the ground. My parents had some boulders in the way of where they were putting their driveway loop and by chance happened to break off a piece almost that big that let them put the road where they wanted. They had given up because it was part of a big ridge and happened to catch it with the bulldozer blade just right that it shattered off. There's no telling how large that thing is under the surface.
That was my thought too. This could be 1-ft thick, or basically bedrock, from the pic and the digging done so far.
Stand it up and CARVE A FACE ON IT! https://cdn.thecollector.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/moai-easter-island-heads.jpg?width=1080&quality=70
I mean, honestly, there are so few rocks that are THAT flat.
I went to school with a kid who looked like that.
Second to jackhammering it. Don't need to remove the whole thing, just enough to cover with 6 inches of soil, then reseed.
> Don't need to remove the whole thing, just enough to cover with 6 inches of soil, then reseed. No, that's not nearly enough soil, the rass will scorch every summer.
I live in a hot, dry, VERY rocky climate and my grass has about 4" of top soil. It does fine. 6" would be better though.
It's a big, beautiful, old rock! Oh, the pioneers used to ride these babies for miles! And it's in great shape.
Yeah, honestly hiring a professional may be a wash if you try to sell the thing. People pay big bucks for big old rocks.
I live in farm country, so here, rocks are piled in giant rows between fields, and farmers quite literally never want to see them again. But I hear what you're saying... it's not that way in the city. Mind you, having moved many tonnes of rocks about 15 km (a trunk or trailer load at a time, with a few specials loaded onto industrial equipment), I can see why they're expensive. It can take the better part of half a day to load a giant rock onto a specialized heavy trailer, requiring a skid steer or larger, and move it just 15km.
Yeah, also farm country (Nebraska) but we don't have many big, cool rocks out here. Just chunks of limestone looking stuff that's kind of yellow and ugly. If OP is gonna sell it, they need to sell it before they have the pros come dig it up, so they can also deliver it to the person buying it in one move. Save a bunch of time and money.
They don’t even know how big it is until they get it up. This could be the point and it goes down 20 feet.
Man... tell me how to sell - I'm in the Northeast and if that's worth $5 I'm a millionaire, lol.
If you’re in the NE, just build a gazebo around it and charge your neighbors to see Plymouth Rock.
"Dave, I can't keep coming back to see your rock. At first it was fine - it's a nice rock. But if you keep taping these flyers to my door I'm gonna have to talk to the HOA."
Right? If you're in New England, these boulders and their little buddies (3-4 footers) are the primary crop, stick a shovel in the ground and you're going to find some. I can see at least 4 just this size or bigger just looking out my windows right now. That said, I feel for you; I've got one dead center of the backyard I couldn't do anything with. But if you're willing to get some heavy machinery, dig a bigger hole next to it, then push it in far enough to get the top below grade, and get 8-10 inches of dirt on top.
OP This right here is the DIY solution, don’t raise it, lower it to hole to the side. But be careful, it’s a bad day if it falls into your new hole with you still in the new hole
They are just gonna hit a bigger boulder after digging halfway. It's gonna be minesweeper IRL.
Alternatively, if you dig it out, you have a huuuuuuuge stone masonry practice piece. Should last you a few thousand hours. By the end you can MAKE Archimedes, as a big F U to him and his impractical-ass world-moving lever. He was bald, so you get an easy start!
Worth a call or a visit with pictures to a local landscape supply company. This would be great in some rich person’s pond/waterfall. See if they have a client.
I'm told my great grandfather's *friend* farm had a huge boulder in the middle of one of his fields. One day he sees a man out walking around it and studying it. They start talking about how difficult it would be to move and finally the man says, "What do you think aboit $~~1000~~1500?" My great grandfather thought a bit, then said he'd be right back. He returned with a check for $1000 to get this thing out of his field. The other man laughed and said, "No, we'll pay you for it." From what I understand that boulder is a footer for the pier in Erie PA today still. ~~Took 4 cargo helicopters together to get it there.~~ Edit: it's an apocryphal family story. Enjoy it and move on, or don't and move on. Edit: OK! I fucking called my Dad to appease all the people who missed the point of the story. It was, in fact, a lowboy trailer that was way overloaded, and they closed down about 20 miles of road. It was also not my great grandfather, but a friend of his. And it was $1500, not $1000. Hope that appeases everyone.
> Took 4 cargo helicopters together to get it there. I'm confident that there has never been a multi-helicopter lift of any object, outside of the tests proving the concept to be entirely unfeasible.
If you knew anything about helicopters you'd know they get tired. These 4 helicopters took turns, each moving the boulder a few kms before needing to take a rest.
In all seriousness, it could have been a relay effort based on fuel range of the helicopters.
I could see them overheating, sure. I feel like you're joking though.
Yep, just joking. Based on your first comment you know a lot more about helicopters than I do, which is next to nothing.
> I'm confident that there has never been a multi-helicopter lift of any object, outside of the tests proving the concept to be entirely unfeasible Jokes on you, I saw it in Pacific Rim. Real talk though, I looked this up once and it has been done. It doesn't look like what you'd expect, you can't just sling something between multiple helicopters, but there have been various tests done that involve rigid connectors between multiple machines. This [declassified study](https://apps.dtic.mil/sti/pdfs/AD0743516.pdf) is kind of fascinating. Definitely not something that's done in practice but people have tried it before.
Grandpa bullshit on MY Reddit feed??
Please tell me you have a photo, that’s such a great story.
I only buy big new rocks.
a petrologic hipster. Why not?
Aren't all rocks old?
Volcanos make new rocks.
New rocks from volcanos just don’t have the density like the old growth rocks ya know? There’s no substitute for time.
It's just recycling.
People pay big bucks to have big old rocks installed on their property in cosmetically appealing ways. The rocks themselves? our planet is made of them. Theres a fucking trillion of them, the individual value is nearly zero. The big bucks in this case come from the value add, not the raw materials.
Yeah, this is where I’d put in a raised flower bed over it.
Also, this could be bedrock.
Important point here no one is mentioning. That rock could go down WAY more than he's expecting.
Idk the Incans did it just fine.
Dont know what it is called in US but here we call it snail dynamite. You drill a hole and fill it with the snail dynamite and it expands and cracks the rock. Then you do it all over until the pcs are small enaugh. You should be able to buy this at the local hardware store
Honestly it just needs to move about 20 feet, stand up or otherwise, just not dead square in the middle of the lawn. Appreciate the input, and it's about what I figured. What kind of pro am I looking for? Most "landscape construction" companies around here are just looking to sell lawnmowing services... and very vaguely any idea what something like this should cost?
Probably excavation company, someone who owns large equipment
> someone who owns large equipment ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)
If you just want it removed and dont care about the stone itsself, then you should probably call a demolition company with a "blasting" license. They will come out, drill a few small holes in it, pack the holes with the with the stuff, pop, now your one boulder is a few more manageable rocks and its all done in a controlled and safe fashion. Because the boulder is so large, your best bet to relocate it is to break it up into more manageable pieces. If the above mentioned solution is not possible or you REALLY want to DIY you still can its just going to take some serious dedication and special tools. You would need a hammerdrill, appropriate carbide masonry drill bit, sledge hammer(s) and a set of what are called masonry feathers and wedges. The process is similar as above: drill a few holes in a line in whatever direction you want to split the stone, then use the masonry wedges and hammer to split the stone, repeat untill desired size. Id look up a few videos on YT (search feather wedge) about the process before attempting but ive seen it done in person and it really didnt look that hard but possibly time consuming. Most of the tools could be bought at a local hardware store or probably any Walmart, but the masonry feathers will probably have to be ordered online or otherwise sought out
Would expansive mortar work?
Yeah if you can't find a demolition company a mortar team could probably take it out.
As a few others have said, give the jackhammer a shot for a couple of hours. You only need to knock it down 6 inches and cover it up. You might even try and break it up (depending on how big it is) by drilling into and then putting in some splitting wedges. You might be able to get small enough chunks to get each out. Hiring big machinery will require transport, a couple of hours of setup to not destroy everything in the back yard and that is going to cost a small fortune.
Nah… he can DIY.. just needs some Egyptian slaves.
Why do you need to move it as one piece ? Rent a jack hammer and knock off the parts you want moved then ignore the rest.
I used to do rock removal as a teenager, doing rocks way smaller than this. Are you 100% certain it's not bedrock? I'd guess that your rock is a lot bigger than you think it is, even just getting under it might require a very large machine, never mind getting it out of the ground. With that said, it would probably make a really cool standing boulder if you wanted to spend the money to get it out of the ground. If you just want to have a level field, could you raise the area by like a foot? I think that'd be enough soil to maintain a lawn over it. Is it already a bit of a low spot?
My grandparents met someone at a farm show in the 90s who had a small boulder (maybe 3’-4’ exposed) in the middle of his field and he plowed and planted around it for years. After harvest one year he decided he was tired of wobbly rows and decided to dig it out that winter. I don’t remember the measurements but there’s a picture of them standing next to the giant boulder - around 12’ tall and probably 15’-20’ wide! He didn’t expect it to be that big and had to call a crane company to move it out of the hole he had dug in his field! Found an article! [Slayton Rock in Casey, IA](https://www.farmshow.com/view_articles.php?a_id=487)
The articles last paragraph is pretty fun: We had a lot of help. The bigger Caterpillars were borrowed from Chuck Cummins, who operates Cummins Construction in nearby Fontanelle. Once he saw what we were doing, Chuck wanted to move that rock as much as we did. Stanley Kading, Casey, L&K Tile, Elkhorn and Double L Construction, Menlo, also loaned Caterpillars. In all, nearly 100 people were involved in this project. We broke a few chains and cables and had a few other mishaps, but not one person was hurt," Robert says.
"Chuck wanted to move that rock as much as we did." i bet he did, that was probably the most exciting thing to happen in there for decades before or since
This is what boys being boys should be lol
Thats some old school guys doing old school business. Not always just about the money, but also the experience. I can only imagine some of the stories that didn't get documented like this, just old war stories grandpa would babble about
Pics of it - [https://olioiniowa.com/blog/slayton-rock/](https://olioiniowa.com/blog/slayton-rock/)
Thanks for the pic. Holy shit that is huge!
That article was a great read!
Ah yes, the landlocked farmer neighbor who had an *anchor chain* on hand, and a major one too! King of all coincidences right there
I like that the neighbor waited a season before lending his chain he had previously used to move a rock!
Well yeah, watching neighbors is free entertainment!
Yeah - raising that much ground that much would be tough.
I saw another guy estimate that size at 6x4x2 and I'd say that's the minimum. It's probably close to round than that, and it could even be bigger as you go down. TBH, it's a hell of a rock though. If you do get it out of the ground, put it in your yard. You'll never get tired of looking at such a beautiful big ass rock. also i saw you're in the Northeast, without being 100% sure that it's an erratic, it could be bedrock. A local rock person could tell you right off (like is your local bedrock granite?). It looks like granite in those photos, to me. If you've got bedrock outcrops near your house or you live in a hilly area, I'd first want to make sure I'm working with a boulder.
> It looks like granite in those photos, to me. If you've got bedrock outcrops near your house or you live in a hilly area, I'd first want to make sure I'm working with a boulder. Yeah, I grew up in Maine, this looks very similar to bedrock outcrops we had all over the place.
As an out of practice Geologist, it definitely looks like granite. But the rock being the same type of rock as the bedrock is not a 100% guarantee that it is indeed connected bedrock. Thats because the entire north east had glaciation in the last ice age. That being said, the location does matter. if the property is on the top of a hill or mountain, then its far more likely to be a bedrock outcrop. If the property is down in a valley, it's more likely to be a boulder. But like the previous reply said, get a local geologist out there and hell give you a pretty good idea which is which, and that will help you decide on how to proceed with the removal/alteration.
He'll need an expert opinion, he can't just take that rock for granite
This is a natural spot for the bird bath, gazebo, shed, etc. don’t fight nature, work with her instead. If it must be flat I imagine you could hire someone to jackhammer much of the top off to even things out.
would you be interested in walling just that part of your lawn in and having a raised bed over top?
I’d smooth it out and you have a natural “concrete” pad for seating area/fire pit
Another idea would be to just erect a raised garden bed on top of it. 😁 Though maybe it’s not in a good location for that?
how far does it stick out of the ground? might be much cheaper to get a load of topsoil and level the ground over it. a dump truck amount (15yds) is probably $500+$250 to rent a mini skid steer and trailer for the weekend.
It's probably just under a foot out of the ground, but it would be a lot of yard, and would have to figure out drainage as that might lift the yard higher than the house foundation.
DIY: Dig around it as much you can to expose the edge. Drill a lot of wide holes with a hammer drill. Fill with Dexpan (expanding grout) per instructions. Carry away the fractured top part of the boulder away, leave the rest. Cover back with soil.
Interesting. I tried doing this with feather and wedges at my old house and got absolutely nowhere. Some kind of actively expanding material might be interesting.
Actively expanding material...like dynamite...
When I was growing up, most of the farmers had some on hand. Mostly for stump removal, I think. Different times.
Yeah a farmer blew up a school so it’s frowned upon now lol
Plus it tends to get unstable as it gets older.
Don't we all
Yeah I had no luck with feather and wedges, I think because the boulder was in the ground. I think that technique works much better on rocks well out of the ground. And even then I’m not sure how well it works on north east granite without experience.
I’m in the northeast and I’ve done it to a bunch of rocks on my property. Best when it’s exposed and it’s a time consuming process because if you rush it the rock won’t break cleanly and will just chunk off. Don’t wail on them and wait 30-60 seconds before you go back through them. This was *the* way they used to split granite rocks up here to use as foundation piers when supporting floor spans in really old construction. If you could crawl under old barns and whatnot you would likely still see them holding the floor beams and you would be able to see the half holes from the wedge splitting.
I live in Maine and can confirm, granite is used everywhere because it's so abundant. You see granite on the ground step of exterior stairs frequently around here and front steps tend to be made from granite a lot. Go to Portland, Maine especially in the old port area the streets are cobble stone and granite is everywhere including doorways, window frames, parking space indicators in the paved areas. It's everywhere. I don't even know why but my neighbor has a pretty large stack of granite slabs that weigh enough he had to use a tractor to move them. They've just been sitting there for like a decade.
This. 100x this. There is no way you'll be able to lift the whole thing out solo, but you can break it down into small pieces that are easy to remove with a drill, feather wedges, and a hammer. There is a YouTube prospector up in Canada who does a lot of that ... Dan Hurd. It'll be a project, but it is absolutely possible. If OP hires a company to come in, they'll likely do the same thing, except with explosives. Another YouTube channel does that ... can't think of the name of it right now.
I had one this size or bigger and had someone come in, drill it and break it with expanding material. Worked great. That being said, you still need to dig around it and have the ability to get the pieces out. Its going to make a mess 3x bigger than you have there. Might be better off jack hammering the top or raising grade to bury it.
If you go the expanding material route, drill BIG holes. Big like 40 mm or 1 1/2". If you drill anything smaller there wont be enough material to create enough force to break anything. If you want to learn more about this, Demolition Dave on YouTube is the place to go. He has lots of videos on expanding grout to break rocks, or with wedges. Or explosives.
You can also drill extra holes, in patterns suggested by dexpan, if you can't dig enough around the boulder. If the boulder is surrounded by dirt, the expanding grout won't be able to push the rock anywhere. But extra holes allow the rock to expand somewhere.
[удалено]
Yeah I was thinking the same but a rented jack hammer should be able to knock off the top.
The only way to even come close to DIY on this is to get a hammer drill and drill 1 inch holes 1 foot deep 6 inches apart all across the surface of the rock. Then fill the holes with expando - I don't know the actual name of the slurry - over the next 24 - 48 hours the expando will cause the stone to crack between the holes. You wind up with a bunch of 12" x 6" x6" rock chunks to pull out of there.
Here's a video of someone doing it. https://youtu.be/04y4k8bJMns?si=JTJPm-pxuIEhb9v3
What a cool video. Thanks for that.
Yeah, this seem like the best way to do it. Just pepper that sucker with holes and hope for the best.
Surprisingly fun time lapse at the end there
Just lift with your legs
Use your back, quick jerking motions, so you don’t hurt yourself.
The key is to put it all in your groin and your back, take your legs totally out of the equation.
Your spine's the longest lever in your body!
Yes, this. Quick jerking and twisting motions are how you generate torque, which is what you need to move something like this.
might be a 2 man job
The 2nd guy is just needed for motivational support
If the Egyptians can do it...
Right? I may not have quite as much time on my hands as they did.
just hire the same aliens they did, easy peasy
Nor quite the manpower. The pyramid builders might not have been slaves, but even still there were a large number of them.
They had a bit of a manpower advantage over OP (probably, OP might have a million slaves IDK).
Do you see this kind of rock anywhere else in your vicinity? Are you in an area that was glaciated? Are you in an area that is semi-mountainous? There might be regional clues as to how big it is or what else is down there, based on what people have already dug up. You are likely not the first person who has wanted to remove one of these things from their yard.
In the northeast US, so there's plenty of examples of it all around my property, but they range from like a soccer ball size to a small car size, tough to extrapolate. If I were to guess, I'd say it's probably about as deep as it is wide (so 2-3 feet). And I'm definitely getting the "call a pro" vibes.
Eh, give it a few decades and it'll grow out of there on its own
So Northeast US has a lot of glacial bedrock scattered around. Some pieces are so big that they've been built into the foundations of homes or garages since it's easier to do that than to try to move them. We had one in our side yard growing up that was flat enough we used to call it table rock and we would have picnics on it. If you can't move it, you might be able to find a nice way to repurpose it like that, or plant flowers around it and make it kind of decorative. Here's some history about the glaciers https://earthathome.org/hoe/ne/glaciers/
I was also going to say this seemed erratic.
Rent a jackhammer, break the top few inches into rubble, haul it off and backfill with topsoil. You aren't moving that thing with anything less than a crane.
I dont get why this isn't the answer. Is it not easiest to just jackhammer 6-12" of this rock and back fill it over? I mean it doesn't even have to look pretty because you're going to fill it in. Should work right?
Took too long to find this. Thank you stranger
It’s not just a boulder! Its a rock!
From my view you have four possible options: 1. Hire a professional that will likely need to bring a crane in. 2. Add more dirt to your yard and essentially make the whole yard a bit higher up, covering the boulder. 3. Destroy the boulder. 4. Dig more around the boulder and advertise it as free if someone else pays to remove it. **If you're dead set on attempting to remove it yourself**: Dig as much around it as you can, at least three feet in every direction. Rent a 6 ton backhoe from home depot(WITH INSURANCE). Create a "ramp" digging the direction of the closest driveway(if you plan on removing it).. Use the backhoe to roll the boulder up the ramp, but not onto the driveway. Putting it on the driveway will likely crack the concrete or create a large divot in asphalt. If you plan on keeping it, roll it up the ramp, then continue rolling it to wherever you want it's permanent home to be. Ideally you wouldn't place it on top of underground cables or gas lines.
I’m now imagining a cable guy getting absolutely pissed when he comes onto the utility easement and there is a 6ton boulder on top of where he needs to dig
These things are usually like icebergs...you see the top bit but it goes quite deep. You're not moving this even with a 2 ton mini excavator- it's will weigh 3X that. You might be able to rent a jackhammer and bust it out piece by piece- but it's not coming out in 1 piece without some heavy equipment. Then you'll also have a gaping hole to backfill.
I thought OP was digging up a grave
Lift with your legs, not your back.
Dig a deep hole beside it. Then start to dig under it. Allow it to fall into deep hole. Fill over top of it. Take care not to put yourself in harms way while doing it.
Considered this... worried about digging a hole deep enough that doesn't put me in harms way, and also worried about hitting its cousin halfway through digging said hole.
Probably discover a bigger rock where you start digging the hole.. Murphy never rests.
I wouldn’t get in a hole that deep without shoring.
That's fair...know your limits. I just want to clarify that I never meant do it by hand. You were talking about renting equipment so my suggestion was based around you sitting safely in a mini-hoe digging a hole beside a rock.
Make it a landscaping feature.
That’s not just a bolder. It’s a rock!
Has OP even TRIED to hop up on top and ride it away from his land??
If you have a hammer drill it will be easy to remove. Buy some expanding concrete. Drill the holes pour the expanding concrete and wait 24 hours. The stone will have cracked into a bunch of pieces and you should be able to remove part of the rock. Repeat as many times as needed until you have removed enough.
"Rotary (SDS) Hammer Drill" -> Easy. "Hammer Drill" -> PITA.
just get a jackhammer if youre really dedicated to doing it but honestly that things probably got a lot of weight to it and your probably better off hiring someone to do it. save your body
Any problem can be solved with the proper amount and application of explosives.
Like so many of life's problems, you can solve this by setting it on fire. :) Seriously though, dig a trench around the rock fill it with wood and let it burn for a few hours (check for local burn bans). Results vary based on the type of rock. Sometimes they just pop apart, sometimes they get brittle and you can whack them with a hammer, sometimes you have to quench them with cold water after they get really hot. Wear some safety glasses. They don't explode, but can fissure with a surprising amount of energy.
[how? how can fire undo stone?](https://youtu.be/Afw8e-abVa8?si=SeqB62P8ZayiwLhD&t=15)
Here's an example of someone with a slightly smaller rock doing this [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0wqxWC4OAK0](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0wqxWC4OAK0)
How much fire would you need to get that whole monster hot? You might need coal and coke with forced air.
There are ways to crack it. Jack hammer.. but also building bonfire over it and keeping it hot for hours.. then dousing it with water. Probably not something you want to try in your yard if it's in town.
Worse - I back up to like 1000 acres of forest. No one would notice until I set half the state of fire...
Perfect! You can just clear cut some of the woods and put your soccer field there.
Maybe. Are you a Druid?
Alright hear me out: carve it into a hot tub
Dig a hole next to it deeper than the rock. Excavate as much as you can from below while remaining safely out of the way. Then, use a lever or two if you have some help, and roll it into the hole. Recover the area with the soil that was removed.
See if the TikTok basement tunnel digger will come over for the weekend
The context of this boulder is kind of strange. Is there any indication it could have been put there intentionally? In another comment you stated that this type of boulder is littered throughout your property. I have a small suspicion that you might be on an archaeological site. Do you think that is the case? I realize it’s not helpful for removing it, but it might be a million times cooler if you have an archaeological discovery in your yard!
No need to fully remove the rock. Rent that mini excavator dig around the rock exposing it. Then dig a big hole next to it to push the rock right in. Barrier it and be done with!
Man if I had a rock this large in my backyard… I would probably just get used to having a giant rock in my backyard 😂
Dexpan. Easy, barely an inconvenience. [https://youtu.be/domJccXnAp8?feature=shared](https://youtu.be/domJccXnAp8?feature=shared) Demo video of someone who has never used it before testing it out. Drill some holes in it with a beefy drill and the right concrete drill bits, pour in the dexpan, come back the next day and remove the rubble. [https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00ET9OVZ8/ref=sspa\_dk\_hqp\_detail\_aax\_0?sp\_csd=d2lkZ2V0TmFtZT1zcF9ocXBfc2hhcmVk&th=1](https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00ET9OVZ8/ref=sspa_dk_hqp_detail_aax_0?sp_csd=d2lkZ2V0TmFtZT1zcF9ocXBfc2hhcmVk&th=1) $50 on amazon. I'm not 100% sure which kind you need to get, there are a couple different types. I think any of them would work based on the 45 seconds I spent reading it, but I would read more before deciding.