A Michels Corporation crew operates what is believed to be the first hydro-demolition machine in use in Wisconsin. It replaces the traditional jack hammer, eliminating the physical pounding a person takes in operating a jack hammer.  It also eliminates the dust a jack hammer or other pneumatic hammer produces and cleans/recycles the water used to destroy a concrete slab. It’s basically a super-powerful power washer that can go through 4 feet of concrete using up to 20,000 psi. The Michels crew, Operators Brian Tilque, Austin Schmitz, and Steve Kannenberg, is using it on an overpass near Bangor, in western Wisconsin.

Check out this YouTube video of the Utah DOT performing a bridge restoration using this same technology:

https://youtu.be/KpFZZlsc3Po