Demolition Experiences

Wolf

What's the most interesting demolition job you've ever done?

What's been the toughest building to knock down? One that just wouldn't give up?

What's the oldest building you ever wrecked? The most interesting structure?

Anyone encounter protestors on the job or other snafus to slow down the wrecking?

Interested to know, folks.

Wolf

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rino1494

Well, i've only done one house. It was a old single story. It was a pretty cake job.

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Wolf

How old was the house? What kind of machine did you use?

Did you save anything or trash it all?

Did you enjoy doing the demo? I love it.

P.S. Hope you had a great birthday weekend after all.

jmic

I took down an old Creamery, probably well over 100 yrs. old. Really deep basement, 16', walls 16" thick with rebar that was 5/8" square stock but spiralled, really a PITA to pull apart. The barn part was almost 3 stories, Bats had taken over the top floor. Bat chit 1-2' high throughout the floor, talk about stink......... Pulled the building down, poured diesel fuel all over it and torched it. Literally thousands of bats flying out after the fire started........that was a site, but plenty of caves around there so I'm sure they found new homes.

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Joe

Wolf

Ha, ha, ha. What a great story. That is unique. That must have been an amazing sight when you torched the pile of debris and sent the bats flying away.

Did the bats start flying out when you were smashing the building with the excavator (is that the machine you used)? Or did they stay in it as the debris fell to the ground?

Wonder if any bats got burned in the process? Why do you think the basement was so deep?

What a cool demo story. What other kinds of jobs have you done?

rino1494

Not sure on the exact age, it was prolly around 100 yrs old. We hauled everything out and brought in dirt to backfill the foundation. We used a PC150 to demo it and I had fun doing it.

__________________
Life is hard. It is harder when you are stupid

Uncle Sam wants YOU....to speak ENGLISH

jmic

Some Bats flew out when the building was coming down, but nothing like when they started feeling the heat Didn't take a head count but I'm sure they all got out ok The basement was way deep for the coolness for when they would do whatever they did back then with milk and whatever Other than that probably not more than 5 or 6 houses.For that Creamery back then I had a 140 Mitsubishi.

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___"Remember You Never Get A Second Chance To Make A First Impression"______________________
Joe

Wolf

Nice. That must have been a heck of a lot of fun!!!

Wolf

I had a great time demo'ing an old theater a few years ago. It was built in 1902 as a vaudeville house, converted to a silent movie theater and then regular movies.

Theater survived the 1906 earthquake in San Francisco. It had brick walls about 18 inches thick that we pulled down with a clamshell on a crane, then with the excavator.

The best part, though, was driving the CAT 977 loader right through the front of the theater, through the lobby and into the auditorium. Lot of crashing and crunching. Got rid of the seats and stage that way.

To get the seats up in the balcony, we used a cable attached to the excavator, hooked in the bases of the chairs and pulled. That was a hoot to see them flying up in the air and crashing down as I pulled.

Aaah, I do love demo. Couldn't imagine having more fun on a job than gettin paid to destroy things.