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DIY Demolition


Russdl

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Everything is slowly falling in to place ready for the demolition, apart from the contractor who seems to have had a better offer and now is not interested in the job. 

 

The services are almost gone, the demolition notice is in and the asbestos will be out soon. 

 

So, DIY demolition? I suspect it is fraught with real and imaginary dangers but is there any reason why I shouldn’t crack on with it (when all the other i’s are dotted and t’s crossed). I have a mass of free labour that is desperate to get started. 

 

Any advice on how to go about this?

 

What are the traps beyond the obvious roof/wall crushing the work force?

 

 

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I demolished my own house last year. It was a peice of cake. How it the house constructed, brick and tile roof? Single or two storey?

 

Give us a bit more info and we can help you with a sensible plan of action and point out any safety issues.

Edited by Triassic
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13 minutes ago, Triassic said:

I demolished my own house last year. It was a peice of cake.

 

I like the sound of that, just what I was hoping to hear ?

 

It's a circa 1950's detached bungalow (in a large village at the the end of a narrow single track access lane). It's of conventional brick and block construction with concrete roof tiles which a local reclaim firm may take away, if we fill their crates for them.

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I assume you got rid of any nasties like asbestos? Are all the services, gas, electricity etc,  disconnected? If so, the next stage is a soft strip of the internals, doors, skirting boards, plasterboard (keep this separate you'll have to dispose of this separately). Separate out any cabling, copper and lead as this has a scrap value.

 

How you going to remove the roof tiles? is the place scaffolded?

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1 minute ago, PeterW said:

 

You should get a Nifty towable for £150-200 for a weekend.

 

 

Brilliant. I’m sure that wouldn’t have crossed my mind. 

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The other thing to consider, is there anything saleable in the house, doors, light fittings, kitchen units, flag stones,  Next is anything givawayable? The more you can get rid of at this stage the less you have to dispose of.

 

Next talk to disposal companies, ask what is their preferred waste segregation method? everything in skips, or do they just use grab wagons,  or tippers to be loaded on site, do bricks need to be separated from wood, what about windows and plastic etc. Consider general waste options for carpets, curtains, paper, glass, 

 

If its it’s an old house you might find that the bricks come off cleanly, could these have an resale value, it’s worth asking.

Is there any architectural salvage of value, fireplaces, stone Work, leaded windows?

 

 

 

Edited by Triassic
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We're just coming to the end of the dismantling of our timber framed bungalow. It had a 30 degree roof so working on that was easy for removing slates and sarking boards. We were lucky that it was constructed largely of 4x2 and Freecycling that was easy. The old 1920s bricks from the chimney found a home via Freegle. So far the only cost has been for asbestos removal and electricity disconnection. We hope to crush the blockwork and concrete floor from the kitchen/bathroom extension and reuse it. You'll have no trouble.

 

Outside16.thumb.JPG.c80f4d27a12b4c398d71accffd24c6bf.JPG

 

Edited by PeterStarck
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All good advice from everybody, 

so I will chuck a different angle on it

 

safety first, get your site fence up with appropriate warning signs. 

 

Guessing you want to do this as cheaply as poss, your main massive cost will be disposal of all the debris, so make a list of everything and work out a couple of ways in which you will get rid of it all

 

the first item you mentioned was the roof tiles, so ol mate down the road will take them for free, if you stack them neatly in his crates,

so that will cost you loads, the time to remove them and stack, plus any hire cost. 

 

So the opposite thing to do is not save any, 

can you use any of the hardcore on site, access road, hard standing for your site hut,etc etc

 

if you can use it on site then I would say the way to do it is 

soft strip the house, as has been said, all non structural parts out. 

Skips for plasterboard, loft insulation, roof felt, 

timber on free cycle 

dig out areas you need the hard standing 

smash it down with an excavator and move to the dug out areas. 

 

Things that could bite you in the arse. 

THE FOOTINGS. have you had a little it down the sides of the footing to see what sort of thickness they are ?

this has recently happened to me, see my blog on cockups, 

i was fortunate in that once I realised I had substantially underestimated the amount of concrete to remove i knew how to deal with it, and I also had a big hole to put it, so all in a larger excavator for a week and I was finished. 

If you need to shift them off site have an add up of the amount of trucks to shift it and also the size of the excavator to physically pull them out of the ground. 

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2 hours ago, Mr Punter said:

You could take this approach...

 

 

 

That can be quite an expensive way of doing it :-).:ph34r:?

 

The Planners seem to have caborundum-med the illegitimi. It is now being rebuilt, apparently with bricks made from gritted teeth.

 

image.jpg

 

http://www.hamhigh.co.uk/news/work-begins-on-rebuilding-carlton-vale-pub-brick-by-brick-1-5662297

Edited by Ferdinand
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7 hours ago, PeterW said:

You should get a Nifty towable for £150-200 for a weekend. Dead easy to operate and have a 12/7m reach so more than enough - used one to repoint a chimney as scaffold was going to be £600...

 

Some of those on ebay from about 2-3k.

 

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/NiftyLift-120-cherry-picker-access-platform-towable/153163374709

 

Hmmm.

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7 hours ago, PeterW said:

You should get a Nifty towable for £150-200 for a weekend. Dead easy to operate and have a 12/7m reach so more than enough - used one to repoint a chimney as scaffold was going to be £600...

 

@PeterW - a cherrypicker question. If you use one of those to rmove roof tiles, are you able to get them down intact?

 

Do you need something like a fabric slide?

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1 hour ago, Ferdinand said:

 

@PeterW - a cherrypicker question. If you use one of those to rmove roof tiles, are you able to get them down intact?

 

Do you need something like a fabric slide?

 

Probably get 20-30 in the basket as long as you’re not a complete pie queen like @Nickfromwales as they have a maximum basket weight limit... fabric slide would work too if you have a catcher. 

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50 minutes ago, PeterW said:

 

You just need a way of getting them certified and serviced safely .... I wouldn’t want to be stuck 14m in the air..!!

 

Strikes me as one of those things where service history and treatment probably outweighs age in determining the value.

 

Edited by Ferdinand
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11 hours ago, Triassic said:

is there anything saleable

 

I think that would be a resounding "no", but you never know. I've got some lovely Crittall windows if anyone is interested. Anyone?

 

11 hours ago, Triassic said:

Next is anything givawayable?

 

Hopefully someone will take the roof tiles, I've just heard that the local reclaim firm have no interest.

 

10 hours ago, PeterStarck said:

You'll have no trouble.

 

I'm hoping that is the case. I have an uncanny ability to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory.

 

@Russell griffiths Some really useful stuff there Russ, especially re the footings. I probably could use some of it for the driveway.

 

4 hours ago, Ferdinand said:

Do you need something like a fabric slide?

 

Another great thought ?

 

2 hours ago, Nickfromwales said:

Cheeky fu....

 

I though exactly the same, but have to confess to a loud guffaw.

 

Thanks everyone for all the input.

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  • 3 weeks later...
On 06/09/2018 at 14:38, Ferdinand said:

 

Usually a reason why things like that a cheap. Insurance assessor etc had picked up it needs £5K worth of "new chains" or something + fitting. I once saw a TS18 Spider sold to the scrappy for a few hundred quid!

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