DIY Demolition

[newhome]

1 hour ago, Onoff said:

How about this?

 

 

See, you can use Google ? 

[Russdl]

It did turn into a DIY demolition, as much by accident as design...

 

We removed the roof tiles and slid them down scaffold planks that were laid on ladders, it worked very well, and they remain stored on site because we couldn't give them away. I"m sure we'll be able to use them to make some paths through the mud that is now EVERYWHERE on the site. The roof timbers were removed and are stored on site. I'll use them for various things, such as a frame for a shed etc.

 

Then I started getting overtaken by events...

 

A friend of mine owns a skip firm and, despite my protestations to the contrary,  he was convinced that he would be able to get a 20 yard ro-ro skip up the VERY narrow lane to the site. He gave me a call a few weeks ago and told me one of his drivers would be round in  a few minutes to have a look. Well, "have a look" actually meant squeezing his lorry up the lane, I had to climb up the back of the cab to lift a telegraph pole stay over the top of the ro-ro mechanism. He had inches to spare on each side but somehow he got to the end of the plot and completed a 98 point turn so he could drop the skip, the problem was that we had nowhere prepared for the skip to go so it just went straight on to the grass and after another 98 point turn he headed back out of the lane (with me lifting the telegraph pole stay again) so, after him "having a look" I had a chuffing great skip in my garden - I was somewhat bewildered but grateful.

 

I then asked another friend who has a mini digger if he could come and lift some of the paths around the edge of the bungalow. He arrived and promptly started pushing the bungalow over, completely ignoring the footpaths!  

 

At this stage I realised that it was probably too late to worry too much about the Method Statement for the demolition which I still haven't submitted.

 

We started loading the bungalow into the 20 yard skip and made a call to get the skip replaced. It was another nerve wracking creep up and down the lane for the skip lorry and, of course, since the first drop the weather had taken a turn for the worse and now there was much slipping and sliding of the lorry. The only solution I could see was to throw bits of bungalow under the skip lorry, which did the trick. We only had 20 minutes between the skip lorry departing full and returning to dump another empty skip during which time we threw loads more bungalow onto the grass to provide some hard standing for the skip and the lorry to manoeuvre. Yes, onto the grass,

 

I should have called a halt. Stripped the top soil, then thrown the bungalow onto the garden and then got the skips back but I didn't, not until later, but by then the damage was done.

 

Anyway the bungalow is now gone and the plot looks like Passchendaele.

[Randomiser]

On 01/12/2018 at 20:15, Russdl said:

At this stage I realised that it was probably too late to worry too much about the Method Statement for the demolition which I still haven't submitted.

 

Did you ever get any trouble from the council about the lack of method statement?

 

Randomiser.

[Russdl]

9 hours ago, Randomiser said:

Did you ever get any trouble from the council about the lack of method statement?

 

No. No one asked for it or showed any interest in what was occurring I'm pleased to say.

[Randomiser]

10 hours ago, Russdl said:

 

No. No one asked for it or showed any interest in what was occurring I'm pleased to say.

Result!  A benefit of local authority cuts I guess, nobody at the council has time to check anything ?

[Russdl]

12 hours ago, Randomiser said:

A benefit of local authority cuts I guess

 

Could well be, or lack of co-ordination, who knows. Grateful for whatever it was ?

[Patrick]

On 13/04/2019 at 21:41, Randomiser said:

Result!  A benefit of local authority cuts I guess, nobody at the council has time to check anything ?

I just rediscovered this thread and have to agree. What @Russdl

Has done here inspire me to do my own DIY demolition from February onwards. Loads of fun. Easy enough to do (as it was entirely timber frame). And as far as council goes= I did hand in a method statement, which I written myself. It was accepted but never ever checked in situ.

I have no idea if I followed it so far as I written it and send it off and never had a look at it since.

+1 for council cuts making the council check less.

as long as you're good with the neighbours, which is always key to anything.

[freshy]

Resurrecting this great thread for the DIY demolition of my bungalow.

 

Demolition method statement done, services have been disconnected, I've started the soft striping of carpets, wooden flooring, kitchen, fixed wardrobes, doors/frames, skirting boards.

 

Next is the boiler, radiators, bathrooms & any remaining electrical bits

 

Then floorboards or should I leave that for the digger/excavator?

 

 

  

[Russdl]

48 minutes ago, freshy said:

Next is the boiler, radiators, bathrooms & any remaining electrical bits

If you have no other home for the metal in that lot you’ll get a few good bob from a scrap metal merchant. 
 

49 minutes ago, freshy said:

Then floorboards or should I leave that for the digger/excavator

Try and get all the wood out, could come in handy during the build, I built a couple of sheds out of wood from our bungalow among many other other things. 

[PeterW]

1 hour ago, freshy said:

boiler, radiators, bathrooms & any remaining electrical bits

Buy yourself a pair of 15/22mm pipe slices and strip all the copper from the brass - it’s worth more as pure copper than brazings which is the mix. 
 

also, leave none of it on site - get some £1 buckets from Wickes or wherever and strip and cut it into the buckets then take them home - it grows legs !!!

[freshy]

8 hours ago, Russdl said:

Try and get all the wood out, could come in handy during the build, I built a couple of sheds out of wood from our bungalow among many other other things. 

 

You've given me an idea I'm going to salvage the wood, hire a roofing torch and try Shou Sugi Ban or Yakisugi. A traditional Japanese wood preserving method by charing wood then re-use it.

[Russdl]

2 minutes ago, freshy said:

Shou Sugi Ban or Yakisugi.

I thought your keyboard was broken 🤣

 

 

[markc]

33 minutes ago, freshy said:

 

You've given me an idea I'm going to salvage the wood, hire a roofing torch and try Shou Sugi Ban or Yakisugi. A traditional Japanese wood preserving method by charing wood then re-use it.

Do you really have so much free time at the start of a build? Charing wood is messy, time consuming and difficult to work with after it’s been done. I would rip out what you can, stack properly and cover it up for later

[freshy]

30 minutes ago, markc said:

Do you really have so much free time at the start of a build? Charing wood is messy, time consuming and difficult to work with after it’s been done. I would rip out what you can, stack properly and cover it up for later

 

No spare time, this will be for a project after the build is complete.

[Square Feet]

On 06/09/2018 at 11:58, Russell griffiths said:

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 can't find this blog post (I have looked) but would be very interested to know more.

[Russell griffiths]

45 minutes ago, Square Feet said:

I can't find this blog post (I have looked) but would be very interested to know more.

Concrete footings turned out to be 1m wide with a 300mm slab on top, I had guessed it would be 100 mm thick at best.