# Residential demo work



## PipeGuy (Oct 8, 2004)

I'm going to demo a circa 1950 house in the next day or two - it'll be the first one. i bought a 'thumb' for the 160 excavator and wil do the work with that and a 953.

We'll haul concrete and masonry via dump truck to a recycler and use 30 yard roll-offs for the wood, glass, metal, flooring, wallboard, etc. Got any tips on any aspect of the work? Demo technique? Loading the roll-offs? Keeping the chimney off the neighbors house?


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## jmic (Dec 10, 2005)

PipeGuy said:


> I'm going to demo a circa 1950 house in the next day or two - it'll be the first one. i bought a 'thumb' for the 160 excavator and wil do the work with that and a 953.
> 
> We'll haul concrete and masonry via dump truck to a recycler and use 30 yard roll-offs for the wood, glass, metal, flooring, wallboard, etc. Got any tips on any aspect of the work? Demo technique? Loading the roll-offs? Keeping the chimney off the neighbors house?


Pipe,
You've just opened the gates of Hell and allowed all the Demon's to get out  . I pity you if Wolf see's your post above.:w00t: :jester: Just kidding, have you always had a demo license or is it something that you recently acquired? Or do you even need one? Good Luck.


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## rino1494 (Jan 31, 2006)

As far as the chimney goes, that is the first thing that I knock down if I am able to get to it. I just knock it though the center of the house. There really is no science to it. Just rip her down and keep crunching up the wood to break it up smaller to fit in cans. Make sure you have some sort of water on hand to keep the dust down.

One thing that I stress alot is to watch the bucket and dipper cylinders. It is very easy to scratch the chrome on them when doing demo.


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## tgeb (Feb 9, 2006)

I would recommend using dump trucks for all of the hauling. Depending on how far this is from the sanitary dump location, I think you will get better production with 3 to 5 trucks running round trips.

Anytime I have done demo work and relied on the rolloff company to get the cans pulled, I always end up falling asleep in the loader seat waiting for an empty can. Some rolloff companies are better/worse than others, but you have much better control of dump trucks. 

Figure out how much it is per pull for each can, then figure what the production could be with trucks hourly, I think you will find the trucks to be the most efficient.

I think the hardest part is trying to figure out how much debris is actually there so that you can calculate the number of loads/cans.

If anyone has a magic formula for that, please feel free to share.


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## Wolf (Mar 24, 2006)

*Yeah, Demo*

Have a ball doing the demo . . . :clap: 

It's a heck of a lot of fun. You're really going to enjoy knocking the living daylights out of that old house.

*And thanks for remembering me jmic*. You know how I love demo. I didn't know you cared. LOL. :thumbup:


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## PipeGuy (Oct 8, 2004)

tgeb said:


> I would recommend using dump trucks for all of the hauling. Depending on how far this is from the sanitary dump location, I think you will get better production with 3 to 5 trucks running round trips. Anytime I have done demo work and relied on the rolloff company to get the cans pulled, I always end up falling asleep in the loader seat waiting for an empty can.


I agree about the wait time for cans. My concern is having the d/t's getting their gates hung on debris and the relatively small volume that a tandem truck provides vs. a 30 yard box. I just don't have a good feel for how much weight I'll get in the cans. Judging by the fee structures I'm seeing, the roll-off companies are thinking under 10 tons per 30 CY. Thatd only be, what?, 5 tons in a tandem axle dump?


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## C buck (Mar 4, 2007)

Pipe, i still have'nt figured ou how to pm you, any who, rinos right, go for the chimney first,its usuall the most unstable thing, drop it right in the house if you can easily get to it, if the neighbors houses are close take your time, on most demos i usualy cave in the center of the roof first and pull the walls to the center. It may sound like a waste of time but when loading roll offs i try to get as big of flat wall sections layed down flat in the roll off at first then pack it in there. if you load dumps, dont pack it to tight or it tends to hold up in the box unless you got high lift gates


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## Driftwood (Feb 15, 2004)

*How about asbestos abatement first?*

Don't do this work Myself ,but! I saw several Men . in hazmat suites spend a week
removing lead paint trim and asbestos,on a job. This was all before the excavator was used. Had to be signed off. Big bucks ,I'm sure.
This is in N. Ca.


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## denick (Feb 13, 2006)

PipeGuy,

There are a bunch of variables and the biggest determining factor is access. We have done demo with just 977's and 955's, or Cable backhoes and now with excavators with just the bucket or demo grapple or bucket and thumb. It comes down to, "make a plan". Quickly "what if" any problems you see. 

The use of thumbs or grapples allow you to nibble a house apart so precisely you can overcome so many of the problems that other equipment face. Pulling and pushing a building cause most problems.

The problem of "how much material" can be deceiving. We once tore down a small 4 room house built 1920's. It had outside 3/4" pine siding with wood shingles over it with asphalt siding over that covered by vinyl siding? Interior walls were 3/4" pine, plaster, sheetrock. 5 layers of roofing! You never would have guessed standing there and looking at it how much stuff was in that building. And someone used most of the nails that existed on the east coast putting that house together!

I learned a rule of thumb for figuring demo material volume, take the body of the building L x W X H. You don't need to be exact. Divide by 27 to get the cubic yards of interior volume. Do the same for any wings sticking off the main body. For roofs take the height of the ridge x 1/2 the width of the gable end x the length. Add all the parts for total interior volume. Multiply your total X .10 for barns, outbuildings and garages without many interior walls. X .15 to .20 for buildings with interior walls, supports. Then you need to guess at how good you are at packing it in that container and multiply by 33% or 50% 100%???? 

We use cans and just have the operator continually grinding up the material while waiting for the next can. Call Nac for containers?

The chimney? Have you got a picture? If it is a problem to get to and it mght be a problem if it falls strap or tie it to the building every 4" or so. Until you can work your way to it.


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## rino1494 (Jan 31, 2006)

denick said:


> The chimney? Have you got a picture? If it is a problem to get to and it mght be a problem if it falls strap or tie it to the building every 4" or so. Until you can work your way to it.



Or, take it down by hand. Brick by brick.


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## Nac (Apr 16, 2006)

Just like everybody said. I do a lot of house demos will have the house down in 1/2 hour. I have a 2 over 3 grapple on my machine I nibble at the middle and load my first can while the truck is going to get a nother empty than i go threw the middle of the house all the way to the basement and pushr the side in the middle and pack the basement full. While waiting on boxs will track over the material and just keep crusshing it with the grapple. Also will have 2 labors with me to pull and scrap and sort any masonry. And dont forget to pack the boxs down fill in layers and pack it in layers.


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