Deconstructing a house. How too??

   / Deconstructing a house. How too?? #1  

clovergamecock

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Hi all,

Some of you know that I have been trying to sale a 2200sqft brick house for some time and have had no takers. I am not going to pay someone 10k to tear it down. Now I am considering deconstructing the houe myself and salvaging whatever wood I can for future projects. All I can see it taking is time and an occasional construction dumpster rental Has anyone ever done this? Where do you start? Drywall and ceiling removal first then roof and work my way down? Any sites for how to out there?

Thanks
Wade
 
   / Deconstructing a house. How too?? #2  
I bet that before your half way through it, that $10k will look pretty good. Get the brick off first. Can you burry them? Better yet, have you asked the local FD if they want a bldg. to train on?
 
   / Deconstructing a house. How too??
  • Thread Starter
#3  
10k is just not a possibility. I sent the local fire chief an email today to see if they were interested or knew a VFD that may be. I have not heard back yet. I figure I have 10 months to do it. It needs to be down and off the books before Jan 1st 2014 so I do not have to pay a whole nother year in taxes. I am already stuck with 2013. As far as burrying them I don't see why now. I would just need to rent a back hoe I guess. With the current property I live on and the property that the house is on I have 13 acres to find a hole.... :)
 
   / Deconstructing a house. How too?? #4  
Hi all,

Some of you know that I have been trying to sale a 2200sqft brick house for some time and have had no takers. I am not going to pay someone 10k to tear it down. Now I am considering deconstructing the houe myself and salvaging whatever wood I can for future projects. All I can see it taking is time and an occasional construction dumpster rental Has anyone ever done this? Where do you start? Drywall and ceiling removal first then roof and work my way down? Any sites for how to out there?

Thanks
Wade

I would be shocked if you could not find a local fire department that would be more than eager to do
most of the work for you . One word of warning don't try to count the value of the house off as a donation.
THe IRS really tracks that area pretty closely.
Good luck !
 
   / Deconstructing a house. How too?? #5  
At least consider hiring some day laborers.

Used brick has potential value. See if someone might be interested in buying it. If you burry it, it can haunt you for the rest of your ownership of where you burry it. Stack it neatly on pallets in an accessible location and someone will want it.

Call for prices on construction dumpsters before you commit to this path. In CA, I spent ~$150 for each 8 yard load of dirt I had removed this way.
 
   / Deconstructing a house. How too?? #6  
I am really surprised at the $10k price to take it down. Guess that must include clean up. Around here you can hire someone with a big excavator for under $1k per day and they would easily have it on the ground as well as dig a hole for what you want to bury. Do check on permits required. If there is any chance of asbestos in the building it can get expensive.

MarkV
 
   / Deconstructing a house. How too?? #7  
Agree with CurlyDave, save the bricks, someone will buy them. If you do save the bricks, it needs to be done before any VFD training or they will be ruined by the heat.

If the VFD uses it for training, they will probably practice a few different training scenarios before finally burning it down to the foundation. You will still have the rubble to clean-up after the burn.
 
   / Deconstructing a house. How too?? #8  
How old is the house, if it is an old house the brick are not just siding they are holding up the house. If you do it be careful, things can fall at the most unexpected times. hope all goes well.
 
   / Deconstructing a house. How too?? #10  
Has anyone ever done this? Where do you start? Drywall and ceiling removal first then roof and work my way down?

I did do this recently. Here's the basic process I followed. It's not for everyone. I came up with this based on the construction and state of the house. Your house may be very different so stay safe.
Strip the inside first. I wore a respirator due to mold, asbestos, dust and fibreglass concerns. Install diagonal braces on all exterior walls. Lots of them.
Remove non load bearing interior walls. Strip electrical and plumbing.
Fibreglass insulation was bundled compressed and tied between 18"x24" pieces of panelling. It's stored for reuse in the garage.
Strip the outside walls. Bricks and stone work were removed and cleaned with an air chisel. Siding was recycled on the FIL's garage. Install diagonal braces on the exterior of the exterior walls. Duplicate the interior ones. By removing the sheathing you have compromised the integrity of the structure. Without good diagonal bracing it could flop.

Strip the roofing material down to the wood. Asphalt has to be properly disposed of. No burning or burying for that.
Remove the interior diagonal wall braces. They should be redundant to the exterior ones.
I'll explain the next part before I describe it.
Up to now it's been pretty straight forward. Always on good footing very little use of ladders.
Now it gets quite dangerous because the integrity of the structure is only going to become more compromised. Rather than climb on the roof again to tear it apart we removed the diagonals and pulled the roof down to the ground.
I tore mine down in sections, leaving half the house up to live in during the rest of the renovation. Here's a short vid of the second section coming down. This section was left up as a buffer between my living space and the main part of the structure that we collapsed earlier.
When the house flops like this the lumber and nails are all bounced and loosened. After that the roof is on the ground it is quite easy to disassemble.
As for recycled lumber. Mine was quite useless due to the inconsistent sizes. The 2x4s spanned several decades and were anywhere from 1.5" x 3.5" to 1 7/8" x 3 3/4" I used them for bracing and stakes etc during the rebuild.
Rotten floors and scrap lumber were burned. I only burned wood all else was hauled to the dump including the ashes which were full of nails.
 
 
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