House demolition

[Loadstar]

So I'm currently debating a new project that was proposed to me. Tear down a house and shove it in a dumpster. I also will take an out building, sidewalk, and large trash pile and insert it into dumpster. I'm a little apprehensive yet extremely excited about this. I checked the utilities and the power company chopped the lines at pole, gas meter pulled (I opened valve today and it's dead) not sure on water yet. Permit will be pulled. I suppose I should get a locate done in the area around the house and areas i may be working in anyways. Not real sure what to charge (if I was charging) as I consider myself a rookie on the backhoe but I'm probably a little hard on myself. Any tips or input?

 

[DT86]

What type of back hoe are you using?

I'm no demo expert by any means but I've torn down a few things. I've also cleaned up after 3 trailer homes were dismantled in one spot. It gets messy. A lot of small pieces and plenty picking by hand unless you want to pay by the ton to remove a bunch of trash mixed with dirt.

 

[Sysop]

My main concern would be flat tires. From the image it appears you might locate all manners of stuff in the yard via your tires. My first thought looking at it is that it likely spent the better part of it's last years of use with junk piles and broken down/parted out cars in the yard.

 

[CurlyDave]

I had a house and a garage demolished by a contractor. 3 man crew with no equipment and it was down to the foundation in a week. They had their own dump truck.

Problems I see:

1. They packed that truck far tighter than any machine could ever hope to. Lower dump fees and less time wasted. A dumpster would be about the same -- you really need to hand pack it or it will take a lot more loads than you think.

2. If you were to use equipment, the right thing is an excavator with a thumb. While it can be done with a tractor, it will take a lot longer.

3. A backhoe is not the right implement, and unless you have a hydraulic thumb, it is going to be very slow...

 

[yelbike]

Sounds fun until you consider the possible damage to your equipment. Flat tire, hydraulic lines and a few others that I'm not thinking of.
I don't think a backhoe is the right tool, but I'm sure it could be done.

 

[chim]

A couple of weeks ago two guys demolished a trailer we had been using as an office. It was about 8' x 40'. Nothing of the scale you're looking at, but what others have mentioned about packing the demo'd materials is true. These guys had everything stacked in a dumpster in under 3 days. The materials could have easily taken up more than 2 dumpsters had they been tossed in haphazardly.

After the trailer was gone we ran the magnet over the area and found lots of metal. The magnet is similar to those in the link below and we run it on the forks of one of the foam-tired yardlifts.

Road Magnets + Magnetic Road Sweepers | Construction | Northern Tool + Equipment

 

[jlgurr]

Why not get the local fire department to torch it for "training" then clean up what's left?

Maybe you have a track hoe, but like the others, I'd be worried the whole time about holes in my tires, hoses, etc. that have things inside that can leak out.

 

[Loadstar]

I have a Ford 655A.

House has had a bad roof for a long time. It is in lowlands mostly shaded. This thing is probably rotten to the core. Has a short block foundation. New owner has not even went in nor have i. For the fire department to practice, all roofing removed, windows out, and insulation removed. THAT'S NOT HAPPENING! Lol

I know it won't be easy with a lot of ground work and hard labor. Yard does not seem overly junked up. I think I will include some chains and bars in the project for additional chainsaw demo work. I also have to cut power lines/guywire off and toss off to side. I may also try to salvage house wiring (tie and pull with equipment).

If I take it on I have a 6 month window from start to completion.

 

[pohorsky]

I have a Ford 655A.

House has had a bad roof for a long time. It is in lowlands mostly shaded. This thing is probably rotten to the core. Has a short block foundation. New owner has not even went in nor have i. For the fire department to practice, all roofing removed, windows out, and insulation removed. THAT'S NOT HAPPENING! Lol

I know it won't be easy with a lot of ground work and hard labor. Yard does not seem overly junked up. I think I will include some chains and bars in the project for additional chainsaw demo work. I also have to cut power lines/guywire off and toss off to side. I may also try to salvage house wiring (tie and pull with equipment).

If I take it on I have a 6 month window from start to completion.

I would rent an excavator for a day or however long it take to get it knocked down and safe (passing along the cost to the owner) , and then use your equipment to break it apart and haul it off. Don't know if I would waste my time on the wiring, seems like it would be a hassle, and a bad idea to try to re-use wiring torn out by equipment.

 

[Loadstar]

I would rent an excavator for a day or however long it take to get it knocked down and safe (passing along the cost to the owner) , and then use your equipment to break it apart and haul it off. Don't know if I would waste my time on the wiring, seems like it would be a hassle, and a bad idea to try to re-use wiring torn out by equipment.

Down and safe? That backhoe is more than enough to handle dropping a single level dwelling safely. Also, I wouldn't reuse wire I scrap it. Extra $100-$200 bucks is worth it to me.