De-constructing (demolishing) a garage
I’m looking forward to building a new freestanding two-car garage, however the old one stands in the way.
As a do-it-yourselfer, I take pride in doing it myself! So, rather than hire a demolition company (as suggested in some threads), I want to do the de-construction myself (with a few friends, of course.)
My question is: what is the safest way to tear down a 75-year old wood frame, single story, two-car garage without damaging nearby fences, trees and landscaping? It’s built simply: slab on grade, 2×4 walls with wood siding, 2×4 rafter gable-style roof, asphalt shingles.
I have this vision of being able to make strategic cuts here and there, and then have the whole thing collapse inward on itself, much like those old hotels they blow up in Las Vegas! No explosives on this job, however 🙂
What I’m looking for is a safe approach that limits the use of heavy-duty construction equipment (which I don’t have) and keeps my friends from hurting themselves.
Any suggestions would be much appreciated.
Replies
Clanders,
Did the same thing 3 years ago. 900 sq. ft structure. Chainsaw, tow chain, 4x4 pickup, and a big burn pile. Took about a day. Cost: $100. for a helper and $500 to have the slab broken up and hauled away.
Now if you live inside city limits that don't allow for such an approach......Hire someone, probably set you back $3K to $5K including removing the slab.
As for......"I have this vision of being able to make strategic cuts here and there, and then have the whole thing collapse inward on itself, much like those old hotels they blow up in Las Vegas!"
No, framed buildings don't come down that way.
Jon
The post about the fire dept has a lot of merit. If it is far enough from other structures the could use it for a training exercise or just to watch it burn. They like that. It may cost you a keg of beer and some hot dogs. If not....
and you are not concerned with saving anything, run a circular saw with a nail cutting blade down the roof between the rafters. cut the rafter free from the ridgepole and the plate and carry off a section at a time. Then do the opposite side before moving to the next rafter. Each piece will have one rafter and sixteen inches of sheathing and roofing ( if it is 16 O.C.).
Same technique with the walls, gable ends first. Cut the corners last.
There was a heck of a thread here a while back about demolishing old buildings:
http://forums.taunton.com/tp-breaktime/messages?msg=40692.1
Workshop John is correct that making a bunch of cuts so it will fall in on itself isn't a good idea.
I have the best lover in the world.
I can only hope that she and DW don't run into each other.
See if the fire department wants to burn it down for you.
The safest way to do it yourself is just to take pieces of wood off in the opposite order to the way it was built in the first place. To the extent that there's sound old growth wood in the structure, go at it with cat's paw, flat bar, crow bars, etc. and save what you can re-mill and put to good use.
You could use a chain saw on stuff that's not worth saving, but almost as fast and a lot safer would be to use a recip saw. Time is money to the pros, so they have to work fast. You can spend more time to buy yourself more safety.
Top down, little pieces at a time.
-- J.S.
Clanders,
I just did the same thing for the same reason two weeks ago. Before anything came down, I became good friends with my neighbor. Then, one weekend, I got to work.
First, I bought plywood sheets and tarps to lean against the garage (plywood) and place on the ground (tarps) to catch all the roofing materials and basically did a roof tear off. I did the side of the roof on the neighbor's side while they were out in about 2 hours. By the time they were back, there was no evidence of me ever being there. I saved the plywood for sheathing the new garage. Then, the 1x boards decking the roof came off. Then the rafters. I used scrap lumber to make a platform to stand on across the ceiling joists for removing the rafters. Then the ceiling joists came down. All roofing and junk went into the drop-box/roll-off I rented for $175 (10 yards).
I salvaged the siding to be stripped and reused on the new garage (on the sides I won't see). Then the framing came down one wall at a time. I made a couple cuts on the top plates near the corners and pushed the wall in onto the slab. I pried apart the structure and salvaged what lumber I could (which was not much considering the age and condition of the garage (about 75 years old, as well). Once I was down to two walls standing, I braced the last wall to come down so that it could stand on it's own, cut the top plate of the second to last wall, and pushed it over. For the last wall, just lift the braces. The slab made it easy to work on and clean up. I was done in a weekend working pretty much by myself and made absolutely no mess. My wife and neighbor couldn't believe it.
There were a couple extra trips to the dump with my truck, but those were each about $20 because the wood was going to be recycled.
Haven't tackled the slab yet - it's made a great staging area for other yard work so far. Eventually, I'll rent a breaker and just take loads to the dump in my truck. Time consuming, but cheap.
Good luck!
Another way to deal with your slab is to rent a walk-behind concrete saw, and cut it up into stepping stones. Use them yourself, or give them away.
-- J.S.
Excellent advice. Thanks!