To Build, First Learn To Tear Down
There’s a lot that can be learned from demolishing a house.
Plus, it’s fun to watch!
Take a look at this video, which captures the demolition of a 50-year-old house from both time-lapse and close-up.
Follow Frank Bennardo on LinkedIn for more content like this.
Other Show Notes:
Takeaways from filming the demolition of this house
Here are some things learned while documenting this 1969 house tear-down . There was much more to it than imagined.
> There is an extensive permitting process before this can begin which delayed the demolition for weeks. Electric, water, gas all had to be disconnected & prepared for reconstruction.
> Tearing down a house is a 10-day process, thought it was a day or 2.
> Work was much more meticulous than imagined. Like-materials had to be combined for recycling or disposal and hauled separately.
> Vegetation was removed last. Common sense thought first.
> The pool now has to be filled in lifts taking days more to obtain proper compaction.
This also gave the chance to inspect construction materials used over 50 years ago.
Some takeaways:
- Masonry blocks were thicker than we use now.
- Wood trusses were of better quality than today.
- The steel reinforcing was in perfect condition when removed from the concrete.
It was a ‘blast’ for an engineer to watch up close. Enjoy the video.
Time-Lapse videos of demolition are best!
Transcription:
This 1969 masonry house will be torn down by this excavator.
I ran a timelapse camera to capture the action.
I was expecting a quick knockdown and haul away and wasn’t prepared for the detail
that went into removing and grouping different materials.
First was the wood roof, which was easy to demo and remove.
I learned that each material has to be collected and hauled out separately.
It took several days to complete this meticulous exercise.
The excavator operator organized piles of additional wood and masonry.
I learned a lot from examining the demolished materials.
For example, the concrete rebar was in surprisingly good shape for 50 years old. The aluminum enclosure held up well too, all things considered.
The demo continues as the remainder of the house is taken down.
Trucks arrive to haul away the remainder of the sorted material.
The soil is now ready to be prepared for the next structure.
Follow me on LinkedIn for more content like this. Thanks for watching.
