MOVING THE COLWOOD PUB. Cut it into 3 pieces. Saved two of them, trashed one

The Colwood Pub was in the way af a large new development that will pave several acres with condos and retail development. It was the only structure of significant historical value in a mini mall that has seen better days.

My job was to cut the building cleanly into chunks that would be able to travel down the road. Only the original sloped roofed pub was kept. The flat roofed kitchen and dining room were low quality additions. Those sections were cut free and demolished by the excavator.

This was done on a really tight schedule. I had some less than eager help supplied by the company. I handled all cuts since it had to be done right and I've had zero luck in getting others to do this accurately.

With all of the trucks, cranes and other machines used, the landscape is always destroyed. All of these pavers and every useful plant were salvaged before the machines arrived.

1.This roof has been seriously neglected. The tree roots got into every little crack.

2. The tar and gravel were 3 inches thick and the joint between the two roofs had 2 metal flashings that had to be cut. This area is above a built in freezer room. The flat roof had to be cut away as tight as possible to the mechanical units. This required temporary shoring below, to bear all of the weight.

3. Facing bricks don't usually survive a building move and they can detach in transport or during jacking so it's best to remove them.

1.This is the two storey section that had to be cut. The roof cut pictured earlier is 10 feet beyond the stepladder. Everything to the left of this cut line is to be kept, so cuts must be clean and accurate. Everything to the right will be crushed by an excavator so I hacked things off at whatever point was expedient. Things can fall during mechanical demolition, so the 2 ft. wide slot is important as it separates the two zones. Every wire and pipe must be cut so that nothing joins the two sections of the building. A missed wire can tear a chunk out of the drywall when it's ripped away by the excavator and such an incident could also damage other hidden electrical components.

2. These bricks were piled by the excavator. About 25% of them were useful. I started off selling them at $50 per truck load and within 2 days the price was $10 as the pickings got thinner. Most people continually poured over the surface of the pile even when I showed them that many good bricks could be found by standing in one spot and excavating. One lady filled her truck 3 times. She tossed the junk to one spot and mined in a very methodical manner. Dozens of others watched her progress and then continued to glean the surface of the pile in the hope of finding a good brick that had been missed by 100 others. What a bunch of idiots.

3. I got 2 nice walk in freezers.

1. This I-beam held a large sign. I had to remove it by attaching it to a chain on the excavator and cutting the big hooks that held it. I wore fall arrest gear and sat on the bucket of the excavator while doing this.

2. Two days later I found myself up there again. Notice that the grass has been destroyed by all of the activity. The roof is very steep as you'll see later.

3. The intersection is quite busy. Several times I heard horns as people watched me "spider man" around the roof and failed to realize that the light had changed. On a job with this much public exposure, it was important to always wear the orange vest and fall arrest gear not only for safety but to avoid fines.

1. This room contained lots of heavy ducts, pipes, conduit and wires that had to be cut through to get a clean seperation.

2. Once everything was cut, the excavator was able to rip down the rear section above the world's dirtiest kitchen. The big bucket covers a gas line that was in danger of being ruptured.

3. This is the keeper section that was left after the removal of the unwanted section.

1. I had high hopes of selling this Hobart glass washer for big money. Turned out it was obsolete. ---- The tile floor rested on 3 1/2 inches of concrete that was poured over a wooden subfloor. I put three different people at breaking a cut line along the the length of the kitchen. All of them failed utterly because they were fixated on getting a jack hammer even after I demonstrated a technique that worked well with the sledge. Finally, in exasperation I did it myself. It took about 45 minutes for me to break a 35 ft trench that was 16 inches wide. I was so hopping mad that I made awesome production.--- I used the word "sissy" hundreds of times over a ten day period.

2. This giant hood fan was absolutely filthy like most other things in this commercial kitchen. It sold for $200.

3. This is a view down the grease chimney. I remember hearing about a guy in Niagara Falls Ontario who tried to break into a restaurant at night by crawling down one of these. Fire and rescue cut him out of there while the police waited.

1.and 2. The floor of this building sat very close to the ground. Three guys spent a whole day digging trenches so that the lift crew could get under it. In this view, the building has already been raised by the height of the steel beam in the distance. They burrowed with pick axes and trenching shovels. A concrete wall blocked progress in several spots. My younger brother used an air hammer under there until 1:30 am. The three trench burrowers did more work in one day than the lazy guys (not my employees) did in a week.

3. I found myself crawling around the top of the building. Less mud. In this view, the building has been jacked up a few inches to reveal the cut line. Prior to cutting, two support wall were built on either side of the cut. These walls support the roof and they keep the building dry and secure until it is rejoined. One wall was sheeted as soon as it was framed. The other would be sheeted after the separation. Tar paper was added later.

1. This chimney was a tough one. The original chimney was bricked over with lots of portland rich concrete filling the gap between the inner and outer layers.

On the morning that this section was to be lifted I sent a helper up to beat it down with a sledge after explaining that the little 20 lb jack hammer had proven useless for this. Several times he came down, claiming that it simply could not be done. On his third trip down AND AFTER AN HOUR HAD FAILED TO PRODUCE ONE FOOT OF PROGRESS, I intercepted him while the owner of the company was present. I asked him to wait a minute so that he could hear strait from his guy that this was an insurmountable task. After listening to a dramatic explanation of how this could never be done with man power alone I put on my fall arrest harness and announced that the chimney would be laying flat within 3 hours. 2 hours and 40 minutes later, it was done. SISSY SISSY SISSY. What an incredible SISSY.

2. and 3. I had to mount a ladder against the steep roof in order to make the cuts. With the ladder held firmly by my brother Brady, I started the cuts at the top and slowly inched my way down while on my but in "crab" position. When one side was complete, I asked Brady to run the ladder around to the other side. My friend was there cleaning bricks so I timed Brady's progress so I could demonstrate the difference between working with him and the buffoons whom I'd been saddled with all week. It took him 45 seconds to arrive on the opposite side with ladder in hand. Then I got my friend to time my ascent from gutter to the peak of the roof - 3 1/2 seconds. GET-ER-DONE

From this angle you can see the I-beam which held the sign. My feet rested on it while I cut the sign free.

Lots more later. Permies.com is currently overloaded according to the message when I try to load.

1. This basment area was under the unwanted section. The keeper section had only about 400 sq. ft. of basement, with the rest as a tight crawl space. Holes were busted in the conctete walls of this area so that equipment could be passed through.

2. The largest portion to be moved, sitting high and waiting for wheels. I didn't see this building on wheels since I had to rush back to the city to finish work on the Dallas Rd. house that had to be ready for barging the next week.

3. A view of the temporary wall that patches the cut. Two of these walls were built about 2 feet apart. This allowed just enough room to maneuver in the gap before separation and each chunk would have a 1 ft. overhang after separation.

1. The pub has been moved to a temporary spot about 300 yards from the original location. It has been offered to the university down the road for next to nothing. The developer has borne all of the costs so far as part of a deal with the city. If the university can't come to a decision, it may be moved to a barging location. From there it could end up anywhere along the coast of B.C. or Washington. It would need to be a spot close to the ocean since a building this tall is tough to move very far inland.

2. Due to security concerns, it has been set quite high in order to thwart thieves who usually show up completely unequiped. This is a view to a washroom that had a concrete floor that was demolished.

3. I built a temporary roof over the chimney area. It started raining the morning that this was to be done, so I placed the plywood pictured lower down, to run it out of the attic. The insulation was raked to produce a high spot 6 feet into the space so that a good slope could be achieved. All openings are now patched properly ith tar paper on the walls and shingles on roof repairs.

SECURITY ISSUES - THIEVES, PREVENTITIVE MEASURES AND LAZY COPS
1. There were three break-ins and several failed attempts during this job which lasted about 2 weeks. I called the police non emergency line at the beginning to let them know about drug addicts who frequent the mall and a park that lies beyond. They drive through this busy intersection regularly but refused to investigate activity in the park or to do the occasional loop through the mall.

The most serious intrusion came on the first Saturday night. I had suggested that I stay and work 7 days a week but the owners thought that that would be too expensive or unsafe. Normally, I spend about 22 hours a day on site, leaving only to eat and bathe. I made it 2 km. from the job once in two weeks except for the day off. After the break in, it was agreed that the job should be manned 24-7.

The druggies who had lurked around the fences all week, took immediate advantage of my absence. They broke in through a door and roamed around the building in the dark in search of scrap metal. Another door was damaged when it was struck with a sledge hammer in order to break off the brass push bar. Blood was found on this door and on the surrounding floor. Squished fingers ? The only thing of value taken was a back pack and work boots left behind by one of the workers. The pack held some expensive high visibility rain gear.(my brother Brady recovered the rain gear and other stuff in a "counter raid" that he conducted in broad daylight with several druggies looking on. He was well armed) There were lots of expensive tool including chainsaws, power tools,socket sets and a generator. None of these items were loaded into the two wheelbarrows that would have made excellent escape vehicles. Even my giant bolt cutters remained. This is the holy grail tool for druggies since bolt cutters are the ticket to stolen bicycles, boats, shed access etc and they cut through metal fences. Every thief needs them. What kind of thief leaves bolt cutters behind? If this were an organized gang thing, I'd expect the leader to deliver some beatings to fools who leave all the good stuff while scrounging for scrap wire.

2. At night, I sleep in my van. I park the van and my truck up against the most valuable and vulnerable items. The metal lumber straps are placed around the van and by the tool trailer. They are almost invisible at night and they make a loud noise when stepped on. On several occasions, intruders snuck up to the truck, trailer and van and they activated this low tech alarm. I never set booby traps. This would almost certainly backfire. Booby traps are just as likely to be tripped by legitimate visitors and in Canada we value the lives and health of criminals, so there could be serious legal reprocussions for intentionally maiming them.

Two minor break ins occured while I slept but each time I awoke due to noise. I chased a few of them into the park. One fell into a trench while running with a load of scrap. He limped away empty handed after spilling everything into the trench. Another guy smacked his knee on an excavator track. The orange part of the excavator is visible at night but the tracks are the colour of dirt and hard to see.

3. I took to sleeping with the side door of the van open so that it would be obvious that there is someone there. This worked pretty well. The police were no help at all on this job. They refused to check out the drug den in the park and wasted valuable time questioning me each time while the thieves were only 5 minutes away. One dink insisted on getting my life history on record. Finally I said, "I'm the guy pointing that way" as I pointed in the direction that the intruders had run. Each visit was centered around generating a report of incident rather than resulting in the pursuit of thieves who were still in the immediate area. I gave up on interupting their trips to the Tim Horton's Donut shop a block away and dealt with all further issues myself, including retrieval of some items without police help.

Since posting this, I have done two much smaller building cuts. One customer was a referral from the house moving company. The other came from people who have bought used materials from me.

I sent both customers to this thread so that they could satisfy themselves that it can be done and that I'm the guy for that sort of thing. It turns out that lots of pictures and a thousand words is a great sales tool.

For any of us who work on buildings for a living, a pictographic diary of successful jobs can really help drum up business. And it sends new people to the forums.