How not to Demolish a wall - Caution injury image

Its a bit out there and if its no ok, please let me know.
I have been building and constructing for many years, today I was demolishing a simple wall and a window from it.
After consideration we took the next step and I was thrown against a wall by something that went wrong, and needed 13 stitches in my shoulder.
Luckily we have free a Emergency  Dep[artmet a kilometer down the road.
This is the damage, a sliced artery, no mucsule damage fortunately.
It could happen to anybody.

Buggar!!  What threw you against the wall?  A similar thing happened to me when removing an aluminium window from a brick wall.  Mine was only an arm and hand but I can feel for you.
Obviously, they used the local with adrenaline (lidocaine with epinephrine).  So lucky it was not a bit to the right.  Hope you are back into it soon.

Oh no! That must be painful. Recently I came across a blog by some emergency nurse who writes about first aid and other adventures in his profession, and he wrote that "war-like injuries" happen in everyday sitiuations too, just less often than in warzones. I think you're one of those! Wishing you a speedy recovery.

Wishing you a speedy recovery. File any relevant paperwork, just in case there is any long term problems that pop up later.

A very experienced friend of mine was tearing down an old house with his son-in-law.  He was seriously injured. His son-in-law is dead. For reasons still not adequately explained, the entire house collapsed on them.  Best guess is there were rotted structural elements that were not visible.

John F Dean wrote:A very experienced friend of mine was tearing down an old house with his son-in-law.  He was seriously injured. His son-in-law is dead. For reasons still not adequately explained, the entire house collapsed on them.  Best guess is there were rotted structural elements that were not visible.

Really sad to hear John.  My condolences.  Hope your friend is on the mend.  A death like that is something that you never get over, particularly when there is no explanation.
Sometimes we are not aware of just how lucky we are and how easy it can go so horribly wrong.

Nasty! Thank God it wasn't worse. I hope you recover fast, John.

When you feel able, please tell us what went wrong and how you would approach a similar situation differently in future. Obviously there was some part of the structure there that didn't behave as it should have been reasonably expected to.

Hi Paul,

This happened over 25/years ago.   Physically, my friend is ok.  But one simply never recovers emotionally.

Hey John, I'm so sorry to hear about this injury and hope that you recover quickly and completely.
I second Jane's request. Your title "How not to demolish a wall..." suggests that you may have information that will help readers avoid such an injury. Are you willing to share some tips on what went wrong or how to prevent injury during a tear down? Maybe you can save someone the trouble you are going through. Many of us would be very grateful to learn from your experience.

Here is how it happened.
There was a glass brick panel built with a  4x2 outer frame about 3 x 5 ft. sitting in a wall about 4 1/2 feet above the floor.
There were 3 studs under the window frame, I removed 2 of them.
The extension of those studs continued above the window to the roof on an outside wall.
And there were  4 inch nails driven into the 4 x 2 frame.
Using a wrecking bar I got up a ladder and loosened the nails at the top so the whole frame was flexible.
I asked my mate if the weight was ok to handle.
He said yes, I was surprised because it felt heavier than we could handle.
I stepped onto the floor and at one end of the frame, loosened the remaining lower stud so we could swing the frame away from
from the wall with a plan to lower it to the floor.
The lower stud was leaning about a foot out from the wall, we both were under the frame with our hands.
And the top of the frame was attached with 4 inch nails into the upper sections of the 3 studs.
WHAT I THINK happened was;
- nails at the top slipped out of the frame because of the weight of the whole unit.
- causing the whole frame to swing sideways away from the wall hinging  on the remaining lower stud,
- My mate was against a wall and standing a bit higher than I was
- the frame lunged down and because I may have had a bent knee I was pushed back against another wall
- the whole frame swung about the single stud, lurched sideways, pushed my mate against the wall with no injury, one end landed on the floor between my legs, with john still standing and holding his end.
- I was pushed backwards away from where my friend was, lost my balance and started falling against a wall with no lining
- I hit my right shoulder at the back against a bare stud and my head hit the same stud, I felt winded.
- I stayed there for 5 mins to allow things to settle and stood up, feeling wacked!
- my mate asked where was the blood coming from, we did not know.
- I seemed ok so we did a few more things until he suggested we look under my T shirt, it was not pretty.
- It looking like the timber has swept past  and carving a canyon in my torso.
- Red stuff was everywhere, we decided an emergency department was a good idea!
- He was worried about blood on the seats of his car, so we headed to my 1976 C20 truck, but then he could not start my Chev on the hill so I jumped across and drove down to the hospital with him as the passenger!!
It turned out I had opened an artery, the actual cut was by a protruding  4 inch nail and no muscles were damaged.

So the take away is that perhaps we should have propped the frame on a ladder so we could control its downward movement.
Also I believe the whole unit was heavier than my friend thought.
I was very experienced, he was not so I should have checked the weight myself!
The doctor explained because I was fairly fit for my age and I had no additional pain etc they would not CCT scan my head because I was also co-herent.
And aware of what was and had happened, so they felt I did not have any head damage, something they would normally do.
They did Xray my shoulder and elbow and all was clear.

I'm checking in on you John! Give us an update and let us know you're okay.
All the best to you.

Thanks Amy, all good as they say.
I have no muscle damage and I have been able to keep working.
Shock hit me a day later and I was very tired, something a laydown helped.
Stitches are now exposed as part of the healing process and my shoulder looks like a football with the stitching laid out as it is.
Thanks again for checking up.

Stories like yours are cautionary tales. Thanks for teaching and giving us a happy ending!