Demolition of a building that is up on moving blocks

This has been the most awkward small demolition, that I've ever done. It's a portion of a house that was moved to a storage lot six years ago. The rest of it was sold.  This part wouldn't fit down the road at the new location. The roof was cut with little thought as to how it would hold together, since this portion is now scrap.

It's unique in that, rather than the walls holding up the roof, the roof is holding up the walls in some areas. Stacks of wooden blocks hold up much of the weight from the center. With so much weight hanging from the ceiling joists,  I had to be careful to relieve weight in an even manner,  so that nothing would tip over.

Hand demolition was chosen since the building contained drywall and other products which are not allowed to be mixed with the general garbage.

I managed to save about $500.00 worth of ceiling joists and two 2x4's.

The stucco on the walls is up to two inches thick, so quite heavy for a small structure. The very heavy roofing came off in full four by eight sheets. I had to manhandle them into the bin. Three of them got away from me and I had to pick them off of the ground. All of the rest were dragged across the roof and thrown down into the bin.


After the flakeboard sheeting was removed, the six inch shiplap boards came off easily. Rather than use my steel bar, I used a short length of lumber. I place it in the gap, and then give a solid stomp. This allows me to stand up and allow my legs to provide most of the force.

It makes a thunderous sound so I wear ear plugs.

Once it was torn down to just the stick frame of the roof, it became quite shaky. I took my time and thought about each footstep.

I was careful to make sure that each piece that I loosened was thrown to the ground. All of the wood is the same dimension and it looks pretty much the same. It would be easy to mistake a loosened piece for something that is still part of the structure.

Keeping a clean site is my number one safety measure. If I do have to leave loose pieces on the roof,  I put them on an odd angle so that they don't match up with the things still to be removed.

Once I got all of the roof torn down, the walls were supported on the blocks or on the ground, leaning against the big trailer.

An excavating company shares the yard. I got them to put the walls into the bin. We manage to get all of the heavy walls into the bin without making too much mess and without damaging the steel or the wooden blocks.

I'll finish up tomorrow.

Done. The machine managed to drop everything that contained glass. Lots of hand clean up. It had a jumpy thumb.

The 4x8 sheet got pitched? What was wrong with it?

William Bronson wrote: The 4x8 sheet got pitched? What was wrong with it?

The four by eight sheets were 7/16 inch Aspenite or OSB  (oriented strand board). It's flakes of Aspen trees glued together. This product gives off formaldehyde and is difficult to nail. It wasn't worth much the day it was manufactured. Now, it's covered with a layer of heavy shingles and 1000s of nails.

I tell my customers that OSB stands for obviously shit board.  Even good-quality plywood would not be worth the labor of stripping off the shingles and pulling the nails.

Ah,OSB. Yeah, crapptastic indeed.