Friday, May 28, 2010

Top 10 Tips for Demolishing a House



Demolishing a single family dwelling can take only a day or two with the right expertise and equipment.

When most people think of "demolition," they conjure up images of a giant wrecking ball taking down an office tower. However, many demo jobs simply involve tearing down a single family house, a dilapidated detached garage, or similar structure.

People demolish houses for any number of reasons, including:
  • Obsolescence – the house is no longer viable as a dwelling
  • Financial - removing the house could make the land more attractive for potential resale and/or reduce the owner’s property tax liability and liability
  • Development – builders, developers, and owners build speculative homes or custom homes on land that is currently occupied with a dwelling
  • Condemnation – The local Code Enforcement Agency may be levying fines against you for a dilapidated dwelling.
Southern Demolition and Environmental has demolished hundreds of structures. We distilled our years of experience into this series, Top 10 Tips for Demolishing a House, designed to help you understand the components and scope of a demolition project.  Utilize this scope in comparing bids, questioning contractors, and ensuring that your project is completed professionally.

If you do choose to select a demolition professional to complete your demolition project, we hope you'll consider hiring Southern Demolition and Environmental. We will take these 10 steps and reduce them to one decision – the selection of our organization for turnkey demolition services.

We will post a new tip every four days over the next month. Check back for more updates!

Top 10 Tips for Demolishing a House
  1. Allow Time for Permits (June 1)
  2. Find an Insured Demolition Company (June 5)
  3. Research Permits & Regulations (June 9)
  4. Apply for Permits & Provide Fees (June 13)
  5. Hazardous Material Inspections (June 17)
  6. Contact Utilities for Disconnection (June 21)
  7. Submit Paperwork to Georgia Environmental Protection (June 25)
  8. Identify Components for Recycling (June 29)
  9. Contact Erosion Control Company (July 6)
  10. Conduct Pre-Demolition Inspection (July 10)

11 comments:

  1. This would not only be stress relief, but extremely fun! This has a lot of useful info, thanks! What would you say I should know about getting a demolition company to help me out with a project?

    ReplyDelete
  2. My brother worked for a company that did demolition in Toronto. Besides loving the job, he came back with some great tips. Thanks for sharing these additional ones, I'm sure we can put them to good use.

    ReplyDelete
  3. I know of a couple of homes that were demolished due to a developer looking to build custom homes on the property. It was so much fun to watch the construction workers demolish the homes. My family even mad e a picnic to eat while we watched them demolish the homes. I think they even used a humongous bulldozer like this one to do the job.

    George Puzo | http://www.maddixexcavating.com/services.html

    ReplyDelete
  4. Don't you have to turn off the water and electricity on all the pipes and wires? This is so helpful to know how to safely get our demolitions done! Do you have to be certified to operate these machines?
    Celine | http://www.brajkovichdemolition.com.au/

    ReplyDelete
  5. It really is too bad we don't use giant wrecking balls anymore. It seems like all the structures I've seen torn down in the past have been handled with some heavy machinery. Maybe I should look out for larger demolitions to see a wrecking ball.

    Jenn | http://www.abledemolition.ca

    ReplyDelete
  6. Is domestic demolition different than other kinds of demolition? I don't know what kind of demolition I should get done. I just know I need to get some things demolished. http://www.abardengineering.com/#!demolition/c1ncr

    ReplyDelete
  7. I've always wondered what it takes to be a demolition man. I don't know what it is, but I feel like that would be such a fun job. How difficult would you say it is to actually land a job as a demolition man?
    http://www.honcdestruction.com/

    ReplyDelete
  8. We've been looking to get our home demolished actually. It's not that it's a bad home, but it just happens to be in a very bad spot: a sink hole. They've found out a way to fill it and replace the foundation, but that requires the house to be removed. We're lucky the insurance is paying for this. We wouldn't be able to afford it otherwise.
    http://www.ascotdemolition.com.au

    ReplyDelete
  9. Not going to lie, I am a little disappointed to find out that residential homes aren't typically demolished with explosives. We are buying some property that has an old meth house on it. It needs to be demolished and I was hoping we would be able to watch some explosions.
    http://www.prattcoexcavating.com/demolitions.html

    ReplyDelete
  10. Very interesting post...amazing information. Thanks for sharing. We delivers a high quality of experienced knowledge to take on any size of project. With the best quality of work we provide full Bonding and liability insurance on all jobs.
    Hazardous waste winnipeg
    Heavy equipment rental winnipeg

    ReplyDelete
  11. Hi! This is my first visit to your blog! We are a collection of volunteers and starting a new project in a community in the same niche. Your blog provided us valuable information to work on. You have done a extraordinary job! residential architects in georgia

    ReplyDelete