Shed/Workshop Demolition

[Ifixyawata]

Hi all,

On my property I have a detached garage, I'm thinking built sometime around the 60's, and added on to the side there's a 3-wall workshop. It uses the exterior wall of the garage as in interior wall to the workshop. The roof is flat with not much pitch and over the years, despite attempts to repair it, water has gotten in and wreaked havoc on a lot of the structure. Two of the ceiling joists are more than half way gone in some spots due to rot. Being that this can't be repaired, we made the decision to demolish the workshop.

I've rented a dumpster, cleaned out the inside, removing lots of waterlogged/rotted wooden shelving and workbench, etc. I've got it down now to mostly bare wall studs and exterior sheeting and I noticed that, reading around, it says that the preferred way of taking down a building like this is to remove the roof first. In this case, even getting onto the roof will be a significant safety risk, so now I'm not sure which way to go with it. I've started cutting out sheeting between the studs to have less bulk once I start taking the main structure down but am not sure if this is the correct way to proceed.

Anyone have experience with this?

 

[BigCahuna]

If it's gonna be demolished and no part reused, do it the easiest way possible without it falling on you. There's no correct way to do it book, beside removing the ac power if it even has it. Cut it into manageable size pieces, and heave it in.,,,

 

[zzyzzx]

Are explosives and option here?

 

[Tdbo]

Couple of Buddies with big Bubba trucks and a few lengths of chain?

 

[Creekside]

If you have the funds a rented mini excavator with a thumb will make your life much easier. A close second would be a skidsteer with a grapple.

 

[Ifixyawata]

If it's gonna be demolished and no part reused, do it the easiest way possible without it falling on you. There's no correct way to do it book, beside removing the ac power if it even has it. Cut it into manageable size pieces, and heave it in.,,,

Yes, will be completely demolished, nothing reused. I just want to make sure that letting/allowing the roof section to fall wont' damage the garage. I'm prepared to find that I have to repair a few shingles and some drip edge as the roof for this structure is a bit over top of the roof on the garage. That is to say if you go inside the workshiop you can see the edge of the garage roof just under this structure's roof. Thankfully no real signs of water intrusion in the garage so I think it's probably unscathed.

AC power has been disconnected and removed (split off from the garage). However I realized after I did that there are a few bench outlets still that were installed in the exterior garage wall facing out (into the workshop) So those will have to be removed or turned around and the holes patched. Same with the furnace. There's an old, disconnected furnace that sits in the garage but has holes cut into the exterior wall to heat the workshop. Pretty strange setup.

Are explosives and option here?

Sadly no, but I've had a great deal of fun with a heavy 42" wrecking bar and some diablo demolition recip blades.

Couple of Buddies with big Bubba trucks and a few lengths of chain?

My neighbor has a Cummins Dodge truck but I don't think it will fit through the fence gate into the back yard.

 

[walterjay]

Smash it down with a backhoe.

 

[Ifixyawata]

If you have the funds a rented mini excavator with a thumb will make your life much easier. A close second would be a skidsteer with a grapple.

That's out of the price range at the moment.

Smash it down with a backhoe.

I like this idea but same as above.

 

[nomas]

If you can't afford an excavator then you're just going to have to do it the cave man way . Long pry bars , reciprocating saws , maybe even a chainsaw . Safety first .

 

[RhondaHonda]

You didn’t mention dimensions but if it’s bigger than a 2 car garage I’d save up and get a mini excavator from Home Depot for the day for a few hundred. Got any pics of this? Be careful.

 

[Ifixyawata]

If you can't afford an excavator then you're just going to have to do it the cave man way . Long pry bars , reciprocating saws , maybe even a chainsaw . Safety first .

That's what I've done so far. The big wrecking bar is quite satisfying to use.

You didn’t mention dimensions but if it’s bigger than a 2 car garage I’d save up and get a mini excavator from Home Depot for the day for a few hundred. Got any pics of this? Be careful.

The workshop is only 10' x 16'

 

[walterjay]

You could accidentally back your car into it and make an insurance claim

 

[nwjones18]

I'd go after it with a chainsaw/reciprocating saw until it was in pieces I could toss into a dumpster.

 

[AZjeff]

Get a couple of come-alongs somewhere and anchor the outside corners of the shed to something then detach the roof from the garage propping it up in a couple of places between the side walls. Detach the sidewalls from the garage and pull it away from the garage. If you could pull it away at an angle it might fall away and down. Loosen the side walls from the long wall so it can all collapse. Take a video and post.

 

[SwampSurvivor]

I was planning on buying the neighboring house (just a single story shack) and knocking it down to expand my lot. My plan was to pull it down with my pickup. A tow strap through small portions of the wall at a time will eventually collapse it.