Does anyone have experience tearing down an old house? It’s a three story mansion currently divided into rental units. My guess would be that its about 5000-6000 sf and probably early 1900’s construction. How much would something like that cost?
I’ve built quite a few houses, but always on vacant land, so I’m a bit in the dark. Tomorrow I’ll call around, but I thought I’d see what you all have to say.
This is north of Seattle so environmental rules apply and dumps are nearby.
Thanks
Replies
Too general a question to answer in detail.
Call an excavation company because thats the only way to do it cost effectively and safely. Trust me, been there, done that more ways than one.
Took down an addition (garage, kitchen, bathroom,family room) on the house I'm in with an excavation company I used on whole houses. They came in with one big excavator. I had two 40 yd dumpsters here and two ready to replace those when they were full. the entire job took maybe two hours to the dirt...clean and graded.
All I had to do was have all the electric and plumbing disconnected from the main house...
To save money "you" get the best priced dumpster company.Dumpster companies don't charge by the dumpster by the way on jobs like this. They charge by weight because the excavators crush the debris into the containers like sardines in a can and then some. Also be sure the dumpster company lets you see the receipts for each truck that goes to the dump or you may be paying more than you should if they go by word of mouth. Its just good biz for any reputable dumpster company to let you see the receipts so don't be shy.
Be well
andy
The secret of Zen in two words is, "Not always so"!
When we meet, we say, Namaste'..it means..I honor the place in you where the entire universe resides, I honor the place in you of love, of light, of truth, of peace. I honor the place within you where if you are in that place in you and I am in that place in me, there is only one of us.
Andy,
There's a guy in Montauk who has several acres overlooking the water. He has a private road up to his spread, except for one house, that apparently was an eyesore to him. House was 5000-6000sf McMansion, not that old. Owners decided to sell, he bought it and wanted it torn down. Guy he calls to demo is a volunteer firefighter. He asks if the fire dept. can do a practice burn down. They film it, school kids watch, and he get's a tax break. Happened last winter and was in the local paper.
T
On Jerico Typk in Huntington the Fire Dept did that to The Dix Hills Diner about a year ago.
My excavation guy just built a house for his family right behind it and the smoke came billowing into and all over his house and on all the kids toys outside till he called the cops. Lotta good that did. Can you imagine...the fire dept did that...in the middle of the day yet, during the week...right on Jerico Typk. You can imagine how pissed he was...besides the fact that "he" makes his living demoing things anddd the mess they created to his house.
Be well bro
andyThe secret of Zen in two words is, "Not always so"!
When we meet, we say, Namaste'..it means..I honor the place in you where the entire universe resides, I honor the place in you of love, of light, of truth, of peace. I honor the place within you where if you are in that place in you and I am in that place in me, there is only one of us.
Usually the EPA and a few other agencies will decide if a Fire Dept. can use a building for a practice burn. My dept. has done two in the last 5 years, and had a few more that we weren't allowed to burn, but did use for non-fire practical evolutions. It's worth a try to contact someone at your local dept. With houses getting safer and public education better, we see less and less fires each year. Most of our job description now is medical and rescue based so "realistic" training is great, both for knowledge and moral.Jim W.Coventry Woodworking
I remember that. It was brilliant, though the idea that the guy was going to buy the McM to demo it was one of those things that just smacked of excess.
Before you demo the old place, have somebody who knows go in an salvage first. There's usually a lot of stuff in there that can be saved and resold. At best, you can make a little extra. At worst, tipping fees will be less. And in the meantime, you'll save stuff that should be saved.
SHGFor every complex problem, there is a solution that is clear, simple, and wrong.
-H.L. Mencken
One less McM isn't that bad. Kind of like one less lawyer.<g>It's sad see these oversized houses consuming every allowable setback on a lot. There apparently is a trend leaning towards quality not quantity (ie. the brand new collection of modernist houses in Sagaponick) but the super sizing is still equated with success by many.
One less McM isn't that bad. Kind of like one less lawyer.<g>
cute. very cute. I'm hoping that there will be a McM backlash. But wonder what will become of all those decrepid cookie cutter McMs that start deteriorating and no one wants to buy. And the sellers who just keep adding zeros onto the price, because they need to pay off their zero down mortgages. Man, I really do hate those things.
SHGFor every complex problem, there is a solution that is clear, simple, and wrong.
-H.L. Mencken
I guess it will be mass foreclosure time, especially out here in the Hamptons where they are second homes for many. The lowest and highest priced houses probably won't suffer as much.
We had a fire damaged house that needed to be demo'd. That house was a 22x40 two story house, the demo was $8800, had prices up to 12k.
The company we had do the demo is a excavator and forms company, so as part of the contract they dug the foundation, did the forms work, had their sub do the slabs and they did the reconnect into the water and sewer. We saved quite a bit of money using them since they could keep their machine there and they had enough work to spread out the costs, they could price each segment a little lower then others might. They were also the best in terms of quality so everything worked out well all around.
With the demo, your cost is in the disposal of the building. The machine hours will be few. Also, you have a variable in hazardous materials, if there are any that cost could vary widely.
Are you planning on salvaging any of it or just getting it torn down in order to build new?
If you just want a clear lot what Andy said is what your looking for.
Doug
15,000 to 20,000
just for a ballpark starting point
carpenter in transition
I just wanted to make sure you knew-
There are at least three used building material places in seattle (the re-store, second use, and one other that i can't think of) and one in Bellingham (re-store). I know that at least some of these places will come out and salvage whatever is salvageable for reuse, free of charge. They may also provide more demo services for a low fee, since they can sell some of the materials.
Another good thing to do would be to post the demo on craigslist and/or here, get some of the stuff cleared out for free. I might make the drive if there's good wood there (I'm on the other side of the pass).
zak
currently building casement windows from framing lumber taken out of my 1924 house- cvg fir.
I called the restore. They just come in and take what they think they can re-sell. I'm all for recycling. Just want to do it in a cost effective way.
Thanks for all of the responses.
There may be a lot worthy of salvage in the building--may only be junk, too (and junk currently 100% encapsulated over materials needing extensive permitting & t/m to "remediate").
While you have the yellow pages out looking for salvage outfits, check with the house movers, too. If there's "bones" worth saving (like a timber frame supporting the balloon framing likely under the skin), they may want to make you an offer. Not tearing into the house means not having nearly as many environmental impact forms to fill out (and all the fees that are associated with them).
Otherwise, do as the other posters have said, get the salvage people in and get their best offer(s) organized.
As to the estimating, figure the demolition will take as many hours as the construction would. Which is very likely given the environmental hoops you'll likely be asked to jump through. That leads to "unbuilding" the house (so it comes apart in reverse order of construction).
The most common way here in WI is a controlled burn pile. Done it myself. Set aside a place on the land , and slowly keep feeding the fire as you dismantle. Chain saw, pick-up truck and a long chain are the only tools you need.
WSJ
Given that it's an early 1900's building, there might be hardware and fixtures worth salvaging, and there definitely will be old growth lumber worth salvaging. Stripping out the decorative stuff is quite easy, it might take one person a day or two. Then you need a bunch of cheap labor to demo the plaster and get at the good wood.
-- J.S.
I got dibs on any good plumbing, hardware and light fixtures. I love my hardware.
Some of the chapters of Habitat for Humanity have ReStores that sell recycled stuff.
Ours has a volunteer group that strips the sellable items out of houses slated for demo. There might be the same sort of thing in Seattle.
Google on Habitat for Humanity and find WA. chapters to take a look.
The ToolBear
"Never met a man who couldn't teach me something." Anon.