Anyone got any cool demolition jobs going on right now, or coming down this summer? I'm talking about cool jobs that give you a special challenge or opportunity? What's entailed with the job? What kind of equipment are you going to use to tackle it? Anything unusual or peculiar to the work? Anyone got any cool old buildings to wreck? Like something with interesting historical value, or a locally well-known building where the job is getting a lot of attention or press? Any interesting salvage contracts? Like making big money selling off parts of the building before demo? Interested in hearing all about it, guys. Thanks. :usa
There is some leftover pizza in the fridge that I am about to demolish. I am gonna go after it with my bare hands and chew it apart. Wish me luck :drinkup
BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA
Real tough demo I need some input on how to demo this super structure. It's loaded with huge beams and braces and was built when building really ment something. The tools and equipment I have on hand should be enough to do the job with. My question is should I cut the tree that's holding it up first or tie the rope to it and pull it down first? I'm using a 16hp Murray mower for the pulling with wheel weights of coarse. So you guys have any suggestions on how I should go about this?
I have some good news and some bad news. The good news is that you won't need the rope, or the wheel weights. Just park to the left of the structure, with the mower's discharge facing to the right, and throttle up to about half speed. It should blow over... The bad news is that you've unwittingly posted a picture of one of the few surviving examples of the Neo-Colonial, ante-bellum, non-plumb-nor-square, rottenwood-clad, residence. Noted for it's lack of 90 degree angles, and refreshing, airy, feeling, the style allows its lucky residents to commune with nature in all of it's many forms, insects, rodents, and inclement weather, in particular. Now that we know it still exists, we'll be adding it the the register of historical places, and you won't be allowed to tear it down.
But we could have a great weenie roast (and toast marshmallows) on the pile of debris that we burn when it falls down if I sneeze too hard. LOL
Hell I'd just **** on it!:usa
out of square? what are you talking about it looks level to me
We've demo'ed a couple of old grain elevators. On one we were able to chop most of the supports with an excavator and then pulled it over with a winch cat. Had most of the town watching. Should have seen the coons running when it hit the ground, must have been twenty of them. In my opinion there is no such thing as a "cool" demolition job, they all suck.
I remember another one we did. Some local juvenile delinquents started an old three story hotel on fire. It took up half a city block. Fire department was worried that the walls would become unstable and collapse onto the street or across the alley onto another building, so we knocked it down while it was still burning. Used a crane with a wrecking ball and an excavator. Had to clean it up in the dead of winter. Everything was either smoke, fire or water damaged so there was no salvage to it. Just loaded everything into dumptrucks and hauled it to a quarry and buried it under 50 feet of strippings. The DNR found out and fined the owner I think around $25,000. That was still cheaper than hauling to the landfill, the tipping fees would have been over $100,000. I don't like demo jobs, just too dirty and dangerous. Would rather push dirt.
Well now you went and done it digger this old place is now going to be a Bed and Breakfast. I don't know how the owners found out about historical value of this old store building. But I'm thinking digger tipped them off. Anyway if any of you are passing through the big city/town/dip in the road Craytenville SC. Room and board is only $650.00 a night per person bring your own bedding.
Charleston : The unbuilding of the Grace and Pearman Bridges demo job of a bridge in Charleston awesome pics lots of pics.......... link
Cooper River Bridge Cool link I never did like crossing the old Cooper River Bridge with a loaded truck. It seamed a lot tighter than it really was causing the cars to crowd you a little.
Awesome Bridge Photos Those are just awesome photos that chornicle the demo of those bridges. Great shots and incredible detail from start to finish. Wow. Very impressive. Check it out.
How did you get a photo of my house, Wrench? Only 120 more payments, and she's ALL MINE... :woohoo I'm the envy 'o the neighborhood, too. Got me an indoor outhouse an' everything... If it ain't my house in that there photo, then I'd be puttin' a call in right smart like to CDI up in Maryland. I watched 'em blow up a few buildings (not quite as sturdy as that one there,) on the Discovery Channel on the picture tube once't or twice't, and they seemed to be pretty learn't in the dynamite department. Give 'em a call if you don't feel comfortable.
Well because of digger's comment they already turned it into a bed and breakfast,now they're talking about relocating it. You ever moved a.........um.......yeah..... Bed & Breakfast?
All problems can be sorted out with explosives. I suggest using explosive cord and just a little bit of TNT(100Lbs?) will do a lot with the house wrenchbender. It will then be cut into handy pieces for uploading. Just rent a bobcat and showel it up into your trailer. The peaces you find will fit nicely in your welding trailer.
Just fill it with propane and have someone ring the doorbell!
Call the Duke boys from Hazard county. They can shoot that with one arrow .:drinkup
Reconstruction Begins Well looks like they have began to straighten the building up a little lol
Oh NO I spoke to soon as the blocking was taking place the guy in back was smoking and the main line from the still to the bar burst. There went the Bed and Breakfast and it was going to be the hot spot in town lol ........................................................................................................................................................................ (no one or personal property of any kind was harmed by this post)
:badidea Geeezzz- I always get a laugh out of the nubies. I wouldn't use a mower with less than 20HP.:spongebob
But it's the only one I could stea...........um get on loaner.
:lmao :falldownlaugh
thats in bad shpe, good windll take care of it.
Yeah I've been thinking that for over twenty years now and it's still standing. Went by there today and noticed that there is some stuff stored in the front rooms. I mean stuff like nice nearly new tiller, push mower and other stuff. I don't think I would want to be going in and out of there to get my stuff. As i was getting close to home there was a nice thunder storm with lightning and a fair amount of rain and high wind so maybe next trip by she may be down but I doubt it. It's sorta like that loose tooth you had when you were a kid you know it's going but it seams to take forever.
Demolition of the old paper fabric Here at Rena we have a old paper fabric that has been empty for ap 7 years. Now they have desided to tear some of it down to build new houses there. The plan is for ap 100 small apartments for military personell. And they want them down in the community center instead of inside the army camp. This way the community get tax from em....(the apartments will be so big you have to move here officialy.) I haven't had time to take some pictures before today, so i missed the Hitachi 500 with the crusher. But they say a bigger machine will arrive after summer holiday's.(2-3 weeks from now) So enjoy the pictures of the Cat and the smal Hitachi. This 345 got a quick coupler, u can se the magnet and a extra jaw. And this is a typical coupler here, builds nearly nothing compared to a bolt on bucket. I didn't have time to locate the crusher/cutter for it, but it was mounted last time i was at the site.
The smaller Hitachi demolitionmachine Here is some pictures of their smaller Hitachi demolition machine. They use this one inside first, before they tear down the rest. Only problem is they have parked it real close to the lunch cabin. Pictures didnt get as god as i wanted The thing on the hood back, right, is a waterpump, hydraulic driven, high pressure one. They use it for spraying water on the dust.
MKTF- good pictures thanks. :drinkup Never seen a hook on magnet. cool stuff!
Well guy's the bigger one has arrived. This time they(** Decom) has brought a CAT 365C ES. Demolition boom, tiltable cab++ And a oilquick coupler in front. It couples everything at once, hyd and electrics also. I didn't find any attachments for the machine. I believe it is comming here when they start working. I quess they got summer holiday for this week too. It was very quiet down at the worksite today too. And it got a extendable undercarrige too. Loosen the bolts and move it out. U can see the brackets for hyd sylinders on the underside. I'll see next week if i can get some action pictures. (when going to and from work)
Awsome pictures - MKTEF. That is a pretty wicked demo machine. That style quick coupler is interesting. Doesn't Liebherr have a factory option coupler like that? I just wonder how it would hold up with dirt, mud and dust on the jobsite?
Well, i don't know if liebherr got it. Here u can by it for any machine. They adapt it with brackets to the machine of your make. The hydraulic couplings is in between the hook and the lock. It is a block of connections that move together with the locking pins. If u store the attachments out of dust/mud and so on, its no problem. And they got a spesial patent on this solutin. Here is a resized picture of the cat. The moving block with the connections in the middle. And u can se the rails on the block in the photo. I'll see if i can find a brochure around.
A change to that: What u se under there is a cover for the connections. When u use a bucket and the locking pins go out, this cover comes down and protects the coupling block under. WWW.oilquick.com shows it all.
It looks like this is the same type coupler. http://www.liebherr.com/em/en/19664.asp I remember seeing an ad in one of the trade magazines. I could see where this type of coupler would be great for hammer and dig -trenching with one machine. The oil quick coupler looks pretty slick. The animation of the coupler hooking and unhooking explains it all. How popular are they across the pond?
Well the likufix from Liebherr is not the same as the oilquick. Neither of them is everywhere. The most used are normal remotecontrolled couplers.(everybody got them) Then u go out and change the hoses. Thats because most users only have a few systems that demands hydraulics. And that will be the hammer and the angled bucket. And u dont change all the time. I mean, u got the time it takes to go out and do some handwork. But for special applications as the demolition guys i believe it can be handy. And u got the reach to lay the equipment a bit away drom the worksite. So if the crusher or hammer isnt enough, u can change to a cutter in just seconds. Or a grapple. I've seen them only a few places, and thats on demolition machines. I realy don't like the patent on those locking pins. I am shure it will be some slack in a short time. I prefer the ones that tensions up any slack as u work. Like on the 350.
I have a Cat pin-grabber quick coupler on my 321CLCR. The hoe also has a hydraulic progressive link thumb. We don't run a hammer or other hydraulic tool other than the thumb. A hydraulic coupler is worth it's weight in gold - switch from 24" rock bucket to 48" loading bucket quickly. This works well when you are loading trucks and digging in hard material. A good buddy and side business partner of mine is in the utility business - storm, water and sewer. He could use this "wet" quick coupler when you have to hammer a ditch line. Usually you have one hoe with a hammer and one to dig with - niether one can operate at the same time (usually). This leads to one machine idling and not working while the other is either hammering or digging. With a "wet" coupler one machine could do the job of both efficiently, freeing up the other machine for another job. Just lay the hammer down and pick up your bucket. I can also definetely see the advantages of this type coupler for the demo business - cool stuff, keep it coming.:drinkup
I like that Q/C, any idea on pricing or reliability over a regular hydraulic pin-grapper?
Artherd: I am sory i don't know any prices or reliability on that one. Haven't got the chance to talk to some users yet. And CM i can see that u can use only one machine for the threncing with that Q/C. There ought to be some action down at the fabric after summer holidays. Here is some pictures of the addons for the Cat. They have been delivered the last days. As u can see the crusher hasn't been used much.
Here is another small piece that will produce some action. Has been delivered the last days. I didn't fin any attachments for this one, so i expect they will arrive in a day or two.
Here is a picture of the inside of the oilquick coupler on the 365. The rubber gasket holds dirt outside. I bet the plastic on the edge opens it when u connect it to something that needs hydraulic power. And it looks like two of the holes is not used.
More pictures from the demolition job. They have started working after summer holidays. The small Hitazhi has got a magnet on. The big one has got its atachments. On the machine is a shearer. And he's brought a bucket and some crusher jaws too. Rather big equipment....
The 345C has got more atachments. He's connected the crusher, and he has a hammer ready. As u can see in the Norwegian lowboy post, the firm ** Decom is bying a lot of new equipment theese days. They are very busy doing a lot of demolition. Adding a pic of the wheelloader they got. Been busy on job this week, so i haven't been able to go down and have som action pic's while they are working.
Great Pictures What awesome equipment. Show us some pictures of that beautiful equipment in action---doing some damage to the buildings.
that`s big toys
Here it goes. I went down there and took some pictures. They where working late this evening. They have arranged the site with the big Hitachi cutting steel and the rest of the machines work on the building. The 345 came with a rather big tank for papermass. He started cutting imediately. Remember this is a Hitachi 670...It looks smal but ain't The other two where working on the building, the 345 tearing down and the Volvo sorting wood into the containers. And by the way, that Volvo is the one i pictured at Volvo HQ Friday evening. Pictures in the post Norwegian Lowboy. The smal hitachi moved around sorting the small stuff into other containers. Wheelloader doing the rest, the Foreman drove it. Ill post a long video on Youtube, stay put.
There is redneck's around here too. The 345 used a I-beam as a shuffle when clearing the rubble. It worked fine but it got some beating. He used it as a hammer on a wall too, bet it got the kills then. And he pushed the concrete under the building using his tracks. Not by the manual, but it worked.
Video of the demolition Here is a video of some of the demolition. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SQAM1OBUszQ I'll post another one when i get the time to make it out of my last clips. I spent 2 hours down there filming the guy's working.
wow!great pictures and a fully loaded action video,from the music to the excavators
GREAT!! video thanks for sharing. :drinkup
First: The 365 has now got all the extras mounted. Walking area and top of the main weight. They started it when i arrived. Did som repair, a pipe on the boom was squising in the holder. They tryed to fix it with some new rubber around the pipe. Leaked som oil after a while, and then they parked it. I don't know if they got it fixed, i got busy filming.
oops pictures: And the 2. video is beeing uploaded now.
2. video. Here is some heavier action. Buildings falling down and such. Twisted Sister should be OK for u old guy's? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4TKs4Vgzrxg
That 345 looks awfully big for a .......345......
Well a big machine, shure. A C modell, sold in 2006, weights 52 000 kg/114 000 lbs. It was delivered to the customer in july 2006.(controll tag) I checked the machine sign on the frame. And yes, it might be something odd with it, there is some proto's running around here in Norway too. Our operators are known to bee the right one's to talk to when doing proto tests. The new Volvo L350F was tested for months at some contractors here long before it was official.
cool demo Beautiful equipment and beautiful video. You got some great shots of the 345 just trashing the roof. Nice shots of hammering down the roof and biting out the side supports. Definitely a cool demolition job.
THanks thanks everyone for the post I enjoyed those
High Reach Demolition Can someone tell me why I hear of more controlled "deconstruction" of buildings in Europe by use of excavators with "high reach" attachments as I do in the U.S. Are explosives and the "swinging ball" just more traditional here or is this selective demolition catching on more in the U.S. Perhaps it is the material we build with too? :idontgetit I was at the BAUMA in Germany and saw a lot demolition equipment including excavators as well as shear/hammer/etc. attachment manufacturers focused on the demolition. Should we expect to see more of that at ConExpo? :beatsme Any of your input about this would be great!
Gasoil,can you post a couple pics of demolition equipment at bauma?Please?
I'm talking mainly about these types of machines (below is a Hitachi Zx 350-3)...I rarely see them around and it seems like they are pretty heavily marketed in Europe.
Well i don't know much about your building tecniques in us. I see that the demolition business her in Norway is growing theese days. It seems to me that the building boom after 1945, is going down these days. To me it looks like those buildings now are becomming old and ready for demo. A lot of them is built in concrete, and thats a hard material to blow up. We also tend to build close around here too. So a high reach is bether than dynamite and ball... Regarding the difference, i beliewe we have been building tighter and in more solid materials than in US. And i bet the 2.ww building boom goes for the rest of Europe too... So we have a great amount of buildings ready for demo theese days.
I have done a lot of demo with hoes and see it quite a bit, but haven't seen much high reach stuff. Blasting is the way to go even with concrete structures. I get the idea the the ground isn't as stable in Europe as here with all the pics of LPG equipment I see, so they may use a lot more concrete. I think most of it is that we have more room to work.
Does anyone see a growing demand for high reach equipment as residential areas become more crowded and permits for blasting become increasingly difficult to obtain? Or will the traditional demo methods in the states hold their place? The ball and crane method seems to be incredibly inefficient, difficult to execute as well as dangerous. I personally think future restrictions on traditional demo methods will have us see an increase in the US market for these machines....just my opinion.:my2c
Gasoil, all methods have their place. Crane and b all is efficient if you have someone that knows what their doing. This has its limitations though. You can wipe out a concrete structure no problem, but its difficult do ball an iron structure. High reaches have the same limitations as a crane and ball. It takes a good operator. They will tackle some decent iron with the right attachment. Implosions are relatively quick. They take a lot of set up work and make one heck of a mess. Your limited by your surroundings and sometimes the municipality does not allow it. Like New York City. Ill throw in a pic of a 385 high reach. This is my first shot at loading pictures here so well see how it goes. Machine is a Cat 385CHRD. Owned by MCM Management. Attachment is a Cat MP-20 with shear blades. Photo by my friend Eric P.
Is that you operating the CAT 385 high reach, Turbo?
No I do not operate the high reach. Theres not enough money in the world. Its a high pressure job, and its a difficult machine to operate efficiently. Not long after that picture the operator went to cut a truss in the top of the building. He did cut the truss, but it ended up pinching the shear in between the column and the truss. It did so much damage to the shear we ended up replacing it with a backup. Then rebuilt the first one. Most of my time at MCM has been that of support. We run the site as a demolition/scrap yard. Front line usually consists of a Cat 375L with either a Labounty MSD3000 or a MSD70R shear. In the case that we are in a tight area or have an extremely tall building we bring in a high reach. MCM has 3 HRD machines. A 330B, A 345B, the first one built i believe, and the first 385C HRD in the U.S. The "backup" machine is a Cat 375L with a grapple. The majority of the demolition is performed by 375 with the shear. The grapple is there to assist and perform primary sorting and cleaning. Material is moved by a loader with a demolition bucket. Metal is processed by a variety of shears and grapples. Its broken down based on iron, sheet iron, shred, and non ferrous metals. I ran a sheer once and a while. Most of my time was spent in a Cat 320C sorting and cleaning non ferrous metals. Primary focus was copper. Last summer we were cleaning roughly 100,000lbs of copper a week. The last few months have been spent running loader with demo bucket. A few pics Preparing stainless steel pipe Loading clean sheet aluminum These pics are before i started running the loader but the job was the same and performed basically the same way. Moving iron to the sheers Who needs a dozer when you've got an I beam and a loader?
Great pics turbo. 100,000 pounds of copper a week! Thats a good payday!
The one build we had imploded didn't make a mess at all. We had 3 munchers, 2 hoes with thumbs, 1 10ton shear, 1 hoe with a magnet, 2 977s with 4n1, 2 loaders with 5 yd buckets, and a 80 ton hoe. When we got in there most all the concrete was 2' minus and there wasn't much concrete left on the rebar, so as soon as we found other job to use some of the iron on we cut our crew in half. Other then trying to uncover/find the footings that job was cake.
Turbo, great shots, some look rather familiar! ... Dozerboy, that sounds like a small job...lol as I recall, at one point we had over 20 hoes on the job that Turbo posted pictures of (3) 320C, (1) volvo EC330B (1) cat 330B HRD (2) Cat 330B MH (1) Cat 345B MH (1) cat 345B (2) volvo EC460B (2) Cat 350L (1) Fuchs MHL 360 (2) Cat 245B (1) Volvo EC700B (3) Cat 375L... Here's a few more pics from that job: (last 4 thanks to Turbo) Eric
Cool Fleet That's one heck of a fleet, and the hoes look amazing all lined up like that. What a cool demo job--keep em coming. What kind of stuff are you working on now, Demoguy and Turbo? You still doing any demo dozerboy? Dropping cars and stuff. LOL.
Wolf, That particular job started to wind down in July, I was laid off in august, at which point i refused to sit around, so i packed up and moved to from Michigan to Washington, where I'm a project manager with Northwest Demolition. presently we are taking down a 27 acre chemical plant in Tacoma. Eric
It was 4 city blocks I've never work for a company that was big enough to have 20 hoes on one job the most was 13 plus loader and such. Take some pics of the chemical plant for us. Hey Wolf, Just quit my old job and start a new one demoing a good size bridge. I've been meaning to take some pics for ya, but it hard to get any good ones without going out on a barge and I don't do barges. It bad enough being on the bridge in a 30 ton anchor.
Dozerboy: Great to hear from you. How cool, demoing a bridge. Do you have to work at night to do it, or is the bridge closed down completely. What kind of bridge are you knocking down, and what kind of 30 ton anchor equipment are you running to do it. That sounds like an awesome job, Dozerboy. I'm sure you're gonna enjoy it a lot more than working those coal piles. Is it a pure demo company, or do you get to do a variety of jobs? So, those four city blocks, was that the demo for the Petco stadium?
Here are a few pics from my new demolition job, Today was my first official day as project manager, (promoted from Assistant project manager yesterday, as our previous PM got sent to the next job, a nuclear reactor dome) what a royal pain in the xxxx. I credit the full moon for most of the issues, but you name it, it went wrong...lost a tooth on the PC-220, truck driver had a family emergency, had to leave at 9:00 am, Volvo 290 (250 hours) had some electrical issues, 2 machines ran out of fuel, and neither service truck had a working pump...ripped up a slab and found some ACM... Eric
that volvo is sweet, love how the thumb comes off with the bucket:notworthy
Hey, Eric (Demoguy): That looks like a sweet job you got there, and congratulations on the promotion. Hey, looking at the pictures, are you going to be taking down that brick building that looks like a power plant? What's the story with that building? How old is it? Kinda neat looking old building, don't you think? Got any more pictures of that?
Wolf, Yes, that building does infact come down as well, i guess it does look like a powerhouse doesn't it, but it is a "chlorine refrigeration" building instead, there were about 3-4 buildings with the same overall design, size and architecture in this complex. it's a shame to have to take down such a cool looking, structurally sound building, but as my boss says "you can't save everything" Eric
:cool2 You guys arent hiring, are you?
At the moment things are a bit slow around here, one big job is winding down, the next in just kicking in, but hey, it can't hurt to apply, the home office is in Tigard OR. Eric
Chlorine Refrigeration Hey Eric (Demoguy324): That was interesting to hear about the chlorine refrigeration building. It sure is a cool looking building, but, I guess your boss is right when he says you can't save everything. Sure can't. Did you already take down the other buildings of similar design. How old are those--they look like 100 years old or more. Did they come down pretty easy? And did you start on the chlorine refrigeration building that's in your picture yet? Put up some pictures of it coming down if you can. Are you going to use a bucket with a thumb or the grapple? I remember you said that you liked the thumb/bucket combo for doing brick demo, because it's much easier to scoop brick than it is to pinch it. So I guess you're gonnna scoop that building down. Looks like a really cool job.:usa
Wolf, We'll be using a thumb/bucket, for the cleanup but more than likely the Komatsu PC400-6 with a UP-70 processor and pulverizer jaws. Northwest does not own any grapples that I am aware of, these buildings were built in the early between 1900 and 1930, and are actually really strong. I've got a bunch more pics of various structures coming down, as project manager it is my job to document the job by taking at least 5 pictures a day...i'll get them around and post them shortly, i'm in the process of switching to a new computer, and files are pretty scattered Eric
My trucks load primarily at Demo sites for a few major companies, so here are a few site photo's and vids!!!!
Great Pictures Great pictures, and that's a huge truck you use. How many yards is that? How far do you have to take it to dump? And where are you in Penna? Keep the great pics and vids coming. And welcome to the forum.
K&W, thanks for the videos and pictures. In that first video I was wondering just how far that grapple was gunna come toward the camera . It was nice to note a really clean and tidy yard there; and especially the way the excavator operator was packing the truck nice and neat without dropping crap all over and having stuff sticking out....good to see that some standards are being kept up in some parts of the world.
Yes, beautiful work in a nice neat yard. Impressive indeed, and compliments to you coming all the way from Australia. What kind of debris are you hauling, in what kind of trucks and how do you process it all, in terms of what is going to recycling, what is dumped in the landfill, sold as scrap, etc. thanks and welcome to the forum.
Your not getting loaded with concrete in that 2nd pic are you?
No...no...no.......there was C&D material in the building on the driver side of the truck!!!!!!
Still no scratches or dents. You could eat off that trailer. Spotless. Magnificent.
K&W That is 1 sweet looking Large Car w/ walking floor trailer ya got there bro :drinkup later yall bulldog
i noticed a difference between demo in canada and the us too. the us seems to use a lot more track loaders for doing houses, etc. even on extreme makeover. up here in canada we are all about the hoes. :drinkup
Depends on the part of the US, but hoes are definitely becoming the norm for demo. Some track loaders in certain places, but hoes seem to prevail.
Wolf, Sadly enough, the track loader is all but obsolete on a demo job. A wheel loader with solid/foam filled tires and a wide array of work tools will run circles around a track loader all day long, with a much more comfortable operator, and, higher speed, more productivity. not to mention the elimination of undercarriage costs. Eric
Not out in Cali, we used a cat 973 all the time at my old job....
I would say this is only partly true! on some tasks you can replace the slower moving track loader with a faster wheel loader, and you will make profit on that! but then again the filled rubber tyres are not any cheaper to replace than the UC, and they don't like rebar and other sharp objects soo much... the track loader is great when you have limited space (height/ turn radius), soft ground or you are loading from a pile near the truck so you don't have to ride around. and the track loader is more universal compared to a filled rubber tyre loader, the grip you get with these tyres arn't the best... but it's stupid to argue about a thing like this... a good contractor knows wich machine to use and will make money by owning and understanding the capabilityes of the machinery with a good operator i have been wondering why the heck many use these buckets with a thumb on??? the demolition grapple is WAY faster and better to use! at least here in Finland the enviromental laws don't alow us to put everything in the same landfill, only 0-20% from a demo site should end up in the landfill area!
Sparffo: You've got the right attitude, man. Use the right machine for the right job. So, how often do you tend to bring a track loader onto your demolition sites? And what kind of grapple do you prefer for demo? Have you ever used the bucket with a thumb in Finland, or are you strickly a grapple guy? Thanks for the input, this is very interesting.
thumbs Thumbs definetly have not made it in the UK :beatsme I can honestly state I have never seen any size of thumb or pic of one on any machine in the UK. The first time I came across one was a pic a guy on ACME posted. That is not to say there isn't one in the UK, just they are nowhere near at popular as over the pond. We have had grapples, (have a fixed leg to the dipper arm) for a good few years and are very popular/necessary in the demo industry. Just need a bracket welding to the dipper arm. Now we ( the industry) is moving towards the rehandling grab/grapple. The problem with these is the requirement for an extra hyd service, but as technology has moved on and costs have reduced ( competition) it is much easier to have an additional service as aftermarket fitment, or as additional fit on new spec machines. :drinkup
Sparffo, Well said, I do almost 100% heavy industrial demolition, where we have large sites, vast amounts of slab and roadway, and with a good loader operator, the trails are clear of tire catching debris. But I Do agree with you on tight quarters, and rough demolition terrain, and can understand how in such areas how a track loader would be useful. I do see a lot of track loaders on tight big city jobs, but outside of the cities, they are pretty rare. I also agree with your stance on thumbs, and grapples. a demo grapple is worth it's weight in gold, where as a thumb is more or less an after thought...unfortunately the company I work for now has 20 excavators, all of which have thumbs...no grapples, and no amount evidence can prove otherwise to the stubborn oldschool wreckers in charge. Eric
I belive that you would go crazy 1 mile straights back and forth with a 973 thats what a wheel loader is for big sites like that is probably quite fun to do! ? here in finland we don't even have that big factorys that are beeing demolished the industrial revolution came 100 years after your, so we have some catching up to do thats strange, 20 excavators could be airplanes faster with real demo graples, of course they cost money, but then again speed equals money... my dad was like that when he managed still the company i manage/own now, everything new was bad, and don't fix it until it's broken... and i could really feel that we where making bad profit because of this cheap thinking ointhead when i took over 2000, i slowly started to invest in new stuff! and when i bought the last share in the company 2005 with my brother, we almost scrapped some stuff and got new! working is a lot more fun now
So what make a grapple so much faster I can see that there more HD but thats it? I have ran several thumbs never a fixed grapple I sure don't think of them as slow.
I have the same question. As we only do a couple demo jobs a year so I'm no expert but know a little about residential demo. We always use the bucket and hydraulic thumb configuration for demo. Seems that with a bucket you can get more for every scoop over a grapple. Like I said I've never used a grapple before, but wouldn't the bucket be faster if loading concrete block over a grapple?
I was wondering the same thing as dirtman and dozer boy. what up with the grapple?
A lot has to do with application. House demo, yes a grapple will work. You will need a bucket to finish up though. So you dont have to switch to that with a thumb. If you have to switch to a hammer, you still have to take the thumb off, so there is no difference between a grapple and bucket/thumb there. The kind of demo Demoguy324 is doing is heavy industrial. I know, We worked for the same outfit for a while, he got laid off and went out west. Few months later i got laid off and im still sitting at the house. Thats a whole nother story. A lot of the applictaions for a grapple cannot be done with a bucket/thumb. A lot of times you use the grapple to grab a hold of a beam, push, pull, twist and drag that iron off the building. You really cant do that with a bucket. A lot of the time you are on a concrete slab. A big part of the job is using an I beam as a bulldozer blade. Rather that pick things up and throw them around, You push them into a pile. My job was sorting non ferrous metals and preping them for shipment. I would sit in front of the pile i was going through. Pick the various metals out and put them in a different place in my swing radius. Then with that beam, I would push that material to a bigger pile of that corrosponding metal. You could do it with a bucket/thumb. It would be a lot slower. You also have a hard time pushing a beam with a thumb, it doesnt hold stiff like a grapple does. I can do anything with a grapple that you can do with a bucket/thumb. As long as i have a lot of material I can load debris out just the same, until I get down to the last 10 yards of material. Someone said something about concrete block. We would track over it with the hoe, them pile it up with a beam. Leaves us good crushed concrete for fill. As I have said, the both have a place in demo, but a bucket/thumb doesnt have a place in heavy industrial demo.
the loading principal with a grapple is more comprable to a front shovel, than a traditional excavator, you scoop with the back side, then clamp down with the top side (this is also why the back side of the grapple is larger, a lot of people question this from a visibility standpoint.) but with a thumb you can't push on the thumb, otherwise it will fold back under. but The major difference i've seen between grapples and thumbs is cycle time. with a stiff arm grapple, it almost becomes subconscious you swing around, to pick the next load and you always know exactly where the back side of the grapple is. with buckets, the operator has to constantly think about where the bucket is in relation to the thumb. in picking operations he then has to stop, compensate the thumb, then the bucket, then the thumb. and still miss what he's aiming for on a regular basis. I'd say on average the cycle time with a grapple is at most 1/4 the time of a bucket/thumb combo. buckets/thumbs are for excavating contractors, who once in a while do a house demo, and not for production demo.
I disagree we do alot of demo big and small and a progressive link thumb with a big bucket is the way to go. The thing about demo is there is usually more cement to be hauled away than anything else. With our 360b I can load cement way faster with a big bucket "3yards" and a thumb than I ever could with a grapple. I can load our 45yard end dumps in under ten minutes with garbage. I cant do it any faster with a grapple. Just my opinion
Ok I can see what ya'll are saying, but you don't have to only use a bucket with a hyd. thumb we have a grapple for ours. I do agree 100% that a hyd. thumb isn't the best choice for heavy industrial demo of steel structures. For the rest a hyd. is probably just as good and a lot better in some instances. I use the thumb alone a bit and being able change the angle helps a ton for tedious work. We did a lot of "production demo" of wood/concrete industrial buildings and I don't see any advantage to a fixed thumb other then durability pulse there is no need to remove it for other attachments. I have no problem thinking about the attachments' relation to a hyd. thumb without stopping, but most of the time I try to move it as little as possible. However I have also been able to walk, talk, and chew gum my whole life...J/K This thread the first post is the only pics off hand I have of some of the demo we did with hyd. thumbs. There where 140 buildings IIRC, so it was far from the occasional house demo. We always had some demo projects going. MXsledder beat me to it Normally we never loaded trucks with our hoes we had 7yd and bigger wheel loaders for that as far as concrete goes and sometimes wood and such too.
one other issue with our thumbs is that they are built and plumbed by Jewell...the controls are on the triggers, and do not operate smoothly, Jewell are pretty good fabricators, but they really need to hire a few more hydraulic engineers. (not to mention translators, so the shop labor can understand what they're being asked to do...) Eric
Sorry to dredge up an old thread, but I was wondering if anyone knows of a uhd hoe out here in western Canada? We have a unique demo job this spring/summer that has some big machine location challenges and I would like to get some ideas as to the capabilities and limitations of these machines.
Welcome to the Forums Chrispy!
Chrispy, first of welcome. Second, what kind of building are you looking at. Height, concrete, or iron, time frame, what kind of space limitations do you have? Pictures would be helpful
Thanks for the greetings guys. I'm fairly new to this kind of work but I'm looking ofrward to having some experienced guys to bounce ideas off of. I don't believe in reinventing the wheel if necessary. Unfortunately because of the nature of our work/tender process I can't give out any pic's. What I can tell you though is the item to be demo'd sits approx 20' below and 60-70' away from anywhere we could get a larger piece of machinery to. The concrete piece is reinforced(cicra 1960's) and anywhere from 2.5' to 17' in thickness. I am trying to think "outside the box" as to means to demo it without using explosives.
Hello Chrispy and welcome to the forum. I'm glad you got this thread going again, because it's great to hear about all the cool demoliton jobs that are going on around the world. Keep the good stories and pictures coming. Tell us about the cool demolition jobs you are working on.
I'm not sure if this is the right place to post but... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nGfymFqtscY no special permits are needed but perhaps the big hat worn by the guy at the end is required?
Well Chrispy, without seeing it, i cant help with a plan of attack. The biggest factor is going to be height. With the reach of 60-70 feet, its not close enough for a HRD machine to reach eficently, even when at MCM with a 385 HRD machine 130 feet was about the max reach. Top that off, most HRD machines cant work below its grade. The hydraulic systems will not allow it. In fact I have heard stories of a 345HRD machine. The company had a basement they were finishing cleaning out. They couldnt reach a few pieces of iron with a regular machine so they tried with the HRD. Well the operator was able to get ahold of the iron, but could no longer boom back up, even without the iron. It took a mechanic and a assist machine to raise the boom again. With that kind of concrete, I see only a few options. 1 is to haul material in, build a ramp to your lower level. After that you should be able to get a conventional machine to the building. 2 Is to use a crane with a ball to wreck your concrete section. This means you would not have to haul material in. 3 Use a crane to lift mini excavators and skid steers to the top floor and work floor by floor down. A HRD does good with concrete, but when it comes to heavy steel, they just cant heft a tool that is strong enough to effectively cut that heavy steel. Surely sounds like you guys have an interesting job coming up. Sounds like its on the challenging side. Not saying im the greatest demo guy, but im always looking for a good company to go to work for, maybe you guys would be interested in bringing someone on to give you a hand?
Well, I am dirt dog but I still have demo in my heart. I just love the destruction. My step dad is a house mover and demo contractor. I can remember some of his awesome jobs he had when I was a cub. He had a crane with wrecking ball, 977 track loader and some trucks. I mostly worked on the house moving side, but jumped at the chance to demo. I got some cool pics I would love to share, but I guess dont get to post em. Well, when I graduate I'll post em... Biggest house I moved was 3 story 150 ton. Later!
Now that sounds like some serious demo. Wrecking with a ball and crane. Wow, what kind of buildings did you guys tackle. Any really cool old ones. And the 977L that is the killer demolition machine. Just rips everything up and crushes it. Love those old track loaders. So darn cool. Did you ever run the machines to tear down the buildings with your uncle. What kind of buildings did you tackle? Keep submitting posts and you will be able to post those pictures. We'd all love to see your demo shots man. Later bro.
Hey Wolf, I have seen many posts from you, you seem real passionate about demo. It is habit forming isn't it. lol. I think I could get addicted to it as well. The demo game around here is VERY competitive. I believe I would do more demo if I could get my foot in the door. The insurance in insane and the liability these days are crazy. That being said, given the chance I'll do more. Yes, we have done some cool old buildings. My step dad tore down an old cell house at the prison here. Thought it would be easy, boy did he get an awakening. Tore down fire station, school house, flower mill, motels, and lots of army barracks here at Ft. Carson. He was the busiest in the 70's and early 80's. Yes, I did get to use the 977 on a couple houses and part of the old motel building. Some of the structures I have moved are: Many houses, historical caboose, airplane, bridges. Also have done Raise and Holds. Which means we raise the house a bit and then dig underneath with bobcat for new foundations. That is a trip. Also have raised houses as high as 12 ft in the air for new foundations. By the way, I was informed that I broke the rules and used hidden profanity. I aplogize and hope I did not offend anybody. Aight then, be cool.
I've dabbled in a couple such projects, mainly with an old friend who has since passed away. Never an entire house though. I'd be interested in seeing/discussing anything having to do with that stuff. And, welcome to the forums. :drinkup
Demo/House moving pics OK, here are some pics. First, cell house six Old Max Canon City Colorado early 70's. Next, a cabin was built 5' over property line. Had to move it in proper spot, then 2 story house to make way for parking lot Co Springs Co. My pride and joy, biggest house movedfor hospital expansion ENJOY
Heres a job I was involved in. I ran one of the hammers during the demo, and then ran my own machine for some of the clean up, near the end of the vidieo you can see my cat excavator loading trucks. http://mtc.ca.gov/news/info/movies/bay_bridge_video_9-07.htm
cool time lapse video:drinkup
That is a very cool time lapse video. I remember well when they closed the Bay Bridge over Labor Day. That was a big deal. I went sailing out of Treasure Island that day, so was very close to where the demo work was going on Could actually see it from the water. Which outfit are you with, running the hammer and CAT, and what other kinds of demo are you doing in the BAy Area. Best.
I was running the hammer as a favor for Silverado Construction who was the demo contractor, they were a sub for CC Meyers, and the cat excavator I own. Worked out well for me as they paid full rental on my hoe the whole time I was running thiers. It was a first class operation they put us up in a very nice hotel and catered all three meals in a building on treasure island open 24hrs a day as the job ran around the clock. Right now I am on a demo at Travis AFB in Fairfield, we are tearing down 500 houses on the base.
Hey, that was awsome vid, thanks for sharing
AWESOME ! :notworthy thanks for bringing it up BTB I'd missed it, absolutely stunning. :drinkup
I went back in to my archives (box of pics), and found some pics of when the demoed the remaining portion of the Lake Placid Club. The majority of it on the right of pic was destroyed by a fire. The portion to the left is what was being demolished. This Link is an article with a brief description of the Lake Placid Club. Jackson Demolition Services, Inc was the contractor who did a majority of the work. They ended up crushing the brick from the building and used it as road base else where on the property.
The Deere 200LC and the Macks are from Harlow Excavating. I believe they were contracted to clean up the wood and other debris.
Lake Placid Club Awesome pictures of the Lake Placid Club job. Looks like a cold job. When did that demo take place, Pullpan?
If I had to guess it had to have been 2001-2002
Hi! I have been busy as .... But the grapple is way better when you have to sort out the debris, you can pic up a beer can without breaking it! also when demoing brick buildings you can break/load the structures with the same tool, and do it in alsmot any position because it trurns 360 degrees. watch this video were a girl gets undressed by an excavator: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cuWSxFWv3Fo demo buisness in soo much more than just picking up oversize concrete slab But then again, this tool is not good for breaking concrete or heavy metal structures, then you just end up breaking the turn on the grapple...
What a crazy video. That can't be real, is it? Girl looks kinda nervous, though. Dirtman, you gonna try this????
if you come across rocks or concrete that needs to be removed and your concerned about vibration, check out non explosive demolition agents!
Bit of tree pullin