I just got a small demo job It's a house. The customer wants to recycle the crawl space. My question is, am I going to have trouble separating the framed wood walls from the block? I didn't intend to do anything but grab the walls with an excavator with a thumb. Is that going to lead to block damage? If at the end I have to go around and unbolt the top plate, I don't mind. Any insight you gentlemen can give me is appreciated.
Every time I've demoed a building on block walls I've had the blocks with the anchor bolts come with the wall unless they're cut or unbolted. Even with them cut you'll need to be careful. It doesn't take much of a bump to knock a block loose ..
This ^^^. I've demo'd many a house with block basements and CMU is super fragile unless the cells are grouted which rarely, if ever happens on a house build. More than once I've ripped the sill plate off and it looked like a string of teeth where the anchor bolts were grouted only on the top block. The rest of the wall crumbled. If you take the job - EXCLUDE any sort of guarantee the crawl space walls will be useable when you are finished. You have no idea how the walls and the house were constructed and damn sure can't warrant the walls will not be damaged or gone before it's over.
^^^^^ Agreed. These are experienced words of wisdom. Take heed. And as for any agreement get it all in writing. The pen is mightier than the sword. Simon C
If you have the room, sawsall on each side of the top plate anchor bolt. About the only thing a sawsall is good for, other than cutting up deer.
I kind of knew it was going to be an issue. I've knocked a few houses down, but can't recall if the top plate will come with the wall studs. I have no problem once the bulk of the rubble is gone going around and dealing with the anchors.
How old is the house? The sheathing could be 2x's on a 45 nailed into the sill plate or it could be press board sheathing with a couple of felt caps. There is no way of knowing how they built the walls without some selective demolition to find out.