I have a project where I need to remove the roof of an existing house (the house stays). I was looking into a chainsaw with a demolition chain for cutting the roof off. I was wondering if anyone has any recommendations on demolition chains for chainsaws. Thanks in advance.
This is what the county FD uses for roof ventilation on their rescue saws. Should work just as well for demo since in it is cutting the same stuff. I would buy 2, maybe 3 chains(they come premade), since I figure you don't want to drop a couple grand on a 100' roll. 3/8" Pitch .404" Pitch
there is one made for fire dept. roof ventilation saws, that works very well. I can't remember the name, but you can google fire roof ventilation.
Clansing1, how much time do you have, is money more important or time? I've done work like that before and the chains and saws are really high priced, a couple of sawzalls are cheap along with a concrete saw with either a metal blade or carbide blade depending on what material you have to cut. Most roofs are just wood and nails and some occasional metal, a sawzall isn't fast but you can buy several with several guys running them and all the blades for a fraction of the cost of just the demo chain, and those are carbide tipped and expensive to sharpen as well. Use the sawzalls and concrete saw along with a regular chain saw and sledge hammer, most of the cutting you'll have to do is through wood and if you look carefully 90% of what needs cutting can be done with a regular chain on a basic saw, just look for nails before cutting and cut around them or almost through the wood and then cut with either the cement saw or sawzall. Depending on what type of roof is on the house will determine how to go about it, if it has a metal roof thats what the cement saw with metal blade is for and if it has a shingle roof, we pound them off from inside to make a hole to stand up in and either chainsaw or sawzall off the 2x's for roof supports, once you figure out how long some of the nails are most will be about the same length though out the whole roof. If speed is more important go with the demo saw and carbide chain route but you can buy all the other tools and accessories for less money than just a couple of chains and then you have the other stuff for other jobs as well.
demo with a chainsaw is awesome. it's fast and you feel the power.
If you have to cut through a lot of shingles, nails, flashing, and other roofing materials you might want to use one of these gas powered "quicky" saws as we usually call them here. You can rent them from a variety of places and they have specialized blades with carbide or maybe tungsten carbide teeth. http://www.stihl.ca/ViewProduct.aspx?ProductID=28&x=EOtBK0Eb9jmX4gbVxdXkQ I worked on a building demolition last summer where the roof and part of the third floor had to be cut away as it was too high to reach with the excavator the labourers went through several blades but they were cutting through layers of tar paper, big nails that you only find on 100 year old buildings, metal flashing, brick, and tar and gravel. http://www.husqvarna.com/int/construction/products/power-cutters-product-range/k-970-rescue/ http://www.firehooksunlimited.net/saws.html If you do rent one you'll probably have to buy the blade for it same with if you rent a chainsaw, I think we owned one "quicky" saw and rented the other and then bought the blades from the rental place. And in the end I think we ended up buying the second saw as we ended up with two back at the shop... Our labourers weren't the best with equipment. lol
look at the D'Ax blade for a chop saw, the website is http://sure-vent.com/Dax.htm it will cut through pretty much every thing except thick metal. its a nasty saw and is way way faster than a chainsaw with a demo chain for fire fighting. plus you dont have to stop and adjust the chain. also the blade lasts a long long time. hope that helps
The picture I'm getting here is that of a typical midwestern house with not all that much cutting. Sure it may seem like a PITA but as far as getting it done inexpensively I tend to think sawzall as well or if you really want to spend, then rent a demo saw and buy the blade. but if you are still hung up on using a chain saw then I would rip a "path" through the shingles with a flat bar and very carefully keep your saw chain somewhat free of the grit. Thats what I had to do with this job. http://s847.photobucket.com/albums/ab32/Grunexlandclearing/current postings 1/ it's kind of my "baby" for the last couple three months as the owner wanted all the wood either salvaged or cut up for firewood. lots of hand work here but.....thats the nature of the beast....just happy to be working all winter.
Thanks for the replies! We went the chainsaw with carbide demolition chain to cut open the house. We wanted to remove the roof and have the carpenters close it up as fast as possible, to limit the risk of moisture problems. We got the chains from the local Stihl dealer.
Did the local stihl dealer have the chain on hand? Were you able to buy just the loops you needed? Just curious as most dealers here don't even keep it on hand unless maybe they are situated in a more metro area where there is a higher demand for it. I think for the most part here I would need to buy at least a 50' roll or have someone like Bailey's make it up and ship it out by the loop.