I have an opportunity to demo this old house and garage. The problem with it is the garage is two story and the back side is about 6' away from a garage on the neighboring property. That does not include the roof overhangs. Any advise on how to get the garage down without dropping it on the neighbors garage? Yes, I carry insurance. I will have a 24 ton excavator with a hyd thumb on the site as well as a skid steer. My hope is to pull the wall in question into the center of the garage. Any advise will be greatly appreciated. Thanks, Tim
You got the right idea. I would first get that roof off.. Might have to shred it with the thumb.. Then work into that wall. I'd get the other 3 walls down as much as I could. Then track in the center and pull that last wall in.. I wouldn't pull very big chunks over at first until you get the feel of how structurally sound it is. If you grab too much at once it may buckle. Also you could pile the brick from the other walls and use the pile to sit on might give you a little more reach and control. GOOD LUCK!
Thanks for the reply Dirthawk, good thought about piling the brick to give me more reach. Right now my plan is to take down the house first so that will give me some rubble to pile up before tackling the garage. Tim
Is the brick veneer or is it structural masonry?
It is brick veneer. House and garage are wood frame structure.
Thought so. The only thing I would be worried about is the brick and how or if it's even tied to the sheathing with brick ties. If it were me, I'd take a sledge and bust a section of the brick out big enough to see how they installed the brick ties on that particular wall. Brick veneer can come off in big chunks if it's improperly installed and/or has substantial cracks. You'll be able to see how it was constructed by taking the other 3 walls down first but when a structure is that close to another, it never hurts to take a little more precaution. I second Dirthawks approach too, that's how I'd do it. Also if you can get in the attic of the garage it wouldn't hurt to see how the rafters are connected to the top plate and see if there are any hold downs or hurricane straps that might give you trouble.
This house and garage were probably built in the '50s. I don't even know if they used brick ties back then. Was there even such a thing as hurricane ties at that time. I thought hurricane ties were a relatively new innovation. Anyway, I can and will get in the attic to see how the rafters were tied to the walls. I suspect they were just nailed to the top plate. I will also knock out some brick so I can see how the bricks are tied to the walls. Thanks for the suggestions, Tim
The rafters are probably just nailed to the top plate but I like to check on a demo in such tight quarters. If it was by itself and no wall falling would damage anything, I'd just give it hell. However, you've got a demo in a tight spot. Demo can be like a box of chocolates sometimes, you never know what you're going to get. Yes I apologize for that one.:tong
Also ... Ask the neighbor to move his $$$ Collector car to an offsite garage of his choice on your dime. :bouncegri your insurance company will thank you.
I would put a few chainlink fence panels in between the garages to try to catch/slow down any stray bricks that go that way. And there will be stray bricks.