Knocking a house down with my JD 4310

[mscheer772]

I'm going to attempt knocking down a one story wood frame house on blocks. I then plan on burning the debris pile. Any suggetions on tools or equiopment I should use to make the job go smooth? Any other suggestions would help.

 

[Stef]

You should take some pics of that. It could be interesting . I'm sorry I have no advice to give you. I've never tried that... yet!

 

[MrJimi]

I'm going to attempt knocking down a one story wood frame house on blocks. I then plan on burning the debris pile. Any suggetions on tools or equiopment I should use to make the job go smooth? Any other suggestions would help.

I have a good suggestion!
Flat proof tires
Jim

 

[dholly]

Best tool might be the telephone. DIY demolition sounds like fun BUT, I'm guessing after all is said and done you'll wished you hadn't. Why not donate the structure to the volunteer FD (tax deduction) and let the guys practice some live drills? Be a shame to hurt your 4310 or burn down the good barn...

 

[RonMar]

Yep, burn first then cleanup. If you are rural(why would you have a tractor if you wern't your local volunteer FD might do it. The 2 departments I have been on did them. Good live training exercise. As for cleanup afterward, may I reccomend one of the long magnet bars hung by chains down near the ground in front of the front tires to get the nails before they find the tires.

 

[EddieWalker]

Are you doing it by hand or with a tractor?

By hand, be sure to start at the top and work your way down. Kind of the oposite of builidng it.

If your usuing a tractor, it really depends on what you have or can get. Tracks would be better over tires and a trackhoe would be the best choice possible. Especially if you had a thumb on it for clean up.

I took down an old barn with my backhoe once. It got a little scarey a few times, but mostly, it's all about planning ahead of time where you want the roof to fall and making sure your not in any danger. In my situation, I took out the corners first, then slowly worked my way around until it had colapsed all around the edges. Then I pulled out the debri and the rest of it fell in on itself.

The scary part was when I pulled one place and another place reacted. It's all connected, so what you do at one place can have an effect on another place.

Eddie

 

[Dex]

Due to EPA laws not all areas and states are allowed to burn structures for training any longer. They can train in them and destroy them up to the point of burning. Check with your local FD and they can get you the answers. If they can let them go for it. It takes the demo off you plate and allows your local the fire department real life training that some of thier members might not have been exposed to. Not to mention if you have any emergencies in the future they now know where you live!!

 

[goaliedad]

I agree- if they can use it let the FD have at it. Also, I think burning a pile is going to be alot harder than burning the structure standing. Whatever you decide- take lots of pic's, and be safe

 

[leeinmemphis]

I don't know if that is such a good idea. I did the same thing about six weeks ago. I took a trackhoe and d4 and knocked it down on itself and pushed it into a pile. Then I lit the fire(had fire permit) and the fire got so HOT that it had fence posts and a treeline about 75' or so behind it start to catch fire just from the heat of the blaze. I had to go and cut down a few trees to keep the woods from catching fire and managed to get second and third degree burns on my arm. In retrospect I would have definitely let a VFD burn it down or found someone with more experience. I literally had no idea the house would burn that hot/fast/big. You may want to reconsider.

this is a pic of how my arm looks 6 weeks after the fire:

I am still facing possible skin grafts and surgery. One big recommendation is that if you are going to burn it down then do have plenty of help there the day you burn it. For some reason all of my buddies disappear when there is serious work to be done and I did this by myself(very dumb act when looking back).

I have since taken down two old barns that were falling down and burned them but they weren't as big a project as the house was. Just make sure you are very very very careful. You definitely do not want to injuries/pain that I have had to live through the last six weeks. It has been some of the most painful experiences I have ever had and I have broken bones in the past. To me the burn was much much worse.

 

[mudcat]

ouch

 

[pilonidal]

Stay away from wooden strutures with nails. Quick story....while stationed at an Air Force Base there was this large wooden structure that the Civil Engineering guys took down with a couple of big end loaders. It probably took them 30 mins to demolish and make nice big wood, filled with nails, trash pile. The next day both end loaders are sitting there with every tire flat to the ground. To funny, these were regular construction/quarry end loaders with huge thick tires if you know what I mean. A ton of money was spent to replace those and I know someone's butt was in a sling and not about to get promoted anytime soon. ROFL

 

[Nissan197]

Let the VFD take care of. Is there any asbestos in the house? It would probably be illegal to burn that or tear it out without some kind of certification/permits. Even if the VFD will not burn, they will come out and get some practice in by venting the roof, etc...

 

[Tim_in_IA]

Just another option:

My Uncle tore his old farmhouse down when I was a kid with an M Farmall and a log chain. Ripped it apart piece by piece, drug those away, and burned.

Lots of flat tires over the years over there though . I'd recommend the Fire Department and a beer while you are watching

 

[dholly]

I'd recommend the Fire Department and a beer while you are watching

Tim, I knew I was forgetting something! And, yeouch!, that is some sobering pic and wise words from Lee too - it sure doesn't take long for a fire to get totally out of control. I just cringe when I see guys standing over their huge burn pile with a 300' long 3/8" garden hose hooked to a 5gpm well in the dry season...

 

[KYErik]

I just cringe when I see guys standing over their huge burn pile with a 300' long 3/8" garden hose hooked to a 5gpm well in the dry season...

I agree on the fire risk. I tore down an old house 3 years ago (mostly by hand so I didn't have any flat tires) and burned the remains. I sold the trusses and some interior doors and studs for about $400. That was more than enough to cover the expense of the trackhoe coming out to bury the ash/nails and what was left of the foundation. You can't even tell anything was ever there now.

If you are going to light a fire that big, wait on the weather to help you out. If there are no other structures within 300-400 feet, wait until you see a large continous area of moderate/heavy rain headed your way (without wind) on the radar. When the leading edge of the rain hits you, light it up! In the 5 minutes that it will take the fire to really get going, everything more than 50 feet from the blaze will be wet enough to be protected (if the rain continues and there is no wind). You will be amazed at how fast it will burn- if the wood was good and dry when the rain/fire started, we're talking 2 hours and the fire will be down to waist/knee high.

 

[sandman2234]

Lee,
You have my prayers. I had a skin graft as a kid and the scar will be with me to my grave. Fortunately it is in a area covered by jeans. (left leg near kneecap) There has been massive improvements in the area of burns and skin grafts(thank you Shriners!!) since mine was done by the U.S. Navy Hospital over in Pensacola, Fl. Mine is about the same size as yours, or a little bigger.
David from jax

 

[leeinmemphis]

Lee,
You have my prayers. I had a skin graft as a kid and the scar will be with me to my grave. Fortunately it is in a area covered by jeans. (left leg near kneecap) There has been massive improvements in the area of burns and skin grafts(thank you Shriners!!) since mine was done by the U.S. Navy Hospital over in Pensacola, Fl. Mine is about the same size as yours, or a little bigger.
David from jax

Thanks alot. I am hoping that I won't have to do the skin grafts. The doctor told me early this week that I will likely be able to get by without it. I just thought that I should post my experience just to help some people realize no matter how prepared you are that it can get out of control. I had a trackhoe, dozer, tractor, fire extinguishers, chainsaws, etc but I was by myself and that's where I really screwed up. I definitely needed more help. I should have had 2-3 more people there to help me and at that point I may have been able to avoid getting hurt.

 

[toy]

Lee hope your burn heals ok and thanks for sharing your expeirence. Last summer my fatherinlaws neighbor hired about four men to tear down an old house about 60 foot from his house. He had a suspicion that they were going to knock it down and burn it in place so he went out and told them not to burn it that close to his house and they told him that they had done that hundreds of times and they wasn't no danger and my fatherinlaw got stern with them not to set the house on fire and they assured him that they wouldn't so he went in the house to eat lunch . About 15 minutes later another neighbour called him and asked him if they was alright and he told the neighbor yea and asked why andthe neighbour said that it looked like the end of his house was on fire. My fatherinlaw went out and sure enough they had set the old house on fire and it had caught his house on fire. He ran back in the house got his wife out and called the fire department and went out and started spraying his house down until the firedepartment got there. The fire department managed to save his house but it still had a lot of damage. My fatherinlaw is 86 years old but when that 30 year old that he had talked to before tried to make him an excuse for how it happenend my fatherinlaw convinced him to set down and shut up and explained to him that he was a liar. When he did that it tickled me that is the hottest I had seen my fatherinlaw. Needless to say always be careful when doing a big burn, and consider others which I beleive all of you fine folks would do any way.

 

[mscheer772]

The house and four outbuildings are down, burned, and buried.
I hired an excavator and the house and outbuildings were down and in the hole within 2 hours.
Thanks,

Mike-