GOAL 2

DEMOLITION 1
 Identify the
different
techniques used
in building
demolition
focusing on
processes, safety
precautions and
salvage values.

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 REASONS OF DEMOLITION
1. STRUCTURAL FAILURE

a. Failure of a structural member, due to age or degradation,

leading to instability.
b. Overstressing of members, due to overload or misuse.
c. Instability due to the removal or damage by external forces of
support members.
d. As a result from fire.
2. PROGRESS OF SOCIETY
a. Change of use of building, requiring adaptation.
b. Compliance with new legislation (e.g. on fire exits).
c. Social unacceptability (e.g. high-rise flats).
d. To make way for new schemes (e.g. redevelopment or new
roads).

3. ECONOMIC CONSIDERATIONS

a. The building has outlived its useful life.

b. The building would cost to much to repair.
c. Uneconomic land use.
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 DEMOLITION PLANNING
• Determine the
nature of the task.
• Plan activities to
comply with the law.
• What is the best and
most economically
method.
• Company with
experience.
• Insurance
• Right supervision.

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 SURVEY
• Survey property and
adjoining buildings.
• Survey will help
choose a demolition
method.
• Record structural
condition of adjoining
buildings.
• Services cut off, check
for dangerous
substances.
• Inform authorities.
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 CHOICE OF METHOD OF DEMOLITION

• Type of structure:
high-rise, low rise?

• Type of construction:
steel, clay, concrete or
timber?

• Location of site:
near other buildings, out
on its own? (distance to
boundary >twice height of
building)
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 METHODS OF DEMOLITION

• Hand demolition
• Mechanical
demolition
• Deliberate
demolition
• Demolition ball
• Rope pulling
• Explosives

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 HAND DEMOLITION

• Reverse order to
construction.
• Hand held tools.
• Rubbish chute used.
• Material into skips.
• Some material may be
for scrap or reused.
• Slow process but safe
and less dust and noise.
• Lots of men.
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 MECHANICAL DEMOLITION
• Use of larger
machines and
cutting equipment.
• Quicker process.
• Cutting tools,
crushing tools and
breakers used.
• Machines outside
structure safer.

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 DELIBERATE COLLAPSE
• Removal of key
supports to
collapse building.
• Must be done by
experienced
people.
• Causes dust and
vibration.
• Use of ropes,
explosives or gas
or hydraulic
busters. 10
 DEMOLITION BALL
• Weight swung or
dropped from
crane.
• Causes lots of dust
and vibrations.
• Needs lots of room
and experience.
• Dangerous method
for workers, must
leave building.

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 ROPE PULLING
• Use of wire rope to
pull out sections of
the building.
• Care must be taken
to be far enough
away from the
building.
• Machine with
winch or tracked
vehicle used to pull
members.
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 EXPLOSIVES
• Most dramatic and
dangerous process
used.
• Needs experience and
expertise.
• Control by authorities.
• Progressive collapse
of building.
• Lots of vibration and
dust and flying debris.
• May need debris nets.

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 BURSTING

• Use of expanding gas,

hydraulics or
explosives placed in
cavities in the support
members.
• Need experience.
• Slow process.

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 THERMAL METHODS

• Use of heat to weaken

the structural
member.
• Thermal lance for
cutting supports.
• Thermal reaction to
heat members enough
to weaken them and
then pull them down.
• Risk or fire. Gas used.

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 DEMOLITION SAFETY

• Safety of men on site.

• Protective equipment
and training.
• Dust, noise and
fumes.
• Public safety.
• Falling debris and
dust.
• Safety of buildings
next to demolition.

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 CONTROLLED DEMOLITION
The specialty of the group is
controlled blasting in populated
areas, where the avoidance of
vibrating of debris on damage to
nearby structures and the
scattering of debris is of paramount
importance. Through its numerous
projects, which have included
multi-storey buildings, minerals,
water towers and heavy
foundations, the group has justly
earned its reputation for providing
a professional onshore and offshore
controlled demolition service,
where safety is never compromised
and the result never in doubt.

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 MECHANICAL DEMOLITION_

Where conditions allow,

conventional breaking is also
undertaken and a variety of
hydraulic hammers fixed to
tracked or wheeled plant are
available. In areas hazardous
to the operator, The Group also
owns a remote controlled unit
capable of breaking any
concrete and operating in
confined areas.

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HOW TO DEMOLISH DIFFERENT PARTS
OF A BUILDING AND TYPES OF
BUILDING STRUCTURES
1. PITCHED ROOFS

Normally these are tackled first

and are taken down by hand. The
roof covering is stripped; the
rafters, struts and hangers taken
out and then, when the outward
thrust of the rafters has been
removed, the ceiling joists or tie
beams are cut out. It may be
advisable to leave a few tie-
beams in place to stabilize the
tops of the walls.

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2. BRICK WALLS

If the bricks are to be cleaned for re-use, the wall will be taken
down by hand and the personnel usually work from a scaffolding
platform. The scaffold should be the independent tied form and
can be progressively dismantled as demolition proceeds,
providing the stability of the scaffold is not impaired.
When the bricks are not required for use again the wall may be
pushed down with a pusher arm, knocked down by a ball or
pulled down with a wire rope. A wall should never be
demolished by standing on top of it and belabouring it with
sledgehammer!

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3. STEEL FRAME STRUCTURES

First the internal partitions are taken out. Then the roof, floors
and cladding are removed, generally using hand methods.
If the floors or any of the cladding panels or internal partitions
provide the frame with lateral restraint, temporary bracing
should be fixed as necessary.
Once the frame has been exposed it is dismantled by either
unbolting or cutting the members, usually working in reverse
order to the erection procedure and always in a sequence
which ensures that the remaining structure is stable.

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4. IN-SITU REINFORCED CONCRETE STRUCTURES

All finishes, fittings, doors, windows, etc. are stripped out to

leave the concrete frame and panels exposed. The lines of
reinforcement should be traced, using suitable equipment and,
at key selected points, the concrete broken away to expose the
steel. This is then cut in a predetermined order to allow the
beams, panels and stanchions to be released and lowered to
the ground to be broken up.

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5. PRE-CAST REINFORCES CONCRETE STRUCTURES

Where the joints between members have been made by bolting

cast-in steel plates together, demolition can follow the same
principles as a steel structure. If the joints are made by casting
concrete in-situ the infilling concrete has to be broken away
and the reinforcement cut.
The stability of the structure must be carefully checked. In
some designs it arises through the stiffness in the joints but in
others reliance is made on infilling panels or floors which, if
removed, could leave a wobbly frame.

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5. PRESTRESSED CONCRETE STRUCTURES

This is the most difficult building form to demolish. An incorrect

action or misjudgment and a violent disintegration may occur in
the beams or columns or reinforcing steel wire tendons can be
shot out of the end of a beam like lethal javelins propelled by a
force of several tones!

There are two prestressing methods: pretensioning, where the

tensile force is applied to the individual members of the
structures as they are manufactured and post-tensioning, in
which the steel is stressed after the structure has been
assembled.

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PRE-TENSIONED members are the simpler to deal
with since they often are similar to pre-cast
reinforced concrete members and, if they can be
released at their fixing points they can be lifted out
without disturbing the prestressed steel tendons.
As with prestressed concrete member, the released
beams and stanchions must be handled in the
attitude they occupy in the building. Beams must not
be turned over or lowered on end, columns must not
be laid flat before lifting. To do so adds the mass of
the concrete to the prestress forces and the member
will shatter.

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POST-TENSIONED_ structures are very difficult to
demolish and the advice of Engineer, expert in this
form of construction, must be sought and closely
followed. It is essential that no indiscriminate
attempt is made to expose and de-stress the
tendons. Post-tensioned structures are composed of
pre-cast, often un-reinforced, concrete units which
are assembled end to end and wire reinforcing
tendons are threaded through prepared ducts in the
concrete.
When a tensile force is applied to the steel wires the
concrete units are pressed solidly together and act
as a structural unit.

In some systems the tensioning is carried out once

and the members is finished.
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In other, more complex structures, prestressing is
applied progressively, in stages, as the load is
brougth onto the frame and can counterbalance the
tendency for the prestress to force the unladen beam
upwards.

Clearly, where this has been done, ill advised

removal of the building loads – even before the
problem of de-stressing the structure has been
tackled – can lead to sudden and catastrophic
disintegration of the concrete frame.

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The following are some of the criteria which can be
used to determine whether the structure has been
prestressed. It should be noted, however, that not all
prestressed members meet all criteria:

a. Built after 1945;

b. Span/depth ratio greater than for normal reinforced
concrete.
c. An upward camber, sometimes of differing degrees, between
adjacent units, giving an uneven soffite;
d. T,U or I section members rather than a simple rectangle,
e. Visible joints in the length of the members (post-tensioned)
f. Concrete strength in excess of 49 Mpa.
g. Cut off ends of reinforcing wires or post-tensioning anchor
plates visible at the beam ends (these mat be concealed by
a coat of bitumen or similar protection).
h. A higher degree of resilience than is usual with normal
concrete work.

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