Servicing all of NC and SC on 4 Seasons Demolition. Contacting multiple demolition companies can ensure you find one that suits your needs, whether it be a straight demolition or a barn dismantling project aimed at reclaiming old barn wood. Here are some contractors who offer barn salvaging services in the U.S.: Over the Horizon LLC of Covington, LA; Taylor Environmental Group of Indianapolis, IN.

Demolition workers tear down and remove unsound structures and building elements, clean up jobsite debris, and make jobsites safe and ready for new construction work. Construction crews and building companies hire demolition workers for full-time and part-time work during all shifts, including weekends. Demolition workers perform their job duties within a collaborative work environment that can be dangerous, even life-threatening, as jobsites may feature unsound structures and explosives. Demolition workers travel to jobsites to perform demolition work and report primarily to the site foreman.

Demolition Worker Duties and Responsibilities

Demolition workers perform varied daily job duties depending on the demolition work that needs to be done, the size of the construction crew they work with, and the machinery and tools available to them. These core job tasks, however, are essentially the same everywhere:

Perform Demolition of Jobsites

Demolition workers use tools and manual labor to remove unsound structures, mold-damaged carpeting and flooring, and other building materials that cannot be restored or repaired. This includes breaking up concrete, removing roofs, and tearing down walls.

Clean Up Jobsites

Demolition workers clean up and remove all hazardous materials and debris from jobsites.

Control Traffic

Demolition workers control traffic by placing traffic control signs and physically directing cars away from jobsites and debris areas.

Assist Heavy Equipment Operators

Demolition workers provide assistance to heavy equipment operators, helping them place attachments on and move equipment. This also includes signaling heavy equipment operators to help them position vehicles and machinery.

Operate Equipment

Demolition workers operate pumps to remove water, run generators to provide electricity, and use other equipment to facilitate demolition work.

Load and Unload Materials

Demolition workers unload tools and equipment from trucks and load trash into vehicles and dumpsters to be hauled away.

Clean Tools and Equipment

Demolition workers clean all tools and equipment used at jobsites. This includes performing general maintenance on tools and equipment, such as replacing broken parts and refueling gas-powered vehicles.

Maintain All Safety Standards

Demolition workers maintain personal and workplace safety at all times by wearing proper protective equipment and adhering to all safety protocols. Some demolition jobs require the use of explosives, which means safety must be paramount at all times and all protocols must be followed to the letter.

Demolition Worker Skills and Qualifications

Demolition workers are manual laborers with excellent attention to detail who observe all safety protocols when tearing down structures, removing debris, and destroying unsafe and badly damaged building elements. Companies that hire demolition workers look for professionals who have the following necessary skills:

• Physical fitness – demolition workers haul heavy material and equipment and stand for long periods at a time, which requires physical strength and endurance
• Mechanical aptitude – demolition workers use mechanical skills to operate various tools and equipment
• Communication skills – because demolition workers function as part of a collaborative environment and work closely with other construction team members, good communication skills are essential to this job
• Attention to detail – strong attention to detail is a must-have for demolition workers, who must observe safety protocols at all times and remove debris from jobsites
• Multitasking – demolition workers operate tools and equipment while remaining alert and maintaining communication with other crew members, which requires a talent for multitasking

Tools of the Trade

Demolition workers regularly use the following tools and equipment:

• Hand tools (hammers, saws, shovels, sledgehammers)
• Power tools (drills, electric saws)
• Protective gear (face masks, gloves, boots)

Demolition Worker Education and Training

Many employers require a high school diploma or GED from potential demolition workers. Some companies may additionally require candidates to have past work experience in demolition or construction. A valid driver’s license is a typical requirement for demolition workers, who frequently travel to and from jobsites to perform their duties.

Because this is an entry-level job, no specialized training or education is typically required. Companies provide on-the-job training to new demolition workers. While in training, demolition workers work closely with an experienced demolition crew member or foreman. The length of the training period varies by company and may last for several weeks or months.

Demolition Worker Salary and Outlook

Construction laborers and helpers earn a median income of $16.08 hourly, or $33,450 annually, according to data provided by the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS). PayScale data shows that demolition workers earn a median income of $14.62 hourly. The BLS expects employment in this field to rise at a faster-than-average rate of 12 percent through 2026.

Full-time demolition workers receive benefits that typically include health, life, and worker’s compensation insurance. Paid vacation leave is also standard for full-time employees. Part-time workers generally do not receive benefits of any sort.

Helpful Resources

Use these books and websites to learn job strategies, find career resources, and discover tips and techniques for success as a demolition worker:

National Demolition Association – visit this website to find job opportunities, read news updates, browse the events calendar, and discover education opportunities for demolition workers

Construction Worker RED-HOT Career Guide – this book provides interview questions and great potential answers to make it easier to land any job as a construction worker

Demolition Forum – find numerous articles, news updates, and resources at this website for all demolition workers

Demolition: Practices, Technology, and Management – explore all the technical issues that demolition workers face, learn more about different types of demolition, read up on common demolition equipment, and find tips for safely handling demolition debris in this book written specifically for demolition workers

Construction Management Association of America – find education and training programs, certification courses, articles, and other professional resources for all workers in the construction industry at this website

Demolition – easy-to-read text and photographs offer in-depth information about demolition in this book, which highlights the tools and equipment needed to carry out demolition work

Demolition Worker Resume Help

Explore these related job titles from our database of hundreds of thousands of expert-approved resume samples:

Demolition, or razing, is the science and engineering in safely and efficiently tearing down of buildings and other artificial structures. Demolition contrasts with deconstruction, which involves taking a building apart while carefully preserving valuable elements for reuse purposes.

For small buildings, such as houses, that are only two or three stories high, demolition is a rather simple process. The building is pulled down either manually or mechanically using large hydraulic equipment: elevated work platforms, cranes, excavators or bulldozers. Larger buildings may require the use of a wrecking ball, a heavy weight on a cable that is swung by a crane into the side of the buildings. Wrecking balls are especially effective against masonry, but are less easily controlled and often less efficient than other methods. Newer methods may use rotational hydraulic shears and silenced rock-breakers attached to excavators to cut or break through wood, steel, and concrete. The use of shears is especially common when flame cutting would be dangerous.

The tallest planned demolition of a building was the 47-story Singer Building in New York City, which was built in 1908 and torn down in 1967–1968 to be replaced by One Liberty Plaza. The even taller 270 Park Avenue is now in the process of demolition.^[1]

Manual[edit]

Before any demolition activities can take place, there are many steps that must be carried out beforehand, including performing asbestos abatement, removing hazardous or regulated materials, obtaining necessary permits, submitting necessary notifications, disconnecting utilities, rodent baiting and the development of site-specific safety and work plans.

The typical razing of a building is accomplished as follows:

• Hydraulic excavators may be used to topple one- or two-story buildings by an undermining process. The strategy is to undermine the building while controlling the manner and direction in which it falls.
• The demolition project manager/supervisor will determine where undermining is necessary so that a building is pulled in the desired manner and direction.
• The walls are typically undermined at a building's base, but this is not always the case if the building design dictates otherwise. Safety and cleanup considerations are also taken into account in determining how the building is undermined and ultimately demolished.

In some cases a crane with a wrecking ball is used to demolish the structure down to a certain manageable height. At that point undermining takes place as described above. However crane mounted demolition balls are rarely used within demolition due to the uncontrollable nature of the swinging ball and the safety implications associated.

High reach demolition excavators are more often used for tall buildings where explosive demolition is not appropriate or possible. Excavators with shear attachments are typically used to dismantle steel structural elements. Hydraulic hammers are often used for concrete structures and concrete processing attachments are used to crush concrete to a manageable size, and to remove reinforcing steel. For tall concrete buildings, where neither explosive nor high reach demolition with an excavator is safe or practical, the 'inside-out' method is used, whereby remotely operated mini-excavators demolish the building from the inside, whilst maintaining the outer walls of the building as a scaffolding, as each floor is demolished.

To control dust, fire hoses are used to maintain a wet demolition. Hoses may be held by workers, secured in fixed location, or attached to lifts to gain elevation.

Loaders or bulldozers may also be used to demolish a building. They are typically equipped with 'rakes' (thick pieces of steel that could be an I-beam or tube) that are used to ram building walls. Skid loaders and loaders will also be used to take materials out and sort steel.

The technique of Vérinage is used in France to weaken and buckle the supports of central floors promoting the collapse of the top part of a building onto the bottom resulting in a rapid, symmetrical, collapse.^[2]

The Japanese company Kajima Construction has developed a new method of demolishing buildings which involves using computer-controlled hydraulic jacks to support the bottom floor as the supporting columns are removed. The floor is lowered and this process is repeated for each floor. This technique is safer and more environmentally friendly, and is useful in areas of high population density.^[3]

To demolish bridges, hoe rams are typically used to remove the concrete road deck and piers, while hydraulic shears are used to remove the bridge's structural steel.

Fred Dibnah used a manual method of demolition to remove industrial chimneys in Great Britain. He cut an ingress at the base of the chimney—supporting the brickwork with wooden props—and then burning away the props so that the chimney fell, using no explosives and usually hand-operated power tools.^[4]

Building implosion[edit]

Large buildings, tall chimneys, smokestacks, bridges, and increasingly some smaller structures may be destroyed by building implosion using explosives. Imploding a structure is very fast—the collapse itself only takes seconds—and an expert can ensure that the structure falls into its own footprint, so as not to damage neighboring structures. This is essential for tall structures in dense urban areas.

Any error can be disastrous, however, and some demolitions have failed, severely damaging neighboring structures. One significant danger is from flying debris, which, when improperly prepared for, can kill onlookers.

Another dangerous scenario is the partial failure of an attempted implosion. When a building fails to collapse completely the structure may be unstable, tilting at a dangerous angle, and filled with un-detonated but still primed explosives, making it difficult for workers to approach safely.

A third danger comes from air overpressure that occurs during the implosion. If the sky is clear, the shock wave, a wave of energy and sound, travels upwards and disperses, but if cloud coverage is low, the shock wave can travel outwards, breaking windows or causing other damage to surrounding buildings.^[5]

Stephanie Kegley of CST Environmental described shock waves by saying, 'The shock wave is like a water hose. If you put your hand in front of the water as it comes out, it fans to all sides. When cloud coverage is below 1,200 feet, it reacts like the hand in front of the hose. The wave from the shock fans out instead of up toward the sky.'^[6]

Controlled implosion, being spectacular, is the method that the general public often thinks of when discussing demolition; however, it can be dangerous and is only used as a last resort when other methods are impractical or too costly. The destruction of large buildings has become increasingly common as the massive housing projects of the 1960s and 1970s are being leveled around the world. At 439 feet (134 m) and 2,200,000 square feet (200,000 m²), the J. L. Hudson Department Store and Addition is the tallest steel framed building and largest single structure ever imploded.^[7]

Preparation[edit]

It takes several weeks or months to prepare a building for implosion. All items of value, such as copper wiring, are stripped from a building. Some materials must be removed, such as glass that can form deadly projectiles, and insulation that can scatter over a wide area. Non-load bearing partitions and drywall are removed.^[8] Selected columns on floors where explosives will be set are drilled and high explosives such as nitroglycerin, TNT, RDX, or C4 are placed in the holes. Smaller columns and walls are wrapped in detonating cord. The goal is to use as little explosive as possible so that the structure will fail in a progressive collapse, and therefore only a few floors are rigged with explosives, so that it is safer due to fewer explosives, and costs less. The areas with explosives are covered in thick geotextile fabric and fencing to absorb flying debris.^[8] Far more time-consuming than the demolition itself is the clean-up of the site, as the debris is loaded into trucks and hauled away.

Deconstruction[edit]

An alternative approach to demolition is the deconstruction of a building with the goal of minimizing the amount of materials going to landfills. This 'green' approach is applied by removing the materials by type material and segregating them for reuse or recycling. With proper planning this approach has resulted in landfill diversion rates that exceed 90% of an entire building and its contents in some cases. It also vastly reduces the CO₂ emissions of the removing of a building in comparison to demolition.^[9]

The development of plant and equipment has allowed for the easier segregation of demolition waste types on site and the reuse within the construction of the replacement building. On site crushers allow the demolished concrete to be reused as type 1 crushed aggregate either as a piling mat for ground stabilization or as aggregate in the mixing of concrete.

Timber waste can be shredded using specialist timber shredders and composted, or used to form manufactured timber boards, such as MDF or chipboard.

Safety is paramount; a site safety officer is usually assigned to each project to enforce all safety rules and regulations.

See also[edit]

• Excavator Ram guard (Protection of excavators used for demolition)
• House demolition (military tactic)
• National Federation of Demolition Contractors (UK)

References[edit]

1. ^[1]
2. ^'HD_20h_20070822_chunk_2 - Vidéo Dailymotion'. Dailymotion.com. 23 August 2007. Retrieved 6 May 2012.
3. ^'Kajima Demolition Tech'. Popular Science. December 2008. Retrieved 18 November 2008.
4. ^Hall, David (2006). Fred. Bantam Press. pp. 66–68. ISBN0-593-05664-7.
5. ^Cultice, Curtice (1997). 'Blasting a path to world markets'. BNET Business Network. Retrieved 19 May 2008.
6. ^Bohart, Maura (26 September 2007). 'Demolition Eliminates Final Remnant of Charlotte Hornets'. Construction Equipment Guide. Retrieved 19 May 2008.
7. ^'J.L. Hudson Department Store'. Controlled Demolition, Inc.
8. ^ ^abWGBH Boston (December 1996). 'Interview with Stacey Loizeaux'. NOVA Online. Public Broadcasting Service. Retrieved 29 April 2009. She learned the fine art of demolition from her father, Mark Loizeaux, and her uncle, Doug Loizeaux—president and vice-president of the company. NOVA spoke with Ms. Loizeaux a few days before Christmas, 1996.
9. ^'Taisei Corporation's Tecorep reducing CO₂ emissions by 85%'. Archived from the original on 15 April 2016. Retrieved 26 August 2017.

External links[edit]

Media related to Demolitions at Wikimedia Commons