The Right Materials

3 Common Questions About House Demolition

23 January 2018 by Frank Lynch

Whether you are tearing down and starting again after living in a property for many years or are purchasing a house just for the land it is on, you are going to need professional demolition services. Unfortunately, this is never as glamorous as people imagine. Do not expect that you can engage a demolition service and they will show up a few hours later, ready to knock the house down! Demolition work, by its very nature, requires a huge amount of preparation work and planning in order to do the job well and ensure maximum safety both for those working on the site and those who are nearby. Your neighbors definitely will not thank you if you knock their house down in the process.

So, if you need to get rid of your house, for whatever reason, you are likely doing it for the first time. It is most likely that you will have several questions about the process, as understandably you have never needed to ask them before. For many people, a good contractor will be able to guide them through the process, but whether you are just curious about how it all works or want to make sure you are as informed as possible, here are three of the most common questions people have about house demolition.

What do you need to do before you can knock the house down?

It would be incredibly dangerous if the demolition crew just jumped straight in with the explosives. There is a lot of preparation work which needs to be done first. For example, all services to your house, including gas, for obvious reasons, need to be disconnected prior to any work starting. Any highly flammable or toxic materials in your home will also need to be removed—the most common example here is asbestos, which can take up to a week to remove. Finally, the area around the home needs to be cleared, with trees cut down and fencing put up around the site. 

How long does it take?

While the actual demolition of the house could take between a hour and a few days, depending on the size of the property, the real time comes from the preparation work beforehand. Much of the work to remove asbestos and trees will take several days, as it needs to be carried out by hand, and getting the required permissions from the local authority can also add to the time. Generally, from start to finish, most people are looking at a period of roughly two weeks.

How much does it cost?

There are so many variables that it can be difficult to start calculating how much it will cost to knock down your property. Key factors include whether you have materials such as asbestos or trees that need to be dealt with, the size of the property and the number of support vehicles and contractors you will need on site. 

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