Re: sad day in america, does anyone think the govt played a part???
[QUOTE]The phased approach to the work was closely coordinated and allowed abatement and demolition to be conducted simultaneously. Working down from the roof, the demolition crews removed all loose items from the floors including desks, cabinets, partitions, etc. Once a floor was completed, the abatement crew would then enter and perform abatement of all non friable asbestos containing materials (ACM). The demolition crew would then come back to remove all sheetrock and drop ceiling so that the abatement personnel could come back in to properly abate the friable asbestos materials (mostly pipe insulation). The wrecking personnel then came back to remove all remaining items and expose the building beams which had ACM waterproofing which then needed to be abated. Finally, once all ACM was properly abated, the demolition work crews went back to the top of the building to manually demolish each floor.
Demolition crews utilized various hand tools to accomplish the demolition as well as specialized demolition equipment which included skid steers with demolition hammer and bucket attachments and Brokk 90 hydraulic breakers. Material was removed from the building via elevator shaft and debris shoots on the outside of the building.
As per NYC rules, Mechanical demolition commenced once the structure had been hand demolished to under two stories in height. R. baker & Son utilized several large 100,000 + hydraulic excavators with demolition attachments (hammers, grapples, pulverizers) to demolish the remaining portions of the main building as well as the two smaller 1 story buildings. Dozers, skid steers and front end loaders were also utilized to facilitate the demolition, sorting and loading efforts.
Once the building was demolished to grade, the slabs and foundations of the subfloor of the main building was also demolished. Care had to be taken to not demolish the sidewalls as these concrete structures needed to remain to provide support for surrounding soils (nearby structures or sidewalks could have been undermined if the soils gave way). Once the slab and foundation were removed, geotextile was then installed with a layer of pea gravel. The remaining portion of the subfloor was backfilled and compacted with clean fill materials back to original grade.
The one UST and one AST were also demolished and removed from the site. The tanks were properly drained and cleaned prior to excavation or removal. The tanks were then cut up on site utilizing an excavator with shear attachment and then sent offsite for scrap metal recycling.
The project was completed in 12 months without incident or injury.
About R. Baker & Son All Industrial Services, Inc.
R. Baker & Son All Industrial Services is the premier specialized contractor for dismantlement, decommissioning and in the United States, Canada and Puerto Rico. The veteran owned company has been in business since 1935, has over 100 employees, an exemplary safety record (We have actively participated in 4 projects that received VPP OSHA safety awards) and is financially strong (bonding capabilities over $10 Million). Capabilities include total plant and facility dismantlement, decommissioning, demolition, plant relocations and re-installations as well as and machinery moving, millwright services and onsite concrete crushing.
We demolish infrastructures for many reasons. It may be to give way to a better building in terms of design and foundation, or to get rid of structures that block a beautiful view. Whatever practical reasons we have behind that decision to hire a demolition team, it is important that we know the demolition options that are available for us. Here in the area of Tampa Bay, there are five major ways of doing a demolition be it a residential or commercial one.
Manual demolition is typically used for small-scaled residential demolition. This is the type of demolition done for single to double story houses. But since people want residential demolition to be done in the soonest time frame possible, manual demolition is usually coupled with another type of demolition which is the mechanical one.
As its name suggests, mechanical demolition uses machines such as bulldozers, rams, excavators, and cranes to tear down structures. Aside from being used for residential demolition, this method is also applicable for larger commercial structures that do not exceed ten stories high. For commercial demolition of this sort, demolition teams normally make use of wrecking balls. These are the big metal balls we see in movies. These are swung by large cranes.
Another method used for residential or commercial demolition is the process called undermining. Undermining removes the foundational structures found near a building's base. This is a delicate procedure which is more commonly used for commercial rather than residential demolition primarily due to practical reasons. The general rule for demolishing buildings is to choose the simplest method appropriate to bring down the structures. Since mechanical and manual demolition is the more practical method in terms of money, machinery, and manpower for residential demolition, undermining is reserved for commercial demolition. Of course, exemptions are made if we are talking of huge mansions or ranch houses.
Another method used for large commercial structures is implosion. This commercial demolition method typically involves a bunch of controlled explosions within a building to cause its collapse from the inside. Explosive materials are tactically placed in areas which when targeted cause the building to weaken and thus cave in. However, due to the potentially high risk involved implosion is usually the last option to be accommodated by demolition teams in Tampa. But if done properly, the actual demolition takes place in just a matter of seconds. It is the careful planning and placing of explosions that takes most of the time. This method requires a great deal of experience and expertise on the part of the team doing the demolition job.
The last type of demolition available in Tampa is called deconstruction. This method is also sometimes referred to as green demolition by some contractors in Tampa because it involves saving as much materials as possible from the structure to be demolished so that it can be used elsewhere. Not only does this method lighten the load of landfills in Tampa and nearby areas due to the lessened amount of debris, the materials that are reused and recycled also lessens the amount of raw materials needed to construct another building.
The industry of commercial demolition takes the saying of "what goes up must come down" very literally. The demolition business involves the total or selective destruction of buildings and structures to make way for new construction or to clear the land for alternative uses. Building implosions are probably the most dramatic and publicized examples of commercial demolition but they represent just a small fraction of the demolition projects that take place around the world everyday. Bridges, factories, tunnels, stadiums, dams and smokestacks are some of the commercial structures that need the services of demolition companies so they can be removed when it is their time to go.
In addition to wrecking or tearing down a building or structure, commercial demolition firms can provide a variety of other services. For example, before a building is destroyed, hazardous material, such as asbestos, must be removed and safely disposed of in the best interest of public health. Also, many commercial buildings contain valuable materials, such as copper, steel or glass, which can be reused or recycled as part of the demolition process. In fact many states and countries have environmental laws and regulations surrounding the classification and disposal of construction debris. With the cost of and scarcity of space in landfills going up, recent years have seen increasing interest in finding creative ways to demolish commercial properties so their contribution to the waste stream can be minimized.
In order to accomplish these goals, today's demolition equipment involves much more than just a crane with a wrecking ball. A variety of are used depending on the demolition project requirements. Breakers, crushers, drills, buckets, grapples, shears, scabblers, and sorters are some of the tools you could find on a demolition project, especially those that involve the need for selective dismantling of a building. Each piece of equipment has its own unique role in demolition depending on the material, construction and conditions of the demolition job. For example, a grapple is a tool used in soft demolition that involves the removal of wood, plaster, and bricks, whereas a shear can handle the cutting of pipes, beams and wire. Once material is cut, crushed or dismantled, buckets and grabbers are used to separate, sort and segregate the debris so they can be selectively removed or recycled.
As one can imagine imploding a building or structure with explosives to demolish it may not be the first choice due to safety concerns especially in densely populated urban environments. Safety and environmental concerns coupled with the increasing interest in "green technologies" has driven demolition in the direction of what is called deconstruction. Deconstruction is a process of demolition that uses like those listed above for the purpose of selectively dismantling all or part of a structure.
Since even deconstructive demolition is not without safety risks for workers, the best of both worlds is found in remote controlled or robotic demolition equipment. Remote controlled demolition equipment allows operators to work at a safe distance from the site of demolition without sacrificing the surgical control needed as part of building deconstruction.
The time for demolition comes when the building has lived its age and further existence of that building could be harmful. Building demolition is not an easy process as it may look to the layman. Many appropriate tools, machines and ways have to be used for proper and safe demolition. There are two main types of building demolition, explosive demolitions and non-explosives one.
Implosion is the most common example of explosive demolition. Imploding a building with explosives basically involves the collapse of the structure inwards, down to its footprints. Implosion is one of the fastest ways of demolishing the building. The entire process from the point the explosives are triggered and the building collapses takes just few seconds. This technique is used to demolish large structures like, skyscrapers which are closely surrounded by other buildings and any other way may cause harm to those building. However implosion is also one of the most dangerous techniques of demolition. A slightest of an error and the result could be disastrous. Some demolitions have failed and have ended up heavily damaging the surrounding buildings, and sometimes human casualties. The reason is the debris, which flies in the air when the explosion takes place and it can cause heavy damage, if the implosion was improper. Moreover a greater danger is when the implosion takes place and the building doesn't completely collapse, the remaining structure is highly unstable and may contain some undetonated but still armed explosive, thus putting the life of the workers in danger
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