Demolition of buildings

Necessity of demolition

When the building is too old and cannot be put to further use
Structural changes
Development of the city
Structural failure of the building
Expansions

Safety Aspects
Causes of Accidents
Falls of persons on site
Falling materials
Unintentional collapse
Lifting operations
Electric shocks
Fire

Safety Aspects
Precautions during demolitions
People involved in the demolition work may not know the structural
part of the building, so guidance in this aspect must be competent
and continuous.
Plans of the structure must be checked before demolition.
First step is to ensure all the existing services like electricity have
been disconnected.
Windows and door opennings must be boared up.
Internal entrances to lift shafts etc must be barricaded.
Balconies and cantilevers must be taken down first.
Stair must be kept free from debris.
Must not stand on the brickwork which is being demolished.

Sequence of demolition
1. First task in the site is that the services to the buildings have been
disconnected.
2. Demolition happens in the reverse order of construction.
3. The preliminary stripping out process such as roof coverings, fittings
pipework and generally all non structural part of the building.
4. All rubble and debris must be lowered to ground constantly.

Methods of types of demolition

Demolition by hand

Pulling down by rope

Mechanical demolition - Demolition ball and Pusher

arm machinery

Deliberate collapse

Explosives

Methods used in demolition of various types of

buildings
Bricks and masonry buildings
Mortar breaks away very easily from the bricks, where bricks often
remain in one piece and thus are easily salvaged.
Demolition by reverse order of construction.
Building must be demolished by hand to wall plate level.
Careful removal of members in tension must be done.
After careful demolition the site should be 'back bladed' to ensure
there are no pieces of bricks or concrete is left on the site.

Methods used in demolition of various types of

buildings
Masonry and brick arches
Care should be taken as there is a serious possibility of structural
failure.
Single span arches can be demolished by hand by carefully taking
narrow strips, say 230mm wide, from the side parallel to the line of
the edge of the bridge until only a norrow portion remains which can
be easily be collapsed.
Other method is
Spandrel infilling is removed down to the springing line
The arch rings are lifted out and removed
the abutments are demolished.

Methods used in demolition of various types of

buildings
Steel frames and components

Dismantling of roof trusses is done by the following procedure,

The structure must be carefully braced temporarily.
The roof claddings must be removed and lowered to ground.
The truss must be supported by a suitable crane or roped up.
If the span is more then the lifting might cause compressive load
on the member therefore the member must be braced with heavy
timber girders splinted along the component.
The truss must be lowered to the ground and dismantled.

Methods used in demolition of various types of

buildings
Bridges and gantries of steel construction

The first stage of demolition for all the bridges is to remove the dead
load of road metalling or railing tracks and ballast.
Cutting points must be carefully chosen so that the ends cannot
slide off the abutments.
If crane lifting method is adapted then the entire structure can be
lifted out to flat ground and then cut down to smaller parts.

Methods used in demolition of various types of

buildings
Reiforced Cast In-Situ Structures

It is the most expensive sector of the demolition industry as the

amount of salvageable materials is very low.
Knowing the details of placement of reinforcements in the
component through drawings is key step.
Structural stability must be checked.

Methods used in demolition of various types of

buildings
Suspended Reinforced concrete slabs

Reinforced concrete slabs should be demolished by cutting with

compressor guns, hydraulic busters and oxy-acetylene equipment,
parallel to the line of main reinforcement, thus reducing the slab to
small sections.
When possible the cutting work must be carried out from an
independant platform.
Strip cut away should be no more than 300mm wide at one time.

Methods used in demolition of various types of

buildings
Reinforced Concrete Beam

All loads must be removed before demolishing the beams.

Suppoting rope must be fixed for each beam.
next the reinforcement must be cut at one end and that end lowered to the
ground followed by the cutting the other end.

Reinforced concrete columns

After removing all the superimposed load, two wire ropes must be fixed onto
the top of the column to provide support.
Then the reinforcing bar can be exposed near the base of the column using
compressor guns .
These must be cut in the opposite side of the column from the rope which
has been selected for pulling.
Then the column is pulled over.

Methods used in demolition of various types of

buildings
Reinforced Concrete walls
Can be best dealt with by cutting them into manageable sections
and then treating these as a series of columns.
Structure made of post-tensioned units
In fact when the load is removed by demolition, the beams can fail in
an upward direction due to the forces inherent in the highly
tensioned tendon.
The following three methods have been postulated.
Reach the tendons and hols them, then cut through the
concretre to formsmall sections and gradually allow the tendons
to take up a shorter path.
Apply heat so that the tendons weaken and expand. This allows
the concrete to be broken up progressively.
In some places the tendons are held up in ducts created by
spaces between the top and bottom flanges and the tendons
form a cured outline. In such cases we can break the ducts and
gradually allow the tendons to rise and take a shorter path, thus
relieving the tensile stress.