View from the Southeast or rear of the Structure. The wing extending to the rear & the portion of the building with the shed roof are additions to the original structure. The Ryder van is used for collection of materials. The roll-off for waste disposal is to the right. The sorting and denailing area is the clear space b/w the roll-off and Ryder truck.
The first stage of deconstruction is to dismantle finish carpentry, fixtures, and interior finishes. Non-load bearing walls are removed to allow for better aPCCEss and for scaffolding. The framing studs for a non-load bearing wall are in the foreground.
The shed roof addition structure is removed in order to begin removing the exterior finish materials. The exterior siding of the older portion of the structure is visible behind. As the interior wall finish is removed, this allows for aPCCEss to the window frames and the removal of the exterior windows.
The roof material is problematic due to its flexibility and unwieldy nature. The roof material is removed before the exterior wall siding.
The wood stud walls are removed by knocking them over to the outside. In new construction, stud walls are typically laid out and fabricated together before being raised and nailed into place. In some cases, the top plate is knocked off in order to free the individual studs. The walls are knocked down in sequence so as to leave lateral support for remaining walls.
Upon removal of the exterior wood frame walls, the flooring is removed from the floor structure. The typical floor structure and flooring fro older homes in North Florida is a raised wood structure on brick and CMU piers and one layer of T&G flooring. The T&G must be removed in the reverse order of installation in order to retain the tongue. “Cat’s claws” are the most effective tools for removing toe-nails.
The highest value material to be salvaged from the structure is the wood flooring. It is also the most inaPCCEssible, requiring the removal of the entire building structure to gain aPCCEss.
The building at 625 NW 4th St. is representative of typical demolition of older structure in that it had fire damage. Typically, homes slated for demolition have a combination of fire, termite and water damage that reduces the benefit /cost ratio of deconstruction. As illustrated, considerable wastes were generated, making the hand labor component particularly costly when removing damaged materials that will not be reused.
Upon removal of all wood flooring, the wood floor structure and brick piers are removed. Large dimensional timbers and bricks are high value items for resale. In the case of a small one-story structure with roof rafter and beam structure, such as 625 NW 4th St., the high value salvage items came form the sub-structural components. Unless a cost-efficient method is used to reach the highest value items, then allowing for a higher degree of care via hand labor, deconstruction is more difficult to justify economically. The second home to be deconstructed, 629 NW 4th St., is a similar structure located immediately adjacent to 625 NW 4th St. In this case the project team determined that a combination of hand and mechanical labor should be used in order to more effectively remove the materials that receive the highest resale value.
The Building Material Recovery Project sign outside the deconstruction site.
View from the Southwest of 625 NW 4th St. The collection & transportation van is to the right. Several of the trees at the front of the building have been subsequently removed for the construction of a new home.
