Completely Demolished.

OK, call it click bait. 🙂 The crew finished demolition on the house, which means they’ve stripped out everything so we can begin construction. If you’re just here for the pretty photos, click to jump to them.

I used Axel Demolition to do all of the work. They had a crew of 5 people working for about 19 days to complete the demolition. I met them initially when they were working on a house nearby. They were removing the brick front facade due to some bowing issues. What I noticed within a few minutes was that everyone was working quickly, but very carefully. A “normal” demo crew might start swinging big sledge hammers at the facade, but these guys were really “deconstructing” more than “demolishing”. I liked that level of care. That approach is more labor intensive, but in the long run, it’s more cost effective. They’re able to leave a very neat building for the trades that follow. The math is pretty simple- demolition crews are a lot less expensive per hour than carpenters or drywall crews. So, if I pay the demo crew to do a really good job, I’m saving money that I don’t have to pay the drywall crew later.

Why did I outsource demolition?

Demolition is one of those areas where you might choose to do the work yourself. As long as you’re cautious and don’t just go crazy with the sledge and the sawzall, it’s not terribly difficult. Tools are also minimal (sledges pry bars, hammers, sawzall, etc.) So why did I outsource?

Focus on higher priorities. While the crew was doing demo, I was free to work with my framers, interview plumbers, finalize the HVAC install details, and generally run the job. Gut rehabbing a 2800 sq ft house is a BIG job. If you’re the general contractor AND the labor, it’s going to stretch out a good bit.
Elapsed Time. If you do the math, 5 people for 18 days, that means it would have taken me several months to do this on my own. Doing your own demo might be OK for a small job, but as the size increases, you may need to at least bring in some beer and pizza for friends.
Dumpster charges. Our 40-yard dumpster was on site for 15 days. When you rent a dumpster, you get a set number of days to fill it. After that, you’re paying by the day. If I didn’t have a crew doing this, I would have spent far more on dumpster rental fees. (plus, Axel Demolition has a dump truck for the random odd trip to haul other things that aren’t in the dumpster.)
It’s a messy job. Mintwood was all lath and plaster walls. Plaster ranged from 1/2″ to 1″ thick. Multiply that out times the square footage of the plaster we removed and that’s a LOT of plaster and dirt. On the days they were pulling out plaster, they resembled coal miners. I don’t mind getting dirty, but there are some things that I’m OK with outsourcing.

So what did they do? They pulled the plaster and lath off the studs/ brick where I requested it. They also removed all of the old wiring- every bit of knob and tube (and BX and Romex), every switch, outlet, etc.- it’s all gone. They removed the old plumbing and demolished the bathroom, including the vent stacks (as those will be relocated). they pulled out every single fastener on the walls they cleaned- every nail, screw and staple is gone. Where we cut plaster, there’s a very neat cut line and they’ve considered how the sheetrock will join the existing wall. This is all important. If they left behind fasteners, then when the sheetrock goes up, the errant screw will punch through the sheetrock. Likewise, a rough edge would need to be cleaned up by the next crew before they can do their job. By doing a great job with this phase, it makes it so much easier for the trades that follow.