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Thursday, October 23, 2014

Demolition Day...

When the block next door was being redeveloped last year, the demolition took place while DH and I were away in NZ. But before I left, I gave my neighbour Judy, a small camera and the instructions to take photos on the demolition day...which she duly did :-).
It looked as though the demolition of the 2 houses across the road would also take place while DH and I had our recent overnight stay on the Gold Coast. But as things turned out, because we weren't leaving until late morning that day, I was able to document quite a bit of the demolition process of one of the houses.
The equipment arrived the afternoon before...

And was parked in the yard ready to get to work demolishing, first thing next morning...
The owner of the 2 properties, also owns the house next door which is tenanted. I wonder what those tenants thought when they looked out the window at 7.30 am???? arrrggh! lol
The attachment to the machinery was like a curved bird beak...it took off the guttering first...
Then the tiles were peeled off a section...this guy was really deft with handling his machine...


The tiles in the front part of the house are ripped off and the fascia boards are taken off...
Then that 'beak' starts working on the front wall...a lever action soon moves the wall...and it crashes to the ground!

The workers seen in the previous photos moved in when that front wall was felled and moved the wall to one side and they carefully took it apart. Other houses around here that have been demolished, have literally been smashed into little pieces and then the rubble is taken away in several truckloads to be dumped. At this site, the timber, windows and doors were all carefully stacked and obviously were taken away for resale/reuse. Only the roof tiles and the concrete and brick patio of the house on the left were smashed and taken away to be dumped.

The timber all stack neatly in contraptions that looked like upturned metal tables...
 The windows and doors stacked outside the second house...


 Now the machine and its operator turn their attention to the side wall...

 Going...
 Going...

Gone!


I then left them to the demolition while I did small bit of  the packing for our night away...just before we left for the coast, I took some more photos...



And then when we came back in the afternoon of the next day, another photo or two...
So both houses have gone by then; just the front patio of the house on the left...


Next day the machine worked on that patio...

And the truck was ready to take the rubble...

And then the truck driver operated the cover for the load...


And then the driver headed off to where the load was being dumped...


And that was the end of that!

8 comments:

Anonymous said...

Maria I can only imagine the dust after that!

I mention it because they have been doing renovations on the old wooden cottage next to my home and we've had asbestos removed, and now they have to deal with removing old lead paint.

Thank you for the pics. Interesting.

Susan said...

At least some bits were saved...such a waste if materials when they trash it all.

margaret said...

why on earth did they demolish the houses, hope they are not going to build flats opposite you or something equally ghastly. As the above said there must have been lots of dust flying about, trust you had your windows and doors closed!

Dorothy said...

I think its really sad to see a home demolished. After all, it was somebody's pride and joy at one time. Will we be seeing progress pics of the new building? xox

Marit Johanne said...

Powerful machines! It was good to hear that some of the materials was taken care of for reuse.

Cynthia said...

I love to see that they are salvaging material for reuse. Such a waste to smash it all up and then it takes up room in the dump. Actually, they looked like they were in good condition and I'm wondering why they are being taken down at all.

Vireya said...

I hate seeing houses demolished! It is sad to think of the people who worked hard to build them and buy them in the first place, then all the people who have lived in them over the years. I know, it is progress, but perhaps I'm not so keen on some aspects of progress.

Mizumatte said...

so sad, why must "everybody" live in the same spot take care Jaana