What Does Demolition Work Involve ?

demolition work sydney
June 3, 20190

What Does Demolition Work Involve?

When a building is deemed as no longer safe for people to live in or work from, it needs to be demolished. A demolition company is usually called in to assess the scope of the work and get the job done. What is the entire process actually like? What exactly does demolition work involve?

4 Steps to building demolition

There are four main steps involved in the demolition process of any building or structure. These steps are:

  •    Site surveying
  •    Removal of dangerous materials
  •    Preparation of a building demolition work plan
  •    Putting in place of safety measures

STEP 1: Site surveying

In this initial step, the structure and its surrounding area are studied. The building itself and its structural integrity are all surveyed.

Building surveillance

The engineers take a closer look at the building and attempt to determine:

  • What materials were used in constructing it?
  •  What was the building being used for?
  •  Are there any dangerous materials that need specialist extraction before demolition such as asbestos and radioactive materials?
  •  Are there features that the condemned building shares with neighboring buildings?
  •  Is the area the building is situated in a residential, industrial, or commercial area?

Structural surveillance

From building surveillance, the engineers move onto the internal structure of the building, and endeavour to understand the structural implications and components of the building by looking into:

  •   The construction method utilised to build the building
  •  The structural nature of the basements, underground storages, vaults, tanks
  • The original building plan and structural system and overall building condition

STEP 2: Removal of dangerous substances

If dangerous or hazardous materials were discovered during the building surveillance these will need to be carefully extracted. Depending on the type of materials found, specialists might need to be called in to remove these materials. For example, if asbestos is discovered, according to Australian Occupational Health & Safety regulation, workers are not allowed to handle the carcinogenic substance unless they hold the proper licenses to carry out asbestos removal.

STEP 3: Preparation of a building demolition work plan

Now that the site has been surveyed, and all the harmful elements identified, a proper building demolition work plan can be worked out. This plan will include details such as:

  •         Location of the condemned building
  •         Identification of the condemned building’s structural support system
  •         Detailed outline of the demolition procedure and techniques to be used
  •         Precautionary measures to be employed during demolition
  •         Outline of time-frame required for the demolition process

STEP 4: Putting in place of safety measures

Demolition sites can be dangerous and for this reason, the entire site is sectioned off, flammable materials removed and stored offsite, fire fighting equipment kept on site, and safety gear given to all workers, engineers, and site supervisors. First aid kits should always be readily available as well as ablution blocks for sanitary purposes. Before work begins, everyone is briefed about the work being carried out so everyone understands what their role is.

Are you in need of structural demolition services?

For any and all demolition work Sydney, call  Amigos Demolition, Sydney’s leading demolition specialist for residential and commercial buildings on 0415 255 255 or send us an email at [email protected]. No job is too big or too small for us to handle.