Old Barn Demo Costs

[b-boy]

I have a 20x30 100+ year old barn that has half collapsed. It's timber framed. I'm getting estimates for demo and removal. I'm asking that they try to salvage the large cross beams if possible. The floor is dirt, so no concrete removal is required.

Does anyone have an idea of a rough estimate for work like this? My friend's father is in construction. He estimated it as a 1/2 day job.

 

[930dreamer]

Saving the timbers will take the most time, but well worth saving.

 

[ddurrett896]

164lb X $7/lb = $1,148

 

[b-boy]

164lb X $7/lb = $1,148

Interesting, but that might cause some problems for my pole barn that's about 40 ft away from the old barn.

 

[dr_clyde]

Some people will do it for free in exchange for the timbers, if you're willing to give them up for the job.

Otherwise, I would expect it to take a day or so for a properly equipped demo company. I would expect to pay at least $100/hour, and plan on 8 hours or so if you want them to be careful with timbers. Depends on how much you want done. Do need everything hauled away or just knocked down?

 

[maxpower_hd]

There is value in some of the lumber besides just the beams. Ever see Barnwood Builders? If you put an ad on craigslist you might find someone who wants it and is willing to dismantle it for the wood.

Or see if someone local has an excavator that could come out and crush it and leave the lumber for you to manage. Either burn it, give it away, sell it...whatever.

 

[b-boy]

I'm planing to do some pre-demo salvage. I'd like to remove some of the outer boards for use in my pole barn. I'll let them handle the timbers. Some of them are probably 700lbs or more.

 

[finn]

Friend in southern Wisconsin had a couple of estimates to take down a slightly larger barn. $30k was the going rate because of a hundred years of leaded paint and consequential disposal costs.

He had it resided in steel for $17 k because it was cheaper than tearing it down and properly disposing of the debris.

Now he has to clean up decades of pigeon guano before he can use his dry, renovated barn.

 

[58Yeoman]

The guy with the tannerite is a complete f*ckhead. I hope he's getting flat tires for the rest of his ownership. I worked with a recovering alcolholic who tore down barns for the wood to resell. He said that it kept him from thinking about alcohol. He sold the dimensional lumber and roofing tin, and piled up the rest and let the farmer burn it.

Back when I was young and dumb, he told me to come to a barn that he was tearing down. Wasn't a nail in the place...it was all wooden pegged together. He told me to take my chain saw and just cut through the floor boards and let the timbers drop to the 'basement'. I did, and then cut them up for firewood. These were trees that had been roughly squared and used for the floor joists. There was all kinds of wood in those timbers and if I'd been using my head, could've been sold for big money. Didn't realize till later that that is what I/we should've done.

 

[b-boy]

I talked to the contractor. He said he'd clear the debris and make an attempt at salvaging the beams for ~$2K. That seems like a pretty good deal to me. He said it would take less than 1 day.

Only drawback is that I have to have my roof shingles tested for asbestos. If they test positive, he won't do the tear down. I'll have to find an asbestos removal contractor.

I can't believe that shingles on a 100 year old barn could be considered hazardous waster, but in today's society anything goes.

 

[Big Al 15]

I guess you don't understand how horrific asbestos is.

 

[bob15]

If you are stripping a roof with asbestos shingles, unless you are cutting them with a circular saw, you really won't have any issues.

 

[Turbo]

It makes it easier to give an estimate of labor cost if we know where you are located. Different areas have different costs. Terry

 

[NUTTSGT]

How rural of an area are you in ? Some places still get by with burning an old structure like that and others burn it in a pit or trench.

If you attempt that, better have your ducks in a row or you get a visit by the EPA courtesy of the local AHJ.

Also, if you're pulling some of the old siding off for use in the new barn, be careful of insects like earwigs, silver fish, termites and powder post beetles to name a few.

 

[PNWguy]

Only drawback is that I have to have my roof shingles tested for asbestos. If they test positive, he won't do the tear down. I'll have to find an asbestos removal contractor.

I can't believe that shingles on a 100 year old barn could be considered hazardous waster, but in today's society anything goes.

I don't know where you're located, but you may want to look into self testing and disposal, if the shingles are asbestos.

In my area, all construction waste going to the dump needs to be tested. I had to demo a mobile home, so I contacted an asbestos tester. I then found out that I can self test (take samples to the lab) and if they tested positive, the rules for disposal are different for me than for a contractor.

Once I had the test results (negative) I gave the paperwork to the demo guy, and he could haui everything to the dump. Might be worth looking into.

 

[b-boy]

I'm in Buffalo NY.

I just got a formal estimate for $3700 to basically clean up the site and remove the wood and some chunks of concrete. This is from the guy who originally said $2k. I'm not sure why it suddenly doubled. The building is on the ground now, so it's basically become a cleanup rather than a demolition.

I've had several contractors do this to me lately. They give me a low verbal estimate, then jack up the price on the written estimate. I can understand being off by a few hundred, but doubling the price shouldn't happen.

 

[b-boy]

I guess you don't understand how horrific asbestos is.

I understand how dangerous asbestos is.

The key to asbestos is whether it's friable or not. I can't imagine that asbestos embedded in tar is very friable. I could be mistaken, though.

 

[b-boy]

I don't know where you're located, but you may want to look into self testing and disposal, if the shingles are asbestos.

In my area, all construction waste going to the dump needs to be tested. I had to demo a mobile home, so I contacted an asbestos tester. I then found out that I can self test (take samples to the lab) and if they tested positive, the rules for disposal are different for me than for a contractor.

Once I had the test results (negative) I gave the paperwork to the demo guy, and he could haui everything to the dump. Might be worth looking into.

This might be an option. What did the asbestos testing cost? The guy I'm working with wants $400.

Edit:
Surprise, surprise...He told me $400 on the phone, but the contract says $500.

 

[JR 42]

There are at least a couple places that do asbestos testing around here, and the more expensive option is around $40 with a 24-hour turnaround. We drop off the samples (flooring and adhesive in our case).

JR

 

[b-boy]

How do you maintain a 'chain of evidence' if you test it yourself?

What's to stop me from just grabbing any piece of material, having it tested, and passing off the paperwork as genuine?

 

[akpingel]

How do you maintain a 'chain of evidence' if you test it yourself?

What's to stop me from just grabbing any piece of material, having it tested, and passing off the paperwork as genuine?

I have done self tests mailing in samples, and the report comes back with detail descriptions of the samples they tested.

 

[JR 42]

The lab report has a brief description of the material tested.

I can only imagine the shitstorm you'd be in if you got caught misrepresenting asbestos test results...

 

[Roundhouse]

You’re in a liberal controlled state so your Milage may vary

But in Georgia
You double bag the asbestos shingles
Apply labels to the bags
And notify the landfill operator when you arrive and they put the bags in a certain location in the landfill where they do not get driven over by the compactor dozer

It’s not big deal

I’m surprised the contractor can dispose of the debris for $4k

Roll off dumpsters are about $500 each here and it would take 8-10 of em

Plus labor

 

[b-boy]

Looks like I'm DIYing this one. My all-in cost was over $4,500. That's more than I want to pay. As long as I can get it on the ground before heavy snowfall, I'm good. The whole structure should come down pretty easily. It's leaning about 40 degrees right now, and the roof is gone. If I pull out 1-2 supporting posts it should collapse.

I have a large dumpster ($480 - no weight limit) ordered to get rid of the roofing material. It's interesting that the dumpster guys didn't care about asbestos in the shingles.

I'll recycle some of the wood and probably burn the rest. If I can get everything in neat piles, I might see about getting it all hauled away after the building is down. I'm guessing that just hauling away old wood may be cheaper than doing a demo on a building.

 

[b-boy]

Damn old barns!

I beat the hell out of this thing, and it will not go down. I pulled 3 posts. The roof partially collapsed and the entire loft gave out. I don't know what's holding it up. All 4 corners are disconnected. I think there is some 12/2 romex holding everything together.

They knew what they were doing 100+ years ago. Wooden pegs are amazingly strong.

 

[b-boy]

The barn came down yesterday. We used 2-15 cu yd dumpsters for the roofing material, set any usable beams aside for future use, and burned the rest. It made a hell of a bonfire. The flames were probably 30 ft high. It burned for ~12 hours.

So, I did the entire thing for ~$1100:

• 2 Dumpsters: $920
• Assorted gloves/tools/crowbars: $50
• Pizza for the crew: $50
• Beer for the bonfire: $60

It went a lot faster and easier than I thought it would.

 

[Kaizen]

nice. make sure you get those beams up off the ground and stickered. covered if you can.

 

[b-boy]

That's today's project. Had a few 30 footers that stayed in tact. Also, The loft was made out of monster beams that were not completely shaped. They only flattened the top and bottom of the beam. They left the bark on the sides. They're pretty cool. I'm trying to figure out what to do with them.

I was impressed by the work that went into building this thing. The joinery and the wooden pegs were amazing. Hard to believe it was done with an axe, a hand drill, a hand saw - and no nails.