My first job completed (barn demo)

[fArMeRkNoWsBeSt]

Hello.

Well as some of you may know, we just bought an excavator for the farm to make fields bigger and our operation more efficient. A 2003 CX210 with thumb and a variety of buckets. So we now have the mechanical ability to tackle some large jobs we've been pushing off. One of these jobs is tearing down a barn and silo on a recently purchased farm. Anyways, as you might have guessed, I'm something of a newb when it comes to running an excavator. Sure I have put quite a few hours on a mini machine, but running a full sized machine is different. I gotta tell you, I learned an incredible amount on this project. The biggest thing was how to dig effectively with the bucket. As you will see in some of my videos from early on in the job, my technique is...well...haha, you'll see.

Ok, so here is the job. Tear down the barn, burn the wood, bury the cement, knock down the silo and haul away the blocks to another job site, then smooth out the area and seed with grass. Pretty strait forward.

The job is now done, so it is time to post all the photos and video I took. I know Chris will be happy, he has been pestering me to post this stuff for everyone to see.

Hopefully you enjoy it.

Warren

Pic 1 : I brought the CX210 to the road from that bush in the background.
Pic 2: A local excavator came with his float to move our machine for us. We do not yet have a float.
Pic 3: One of our guys came up the road with our 6200 and one of our 2 tire racks.
Pic 4: Loaded up
Pic 5: Arrived at the jobsite 25km from the home farm.

[fArMeRkNoWsBeSt]

These pics are of the barn! The fifth is from this winter, it is the only pic of that angle I have as when the rest were all taken the corn was way over my head. As you can see the barn is quite large. 200ft long and anywhere from 70 to 35 ft wide. Lots of lean to's and small additions added over the years.

[fArMeRkNoWsBeSt]

The first thing that I did was look for a place to dig a fire pit. This was a bit harder than I have figured it would be. Everywhere I dug I would hit huge rocks, chunks of cement, steel. After asking around, when all the fencerows were taken out in the field, now 204ac, everything was hauled to the barn yard and buried there. Well, my thinking told me that if I knocked down a little shed out back, there would be nothing buried below it. Well I was right. So I got my fire pit done.

Well, as I dug, even I, a new operator could tell something was wrong. I was losing power, particularly when tracking. The engine was really laboring and then is stalled. Well I got it going again and crawled it out of the way. We called our dealer, J.R Brisson in Vars, Ontario. They came out and looked at it. It was a bit of a bit problem. The injector pump was done. $$$ But, the injector pump was replaced right before we bought it. The part was still under warranty. Hurray for me. While the mechanic was there, he went over the entire machine and noticed it never got the upgraded fuel water separator pre filter when that notice was released by case. So the mech put that on as well.

Oh, yes, I should probably mention that I really enjoy posting photos and videos of my work. I do this on several forums where I post photo blogs of our farm. I post the way I like to see posts, pics and a story to go behind them. Hopefully you like that too. HAHA.

[fArMeRkNoWsBeSt]

Ok, so with the excavator sitting for a couple days. Time to move onto another portion of the job. At this farm we picked up several buildings. The barn, a Quanset shed, and 2 houses. The reason the barn has to go is so we can sever off the two houses for sale. Anyways, the Quanset hut is 40*100 shed that is built about 3ft below ground level. I know, a lot of planning went into this! As I'm sure you have figured out already, it tends to fill with water when the snow melts or we get a lot of rain. Fortunately there is a ditch deeper than the shed near buy, so we put in a tile pipe to drain the shed. Also, the shed was used as a hay, sawdust storage when the farm still had cows. So the floor was a very mushy mess not fit to have my equipment parked on. We hired a local backhoe operator to come and scrape the floor and dig the trench.

Pic 1: The shed
Pic 2: Scraping
Pic 3: The soft material was windrowed for us to remove later on
Pic 4: Switching to the narrow trenching bucket
Pic 5: Digging the trench

[fArMeRkNoWsBeSt]

Pic 1: trench
Pic 2: Digging inside the building
Pic 3: Laying the pipe
Pic 4: more
Pic 5: back filling with 6200

[fArMeRkNoWsBeSt]

Well, the excavator was running again. What a difference. Like running a new machine. The bugs are getting out of the machine and I am becoming more and more impressed with the machine.

Time to get to some serious work and do what we came to do.

Pic 1: I hooked this corner, our TV-140 pushed on the opposite corner and with basically no effort the entire barn sad down. We are figuring the only thing holding it up anymore was the tin. With it gone the old rusty nails weren't doing much anymore.
Pic 2: Rubble
Pic 3: more rubble
Pic 4: more
Pic 5: The fire building process has begun. Went really fast when I didn't have to track at all to reach the pile

[fArMeRkNoWsBeSt]

More.

Pic 1: CX210
Pic 2: So far so good. The plan is to not damage that building.
Pic 3: A part of the wall still standing looked like it might fall on the building. So I tracked up the rubble pile and pulled it down
Pic 4: Big enough, lets light that sucker!
Pic 5: Fire=sexy

[fArMeRkNoWsBeSt]

After a day of demolishing the landscape of the area had certainly changed dramatically!

Pic 1: Rubble
Pic 2: Fire is pretty
Pic 3: A much more open air concept now. HAHA
Pic 4: Grab, toss
Pic 5: burn

[fArMeRkNoWsBeSt]

Pic 1: The 6200 was used to move the sawdust from the shed and piled it out back to be buried later
Pic 2: piling
Pic 3: excavator sitting
Pic 4: Burnt down pretty good
Pic 5: should be pretty well safely out by days end

[curly]

That looks like way to much fun!

[fArMeRkNoWsBeSt]

Well, it wouldn't be 2008 if it didn't rain at least 6 days a week in Eastern Ontario. So the following day everything was soaked. GREAT!

Pic 1: Pile smoked quite a bit at first
Pic 2: But got a lot hotter as time went on. This is one cool pic!
Pic 3: The fire got quite hot that day. The wind was blowing it towards where the barn was, so I couldn't sit anywhere near as close with the excavator
Pic 4: The hay was not wanting to burn at all, so I piled it up near the fire in hopes the heat would light it...no such luck.
Pic 5: The first sign that we were getting somewhere was when the guys used the 6200 to scrape off the cement

[jimmyjack]

nice pics,keep'em coming
btw wheres the vids

[RocksnRoses]

Really interesting pics, Warren, especially with the explanation. Looking forward to the next stage.

Rn'R.

[tonka]

wheres the hog

[HeyUvaVT]

looks like you are getting the hang of things nicely....keep us updated on this and other projects!

[fArMeRkNoWsBeSt]

Thanks fellas! The job was quite a bit of fun. Though there were a few times in the middle where I thought the pile of wood hay and cement would never go away. :)


Here are a few videos of digging the fire pit. I know, my technique sucks. Any tips?
http://ca.youtube.com/watch?v=oafRlc7QMVU
http://ca.youtube.com/watch?v=Vv6CHMppAxU

Warren

[fArMeRkNoWsBeSt]

It spit on and off throughout the day. Which was rather annoying as every time it would rain the smoke would billow and head into town. Oh well.

pic 1: One of the times it was spitting. Notice the smoke
pic 2: The walls of part of the barn was made of cement blocks. My guys gathered up as many as they could and piled them. Remember we scraped a few inches out of the shed, well we need a good base in there to go over the pit run floor. The blocks once crushed will fill up a lot of space and limit the amount of gravel we need to buy.
pic 3: cx210
pic 4: I cleaned out the trench which was an indoor heifer pen. The pile on the left is basically just manure that was left in there. At this point I had to quit as a thunder storm rolled in. That storm dropped several inches of rain. Enough to flood all the rivers and much of our land. Didn't return to the job site for almost a week as a result. This was fine, we had a lot of other work to do on the farm to get ready for wheat harvest.

[fArMeRkNoWsBeSt]

About 5 days later it dried up enough to get back at it. Started the morning off by breaking up the cement blocks. If you ever want to throw away 3 hours of your life. Break 2 dump truck loads of cement blocks with an excavator. The break easy, but OMG what a tedious job.

pic 1: broken blocks
pic 2: diminishing pile
pic 3: 6200 scoops up and positions in shed
pic 4: down
pic 5: up

[fArMeRkNoWsBeSt]

pic 1: the blocks covered about half of the shed floor. Will certainly save a pile of money on gravel.
pic 2: the guy that mows the lawn should have a really fun time keeping up with the wheat we planted over the trench. HAHA. On the plus side, it is doing its job as a cover crop for the grass that is underseeded.
pic 3: back to sorting out the wood from the hay. I decided I wasn't going to try and burn the now rotting hay, so the long process of sorting out the wood and piling the hay to be buried with the cement later began.
pic 4: wood
pic 5: just piled the wood in the pit that day, didn't burn it. I want to build up a huge pile to be sure it will get hot enough and burn.

[fArMeRkNoWsBeSt]

The last day of burning. Finally took down the last section of barn and also managed to salvage a hay wagon load of 2*6 and 2*8's.

Pic 1: Once most of the wood was piled we lit it up for the last time!
pic 2: The bins are now open on all sides. First time ever
pic 3: Load of wood. Lots of money saved there as well
pic 4: Parked waiting for the fire to go down so I can approach it safely again with more wood
pic 5: We also saved about 6 of the barn beams to sell. Much of the barn was entirely dry rotted which is part of the reason the barn came down so easily and quickly

[fArMeRkNoWsBeSt]

Some more pics of the piles and what is left to clean up

[fArMeRkNoWsBeSt]

Once everything was burnt and the hay piled the next step was to start burying the barn floor and foundation. The first thing was to dig a trench where the heifer pen in the barn was. The water made that a bit of a challenge but I managed to get the water in one end and dig the hole from the dry end onwards.

pic 1: first part of the trench dug and the first piece of the foundation broken and buried
pic 2: After digging the rest of the trench
pic 3: sitting in the muddy mess
pic 4: peeling off the floor
pic 5: filling the trench

[fArMeRkNoWsBeSt]

Cement burying continues!

A video for your viewing pleasure. Sorry it is dark, but as usual, it was overcast.
http://ca.youtube.com/watch?v=kZxGFqc1qKg

pic 1: bucket a cement
pic 2: After the sale of the houses, we will still own a portion of the land the barn sat on. That part of the trench I made sure to fill and pack properly with cement as we will be making a gravel yard for filling grain trucks on.
Pic 3: Made it pretty far in the first day of cement removal
Pic 4:The rest of the trench was a mixture of hay and cement
Pic 5: More cementy goodness

[fArMeRkNoWsBeSt]

Only worked the morning the following day as we started cutting wheat at the home farm in the afternoon.

pic 1: kept ripping up the cement
pic 2: whoops, might have pried a bit too hard, I guess those pins that hold the teeth on aren't as strong as I thought. :D
pic 3: fortunately I didn't lose the tooth. They are expensive. But, after this minor set back I now have 5 spare pins and a spare tooth ready for the next time.
pic 4: the afternoon I was using one of our other large case machines, a 2388 combine.
pic 5: also started baling up the straw

[fArMeRkNoWsBeSt]

Cement burying continues into the next day.

Pic 1: The soil profile in this area is like nothing I've seen first hand before. No stones, light soils with seemingly random layers of blue clay. That blue clay isn't the most amusing thing to dig either.
Pic 2: A few holes later pretty well all the cement was below ground.
Pic 3: I had a few minutes to kill waiting on some help so I took out a few trees that were too close to my machine shed for my liking.

[RonG]

I have never seen a retaining pin break before.Did you find the broken pin or just assume that it broke?Hensley and possibly others used to guarantee their teeth against breakage,if they break they will replace them.I have done a lot of prying over the years but never broke a pin.As you probably know,don't ever run the machine with a bare shank as they are not hardened and will wear quickly and then the teeth won't stay on.Even if you have to put a worn tooth on it temporarily be sure that the shank never gets exposed to the soil.I have used the bucket very carefully to find a lost tooth and felt guilty about it after but when a tooth is missing the machine is down until it has been replaced.Ron G

[Dirtman2007]

Nice work there Bud:drinkup

Just found your post, don't look in this thread very often But i'm glad I did.
Looks like you've got everything under control... I see your using a fire pit like I do, seems to work better and just piling it up on the ground. Plus all the ashes and nails are in the hole!

Now i've got to do some updating on my work pictures:D

[fArMeRkNoWsBeSt]

I have never seen a retaining pin break before.Did you find the broken pin or just assume that it broke?Hensley and possibly others used to guarantee their teeth against breakage,if they break they will replace them.I have done a lot of prying over the years but never broke a pin.As you probably know,don't ever run the machine with a bare shank as they are not hardened and will wear quickly and then the teeth won't stay on.Even if you have to put a worn tooth on it temporarily be sure that the shank never gets exposed to the soil.I have used the bucket very carefully to find a lost tooth and felt guilty about it after but when a tooth is missing the machine is down until it has been replaced.Ron G

Hey thanks for the comment. I didn't know that the shank was not hardened, but I did know not to use the bucket without a tooth. I stopped instantly and went to find a replacement pin. D/S attachments is only about 10 minute drive from that job site, so I was up and running again in under a half hour. Now have in stock 2 extra teeth and 5 new retaining pins and locking collars. Thanks for the tip though, I really appreciate it.

Warren

[fArMeRkNoWsBeSt]

Nice work there Bud:drinkup

Just found your post, don't look in this thread very often But i'm glad I did.
Looks like you've got everything under control... I see your using a fire pit like I do, seems to work better and just piling it up on the ground. Plus all the ashes and nails are in the hole!

Now i've got to do some updating on my work pictures:D

Well Chris, I'm going to have to disagree with you on the fire pit. I've never seen a barn come down like this. In my home county, you have to knock it down and pile it on the cement. I made so much more work for my self tracking bucket by bucket to the fire pit from the barn dropping wooden shingles or smaller pieces attached to big beams by rusty nails. Another big problem I had with the fire pit was getting enough air in. The fire code in that county says there must be a soil berm around the majority of the pit. I ended up taking that away in several places to get enough air in so the fire would stop smoking. I do like the fact that the ashes steel and what not was in a hole at the end, but if it were on the cement that would be buried anyway the same end result would be made, and in much less of the time. :)

Warren

[fArMeRkNoWsBeSt]

OK, lets get this shin dig started up again. What I've been wait for has finally uploaded, so time to finish this thread.

If you haven't seen it already, watch the video of the silo coming down.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gK_GcynCKm8

[fArMeRkNoWsBeSt]

more

[fArMeRkNoWsBeSt]

Cleanup time!

pic 1: fueling up
pic 2: started by separating the steel from the cement
pic 3: crumpled up the roof and set it aside.
pic 4: set aside the tripod and pipes too
pic 5: started loading

[fArMeRkNoWsBeSt]

pic 1: loading the blocks
pic 2: T7060 and dump trailer hauled them down the road 2km to another farm where we need fill for a bridge
pic 3: dumping the little grain trailer. Still looking for a few old ADT's to make into heavy duty dump trailers. 3 would be perfect. We have all the big tractors to pull them anyway.
pic 4: had to wait for a Casco train one trip
pic 5: after about 15 loads it was all cleaned up

[fArMeRkNoWsBeSt]

The dump site and a dramatic photo of the last load leaving empty. :D

[fArMeRkNoWsBeSt]

Final day cleanup.

Loading up a bucket that was left behind, burying the last few pieces of cement.

Then time to move on.

[fArMeRkNoWsBeSt]

MOVING DAY!!!

Pic 1: A D3k dozer the contractor brought to level things up. Same company as what owns the truck. 2 brothers we have used for years.
Pic 2 and 3: more of the D3k
pic 4: Loaded up

Took the cx210 to D/S to get a hydraulic pin catcher put on...weeeee I can't wait for that gem! Also saw the root rake they made for us while there.

[fArMeRkNoWsBeSt]

Came back the next day to see the progress and was blown away by the transformation. Really makes me want a dozer!

[fArMeRkNoWsBeSt]

Last few. Sorry no video of the dozer, didn't have time. :(

[Deere9670]

Nice pics, never even knew about this thread! I caught you in a few of those pics digging over those finals though!!! Keep em coming.

[stock]

EXCELLENT JOB !
but cement is added to gravel or sand with water to make CONCRETE and what really rises my ire is to see such high quality firewood go to waste what you burned would heat my house for a year or two :mad::mad::mad::mad: only messin

[fArMeRkNoWsBeSt]

EXCELLENT JOB !
but cement is added to gravel or sand with water to make CONCRETE and what really rises my ire is to see such high quality firewood go to waste what you burned would heat my house for a year or two :mad::mad::mad::mad: only messin

Yea yea yea. LOL. It seems to be an Eastern Ontario thing to treat cement and concrete as one in the same.

You think the barn is a waste? Wait until I post photos of land clearing! HEHEHE. Those will be fires worth photographing. :D

Warren