Remove roof, save building

[GrainBinMan]

How would you go about taking this roof off and saving the steel structure? The concrete block walls will be taken down, but the building owner would like to save the I-beams, joists and columns.

I'm not 100% sure how it was originally installed. But there is a joist every 5'. Every 33" along the joist there is an upside down T. It appears they put some sort of drywall type material in those rectangles, then poured 2" of concrete on top of that, with wire in it. On top of that, there is tarpaper with stones.

We started on one corner to see how it would go. We took a concrete saw and cut all the 33" x 60" sections, then knocked them out with a sledge. Wasn't terribly hard work, but will take a while to do the whole roof. Is there some mechanical way to do it?

 

[GrainBinMan]

More pictures

 

[Dozerboy]

I think your way is about as good as any. Maybe a walk behind concrete saw just make sure you keep your saw is on where the roof is still structurally sound. There could probably be a way to do it with the machine but you would have to have the manpower to disassemble the building has he broke the concrete. Which probably wouldn't be worthwhile. The only other way would you be a little shady. You could go inside the building with some sort of hoe and stick a bucket or some sort of apitture up through the roof breaking it up and letting it fall down.

 

[Hobbytime]

those cross beams on the 2nd to last picture look like RR track..

 

[Ronsii]

^^ Yep, there's a lot of track in there... and not just the cross beams. They must have had a good cheap source for the track

 

[hosspuller]

You might work over an open can or dump truck. Break the roof directly into it. Saves loading the debris. Perhaps a man with a jack hammer on a walk board. His weight on the board spanning the joists to safely drop the roof sections. With a hammer no need to saw the roof. Just cut the re-wire as it falls away between the rails.

 

[hvy 1ton]

I can't tell how the trusses are mounted, but if your just saving the beams would crippling a section of roof and then dropping it work?

 

[GrainBinMan]

^^ Yep, there's a lot of track in there... and not just the cross beams. They must have had a good cheap source for the track

The original owner's name starts with a 'G'. The track is 2" wide and 2" tall.

 

[GrainBinMan]

I can't tell how the trusses are mounted, but if your just saving the beams would crippling a section of roof and then dropping it work?

That's an idea. I'll have to see if the owner would be open to that. The original plan was to save the trusses, but he didn't like the estimate I gave him for finishing the job, the way we started.

 

[crane operator]

I'm guessing the track may have been from a short line rail within a facility/factory storage center. I've never seen that small though. I've only seen small rail like that, for overhead cranes to run on.

No advice on tearing down. I will say that most of the time when looking at a demo and rebuild, you end up at more than new cost. You have to pay to tear it apart, then pay to put it back together. I don't care how much you save in reusing materials, it just doesn't ever pencil out when I'm looking at it.

 

[oceanobob]

The particular re-use of the trusses would be an important consideration .... welding and materials specs are pretty detailed and the older items often are short on fabrication records...

 

[Catsparky1]

Would the name be Grove .

 

[CM1995]

Had a similar demo job where the entire structure came down but I wanted to salvage the structural steel. We cut a section of the bar joists and laid that section of roof down, then cut the other end of the bar joists and pulled the roof section down with a hoe.

Of course this would mean he would have to re-build the roof but considering the amount of manual labor involved in keeping the bar joists vs new bar joists it's something to consider.

The project I mentioned above - https://www.heavyequipmentforums.com/threads/a-few-projects-i-have-done-recently.27942/page-20

It was an end cap at a mall with a functioning Best Buy located next door.

 

[davo727]

That roof was engineered by Jimmy Rigg

 

[Ronsii]

^^ Yeah, him and his brother Jerry have done a few jobs we were on

 

[crane operator]

^^ Yeah, him and his brother Jerry have done a few jobs we were on

Man those guys must get around, they're the only ones who seem to work on my equipment.

 

[GrainBinMan]

Would the name be Grove .

No. Government.

 

[GrainBinMan]

Had a similar demo job where the entire structure came down but I wanted to salvage the structural steel. We cut a section of the bar joists and laid that section of roof down, then cut the other end of the bar joists and pulled the roof section down with a hoe.

Of course this would mean he would have to re-build the roof but considering the amount of manual labor involved in keeping the bar joists vs new bar joists it's something to consider.

The project I mentioned above - https://www.heavyequipmentforums.com/threads/a-few-projects-i-have-done-recently.27942/page-20

It was an end cap at a mall with a functioning Best Buy located next door.

I like the looks of that project. The beams and posts look similar to the building we are working on. I don't have any of the heavy equipment that you do, so I would have to hire that part done by somebody else. And there are plenty of fellows around here that would be glad to do it.

 

[GrainBinMan]

I'm guessing the track may have been from a short line rail within a facility/factory storage center. I've never seen that small though. I've only seen small rail like that, for overhead cranes to run on.

No advice on tearing down. I will say that most of the time when looking at a demo and rebuild, you end up at more than new cost. You have to pay to tear it apart, then pay to put it back together. I don't care how much you save in reusing materials, it just doesn't ever pencil out when I'm looking at it.

Same here. I can never seem to get my money back anytime I try to buy used and either resell it, or put it to use for myself.

My understanding from the building owner, was he just wanted someone to demo it. If I wanted the steel, I could make an offer.

 

[check]

I'm guessing the track may have been from a short line rail within a facility/factory storage center. I've never seen that small though. I've only seen small rail like that, for overhead cranes to run on.

No advice on tearing down. I will say that most of the time when looking at a demo and rebuild, you end up at more than new cost. You have to pay to tear it apart, then pay to put it back together. I don't care how much you save in reusing materials, it just doesn't ever pencil out when I'm looking at it.

I think the idea is to acquire building materials at way below retail, design a building to use them, then assemble it. In most cases I've seen, the new building is quite different and smaller than the demolished one. Also, these projects are often being done by farmers and other individuals who do most of the work themselves and don't have much overhead. In the situations I've described, they are usually quite cost effective.
Lots of people scrounge around for a deal on used roof trusses, then design a building to utilize them.