ForConstructionPros.com

Implosion may be a more spectacular and dramatic way to bring down an existing structure. But it's not how most contractors complete demolition projects these days. According to the National Demolition Association (NDA), more than 99% of demolition work is handled with specialized equipment.

Oftentimes, excavators equipped with hydraulic attachments - grapples, shears, hammers, pulverizers, etc. - perform the work. Wheel loaders sporting 4-in-1 buckets and skid-steer loaders carrying hammers, buckets, etc. can also see plenty of demolition action.

The move to carriers equipped with specialized attachments has brought a host of benefits. One that directly affects the bottom line is the greater ability to recycle debris. With shears, pulverizers and grapples, you can cut, munch and pick your way to higher profits, since most steel, lumber and even concrete, once separated, can be sold for profit, or at the very least hauled to a recycling center to minimize landfill costs.

Value of recycling
Concrete removed from demolition jobsites can be used on site to fill basements or voids, or crushed into various aggregate mixes for use as roadbed or parking lot base. Lumber - large timbers, in particular - often finds a home in specialty markets, i.e., reincarnated as wood flooring. Bricks can be reused in their original form or crushed and used for secondary purposes.

King Wrecking Co. is currently sorting drop ceiling tiles, although Drew Lammers, president, indicates the market for recycling the product has yet to fully develop. "If you can't separate the debris to recycle it, you're paying for all of it to go to the landfill," he says. "The debris becomes a cost rather than a profit."