Come tear down my barn

[Grace Tree]

I was up in a tree today and a guy called and wanted me to tear down his barn.
I explained that I only do trees and I was booked into Sept. and he told me he had an old 2 story barn and already had one bid of $10,000 to tear it down. That number seemed interesting so I told him I'd come and bid on it. I'm guessing it's a typical old Ohio barn. Hip or ship roof with 10 layers of shingles. Anyone had any experience with barn demo?
Phil

 

[pdqdl]

Price a big cable, long enough to tie all the posts together with a big loop forming a choker. Rent a track loader, attach to cable, pull !

Use the loader to pick up the pieces and dig out the foundation. Renting a large excavator would get it done, too.

[You might suggest that a pack of matches is a lot cheaper than a proper demolition]



Ooops! I didn't say that. Honest! I deny that it ever came from my keyboard.

 

[hanniedog]

If the barn is in good shape there are companies that will tear it down for the materials. Seems a waste to trash stuff that can be reused.

 

[Matt Michael]

If it's got big posts and beams in it they can be worth good money.

I got offered a barn that was going to be bulldozed and burned. We only had 1 day to salvage so I climbed around and cut part way through the ends of timbers and beams then we jerked them out 1 at a time from the bottom with a big cable on a tractor. By doing the partial cuts before yanking it reduced the tendency for splintering and pulling the whole barn down at once. It worked GREAT and we got a lot of 12x12s that were over 20 feet long plus a bunch of other stuff before the bulldozer knocked it all down. Even then there were still good pieces in the heap that we were able to salvage before it burned. We loaded up a long flatbed trailer with a BUNCH of big western white cedar beams and posts after only about 6 hours of work. I opened/vaulted my little house awesomely with those timbers and sold a bunch too.

 

[mooseracing]

If it's got big posts and beams in it they can be worth good money.

Yes, please don't just rip down and destroy an old beam barn. There are plenty of people like me looking for beams to fix theirs without ruining the look.

 

[Grace Tree]

Well, so far the guy hasn't called back so maybe it was someone just "kickin tires". I really didn't have much time to talk and he was supposed to call me last night. A couple of things seemed strange. One, that he'd give me the other guy's quote and two, that he'd need it torn down. It's rural around here and unless it's close to other structure the local volunteer fire depts. are normally happy to burn them down for training. If he wants it torn down maybe he has salvage plans. I'll wait and see. I don't need the work but it seemed like a nice diversion from the usual climbem, cutem, chipem routine.
Thanks for all the suggestions,
Phil

 

[newb]

Check with your local Fire Dept,. We are always looking for buildings to burn for training. We are also licensed with the DRN as a demolition contractor.