Out With The Old: Things To Consider When Demolishing And Replacing Your Concrete Garage
It goes without saying that concrete is one of the toughest and most durable building materials around, and a garage partly or wholly constructed from poured concrete or concrete slabs can be expected to protect your vehicles and equipment for years and decades on end. However, even this redoubtable building material is not invulnerable, and eventually a concrete garage will degrade to the point where it is no longer safe and must be demolished and replaced.
While demolishing a concrete garage is not as considerable a task as knocking down a whole house, it is not a task you should take lightly, and there are a number of expensive and even dangerous pitfalls you may encounter if you go about demolishing your garage incorrectly. To help you avoid these common mistakes, keep the following questions in mind when planning your garage demolition:
Do you intend to build your new garage in the same spot?
If you intend to build a replacement garage of similar size in the same spot that your worn-out garage currently inhabits, you may be able to save considerable time, money and effort by reusing the pre-existing foundations of your current garage. Laying new foundations, even for a modestly-sized garage, can be expensive and may be complicated by changing soil conditions, so reusing existing foundations can be very desirable.
However, the practicality of reusing existing foundations for your new garage is entirely dependent on the condition they are in, and badly damaged and degraded foundations should not be reused. You should therefore have your foundations professionally inspected to ensure they are up to standard. It is also important to inform your chosen demolition service that the foundations are to be left in good condition, as they will be able to used precise demolition methods to remove the main bulk of the garage while leaving the foundations intact.
Does your garage contain asbestos?
Many Australian buildings of a certain age contain large amounts of damaging, carcinogenic asbestos, and older concrete garages were frequently constructed with asbestos cement roofing and insulation. If your current garage contains asbestos (either in cement or 'pure' form), it must be safely and thoroughly removed before demolition can begin safely.
Fortunately, many demolition companies specialise in removing asbestos deposits and asbestos cement structures from buildings before demolishing them, and you should be able to find a service capable of removing the asbestos and demolishing your garage in a single operation, which is a good way to save time and money. Asbestos removal specialists can isolate your garage to prevent loosened asbestos fibres from escaping the structure, so you shouldn't need to leave your home while the necessary work is carried out.
What do you intend to do with the demolition rubble?
Building your shiny new garage won't exactly be easy if the remains of your old one are still strewn across your property, so you should plan to have the leftover rubble and salvage from your demolished garage properly removed. Many demolition companies offer this service for an added fee, and will lower this fee (or even charge nothing at all) if they find valuable, reusable salvage materials such as copper piping in the wreckage of your garage.