HEAVY EQUIPMENT / MACHINERY DEMOLITION OPERATIONS
Demolition equipment includes large motorized vehicles such as bulldozers with rakes, top loaders, backhoes, skid loaders/bobcats, hydraulic excavators, and other similar machinery used for transporting, moving, or dislodging of materials at a demolition site. Cranes equipped with wrecking balls, clamshells, or buckets may also be employed.
To demolish one-or two-story buildings, the heavy equipment is used to to perform an undermining process. The strategy is to undermine the building while controlling the manner and direction in which it falls. The demolition project manager must determine where undermining is necessary so that a building falls in the desired manner and direction. The walls are typically undermined at a building’s base, but this is not always the case as building designs may dictate otherwise. Safety and cleanup considerations are also taken into account in determining the methods to be used. The structure and components are maintained wet during demolition.
Cranes may also be used and are typically equipped with wrecking balls, clamshells or buckets, which are used in a variety of ways. All three may be dropped or swung against the structure to demolish it. When demolition is accomplished by crane, the process can begin at the roof and progress continually downward, or alternate up and down.