Help! My Landscaping Project Involves Removing A Garage!

Sometimes when the phone rings, the voice on the other end is panicked.  “Please help. My husband has started this landscaping project and we need to remove the old garage. How can we do this?”

We love it when the answer is this easy: put it in a dumpster.

Not just any dumpster, of course. You will need a Big Daddy Dumpster.

Tear down safely with these tools

You will need to own, rent, or borrow a couple of simple tools.

Hammer: Some of the time, simply pulling a nail will be easier than “Hulk! Smash!” Not always more fun, just easier.

Sledgehammer: a sledgehammer is built to do the difficult work of breaking things apart. The weight helps you leverage a swing into barn-busting power.

Gloves: You will be working around wood, which means splinters and nails. Wood is also an absorbent surface pulling moisture from your hands, and dry, cracked hands are more susceptible to rips and tears. Don’t take any chances, wear gloves

Crow bar / spud bar: All this prying will involve a crow bar AND a spud bar. The crow bar can do the close-up prying and nail removal that a hammer can’t quite manage. The spud bar will allow you leverage to pry loose footers and corner joists with ease.

Ladder: Before you smash in to the work, remove some – but not all – of the reinforcing supports and the electrical wiring (if any) safely from your ladder. Then smash.

Work boots: heavy soled work boots are the best for a demolition project with nails. It is very easy for a foot to slide onto an exposed nail and to turn a fun event into a medical event.

Demolition, and getting the garage in the dumpster

Early in the planning stages you will want to talk with a Bid Daddy Dumpster consultant to make sure you have the right dumpster. We will need to know the dimensions of the existing garage. This helps us determine the total volume of the project.

You don’t want to have one side of a garage that you need to later put out in small parcels with the ordinary garbage. That can add weeks to the project.

Once you have the right size dumpster delivered to your site, you are ready to begin the demolition.

Tearing down a garage is a great family and community activity. Gather people for the first big tear-down. Some folks like to tie the roof to a pickup truck and tow it down, others prefer to just go at it with sledgehammers and crow bars.

Either way, make sure you are clear about how people are working. No one wants to accidentally hit another person with a piece of steel or wood debris.

Encourage your worker, or remind yourself, to lift debris in a responsible way. Bend at the knees, keeping your back as straight as you can. This way, the main weight is kept on your large lifting muscles in your legs. Your back will thank you in the morning.

Hauling it away safely

When it is time, you have one last lifting chore. Pick up your phone, call (937) 790-1661 and identify yourself and your project. We will haul it away for you.

That’s the easiest part!