R. Baker & Son Completes NYC Demo Job

R. Baker & Son All Industrial Services, a demolition contractor based in Red Bank, N.J., has announced that it has completed a demolition project in Brooklyn, N.Y., for N.Y.-based utility company Con Edison. According to a company press release, Con Edison purchased the property and required the demolition of all buildings on the lot.

The lot was located in a residential and commercial area near downtown and contained many buildings constructed of masonry and brick walls with wooden floors and structural members, according to the company. In order to ensure safe demolition and to protect the surrounding public and active structures, the company says it developed a health and safety plan and a work plan before beginning the project. Included among the plans were fencing in the demolition area, emptying fuel storage tanks and sending the product offsite for recycling and removing asbestos.

Before demolition activities could commence, the company says the structures needed to be abated of asbestos containing materials (ACM).  ACM consisted of roofing materials, piping insulation, boiler insulation and gaskets. The insulation and gasket materials were abated using standard asbestos removal procedures. Due to the structural instability of the roofs, a variance was obtained to abate the ACM roofs using mechanical means and wet methodology. An asbestos trained operator in a Case 9060B excavator with grapple carefully removed the roofs, while trained laborers performed dust suppression, and placed the ACM directly into lined rolloffs, according to the company. 

Additionally, the company adds that in order for the buildings to be safely demolished, several wall bracing systems needed to be installed. The wall bracing and shoring design was performed by a licensed professional engineer, which was submitted for NYC Building Department approvals. Upon approval, steel bracing was installed along the shared common wall, which needed to remain in an undamaged condition, as well as along the northern basement wall.

Before beginning mechanical demolition R. Baker & Sons conducted a significant amount of manual demolition. According to the company, careful surgical demolition needed to be conducted to separate the structural members along the shared common wall which needed to remain.  Workers with saw-salls and chipping guns working off of JLG lifts and scaffolding carefully made the necessary separations and gaps.

Once the buildings were hand demolished to a safe height and the necessary separations had taken place, mechanical demolition commenced. Two Case 9060B excavators with grapples were utilized to perform the demolition of the buildings to top of slab. These excavators along with a Doosan DX300-LC with a 5,000-pound hammer attachment were utilized to demolish the concrete slabs.

The company says its commitment to recycling and philosophy of being “green” was implemented throughout the demolition operations.  Metals, concrete and brick were sent offsite for recycling.  Wood timbers were salvaged and sent to a mill for reuse as architectural wooden beams and hardwood flooring.

Once demolition was completed, restoration activities were then implemented, the company says.  The site was backfilled with clean fill and then topped off with several inches of clean stone.  A perimeter chain link fence and access gates were installed and the sidewalks were repaired and restored.