# A De-Construction Thread..



## simi-steading (Sep 27, 2012)

Well, I just bit off a huge bite to chew on... I've got an old house to disassemble for the lumber.. 

It's all dimension cut really old oak. No idea how old he house is, but an easy 100... 

The outside is clapboard oak, and the inside walls and floor are all oak tongue and groove plank.. Old tin roof.. 

I'll end up using a lot of it for flooring in my house.. then I'll turn the rest into arts for cash.. 

Just gonna be a huge job since it will be all me... Can't wait though, already looked at some of the wood.. beautiful stuff.. 

I'll get pictures up before and during.. It's going to be interesting ... part of it is already falling, so it's going to be a challenge to save as much as possible and not get hurt.


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## Snowfan (Nov 6, 2011)

Good luck and work safe. I know I'll be looking forward to the pictures.


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## fishhead (Jul 19, 2006)

I wonder if there is anything special about the oak beings that modern day oak grow in completely different conditions. The logs they are pulling from the bottom of Lake Superior are supposed to have really tight grain because of past growing conditions and sell for a premium for musical instruments.


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## Steve_S (Feb 25, 2015)

+1 on Snowfans comment. Easy does it and do it slowly & listen for noises the building makes as you disassemble it. Keep an eye out for "treasures". I've found things stashed in old places during demo process: cash (coin & paper), musket, revolver, some jewelry, etc... It is NOT unusual to find stashes in older homes as a lot of folks didn't trust banks (still shouldn't IMO) or were uncertain about their security in their area so they stashed weapons too... 

I'm sure you already know, that with the old wood that is tight grained and hard, to predrill before nailing through it. Check for nails & metal bits prior to tossing it on your tablesaw.


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## fishhead (Jul 19, 2006)

Steve_S said:


> +1 on Snowfans comment. Easy does it and do it slowly & listen for noises the building makes as you disassemble it. Keep an eye out for "treasures". I've found things stashed in old places during demo process: cash (coin & paper), musket, revolver, some jewelry, etc... It is NOT unusual to find stashes in older homes as a lot of folks didn't trust banks (still shouldn't IMO) or were uncertain about their security in their area so they stashed weapons too...
> 
> I'm sure you already know, that with the old wood that is tight grained and hard, to predrill before nailing through it. Check for nails & metal bits prior to tossing it on your tablesaw.


http://www.foxnews.com/story/2008/1...house-walls-becomes-contractor-nightmare.html


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## simi-steading (Sep 27, 2012)

Glad that wasn't my story, If I find anything it would all go back to the owner. and if he decided to be nice or not from there... *shrug*

I'm gonna start tomorrow morning....


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## GREENCOUNTYPETE (Jul 25, 2006)

I think If I was going to do a large deconstruction job I would weld or bolt a wonder bar to a shovel handle or make up your own pry bars 

by the end of day one I bet you figure out what makes you sore and how you could weld up a bar that is light and and the right angle to do what you want 

the big pry bars are often so heavy that they are a work out on their own 

I really like the roofing shovels http://www.razor-back.com/tool/shovels-and-scoops/46141-roof-shovel-with-fulcrum/ I have tried other tools that looked like they would be good but were to heavy 

I think a wonder bar on a short handled D grip shovel handle would be light and give good leverage for removing most of the dimensional lumber


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## GREENCOUNTYPETE (Jul 25, 2006)

fishhead said:


> http://www.foxnews.com/story/2008/1...house-walls-becomes-contractor-nightmare.html



he should have just taken the 10% and finished the job technically it was the home owners property , his job didn't change , just the time he wasted counting the other persons property.


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## GREENCOUNTYPETE (Jul 25, 2006)

other tricks are using the air chisel to get things started 

using a floor jack and 2x4 or doubled up 2x4 to push things apart 

jacks are great for pushing thing apart

cutting through the nails with the sawzall 

or one of my favorite time savers just cutting back a few inches with the chain saw , I loose a few inches from each end of the board but it saves a lot of time 

most of my demo isn't to save the wood so the chain saw is a favorite tool , I have a cheap Poulan that was free to me and is under powered enough that it doesn't rip cutters off the chain like my good saw if I do hit a nail , I try and cut where they shouldn't be


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## simi-steading (Sep 27, 2012)

I spent about 5 hours today out in sub 20 degree weather working on this. Already got most of the kitchen off.. it was probably the last addition to the house. It was still old oak tongue and groove inside and out mostly.. 

Got all the roof off the back two additions.. 

I need to get me a shower and get warmed up, and call the owner to talk about a few things, but I'll try and post a few pictures later this evening.

I've been getting by with pretty small hand tools.. a wrecking hammer, a couple small pry bars, and one 4 foot pry bar... It's coming apart a whole lot easier than I was imagining it was going to... At least so far, but nothing looks much worse than what I'm working on now. I do have my Milwaukee battery sawzall... One of my favorite tools.. .It is easier to cut the ends of boards some times than trying to pry it out.

I've already had a couple people say they are so glad to see it finally going. it is an eye sore, and it does make it hard to go around the corner and see what is around it...


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## simi-steading (Sep 27, 2012)

Here's one picture... Others can be seen at the link below.. I'm taking down the house, not the church.. Same person owns them though.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/dc-duo/sets/72157662863064780/with/24242419201/




























https://www.flickr.com/photos/dc-duo/sets/72157662863064780/with/24242419201/


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## Steve_S (Feb 25, 2015)

Ohhh My. Please be careful and take your time.


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## simi-steading (Sep 27, 2012)

Being real careful.. I can't even afford to step on a nail.. 

It's actually a little more solid than it looks..


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## fishhead (Jul 19, 2006)

Solid is better than 1/2 rotten and waiting to fall in on you when you aren't looking. Be safe and consider temporary bracing if things get too flimsy.


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## mreynolds (Jan 1, 2015)

simi-steading said:


> Well, I just bit off a huge bite to chew on... I've got an old house to disassemble for the lumber..
> 
> It's all dimension cut really old oak. No idea how old he house is, but an easy 100...
> 
> ...


The frame of my house is built entirely from old growth pine. It is awesome stuff. When I was a teenager my father and I deconstructed an old RR depot in Navasota Tx. It was built in the 1850's. Cant believe they wanted to tear it down. The rafters are 32' 2x10's and were the old joists for the depot. The outside studs are 4x6's. All knot free too. You seem to have found a gold mine there. Cant wait for pictures.


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## GREENCOUNTYPETE (Jul 25, 2006)

the oak trim in my 1909 house is so hard when I needed to trim just a bit off the bottoms of the door trim because I put ceramic tile in the bathroom that made the floor a 1/2 inch higher , I saw sparks coming off the carbide saw blade on my 12 inch miter saw , and it cut very slow 


Semisteading , I was envisioning a 2 story for some reason and in better shape , maybe because there seem to be no old single story houses here

another tool that comes in very handy more in construction where your building back onto the part you just demoed up to , is the angle grinder with a cut off wheel , just go along cutting all the nails flush is easier than trying to dig them all out and tearing up the wood they are in


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## simi-steading (Sep 27, 2012)

Problem with cutting off the nails is, I can't plane the wood down to fresh wood to stain if all the nails are left.. It's some really fat thick tight grained oak in the studs, rafters and joists.. .. I've already planed a little down to see what I'm getting.

I figure this house is probably going to be more of value as advertising for me than the wood is. I hope I can get a few more barns or houses to take down after the locals see how nice I leave the lot, and how well I keep thing cleaned up while doing the job... That corner is the main corner of this little community, so everyone around here has to drive past this house to go in and out of the area... I've already had one person stop and say they are so glad to see the place come down.

I will admit, the boards in this house aren't near as thick as the ones in my house. I was hoping it was, because that's a lot of really great tongue and groove to cut down to use as flooring in my house.. That was my main intention. Maybe I can still use some for a room or two.. I'll have to see how thick I can leave them after planing.

The rest of the wood, I'll be using for furniture and crafts type stuff... I may even end up selling some of it as primitive arts supplies or something...


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## GREENCOUNTYPETE (Jul 25, 2006)

yup , the grinder and leaving nails in and cut off is primarily for when your getting a good surface to build against and not for wood salvage 


I would be tempted to cut the bottom and top 4 inches off the studs often they get chewed up pulling nails from them any way , but it depends how they nailed them 2 strait in isn't bad , when they are toe nailed and end nailed cutting looks much better

hopefully they weren't as nail happy as I get , and you can save them all


the framing nailer just makes it too easy to put in a bunch of nails


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## simi-steading (Sep 27, 2012)

When they built small houses 100 years ago, thankfully they seemed to like to conserve nails..


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## mreynolds (Jan 1, 2015)

Just a thought, is any of that quarter sawn or rift sawn?


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## simi-steading (Sep 27, 2012)

mreynolds said:


> Just a thought, is any of that quarter sawn or rift sawn?


I haven't looked close enough at it, but just glancing at it, it doesn't appear to be so..


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## simi-steading (Sep 27, 2012)

I brought some lumbar home last night to plane it down and get a look at it.. some really beautiful stuff.. You have to remember this wood was cut over 100 years ago, so the grain on this stuff is really tight, since it would have been the first time a lot of places in this area had been cut.

All the exterior clapboard is true 1/2" poplar.. When it's planed down and oiled, OH WOW.. beautiful green and golds, and the wood looks like it's 2" deep looking into it.. 

I cut down one of the rafters and another OH WOW... super tight oak.. not quarter sawn, but boy will it all make some really heavy stout furniture.

The bottom sill beams on the house are for the most part all solid and unrotted.. maybe 1/3 of them are bad, but what isn't.. OH YEAH.. the front beam alone is about 30 feet long, and it's a solid 12x12" oak.. That's worth a ton of money on it's own.. All the corners are pinned mortise and tenons, and the joists are slotted into the sill.. 

Sure hope I can get busy soon and start turning some of this wood into paper... green paper that is..


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## texican (Oct 4, 2003)

Are you running a metal detector over your wood before planing? Salvage wood I've gotten always seems to have hidden nails everywhere.... been 'fraid' of trying to actually plane any of it (no metal detector yet)....


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## simi-steading (Sep 27, 2012)

Yep.. I check it with a detector first.. blades are too expensive.. I just pulled the rollers off my planer yesterday and sent them in to have them recovered.. It's an old cast iron makita..


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## Michael W. Smith (Jun 2, 2002)

GREENCOUNTYPETE said:


> Semisteading , I was envisioning a 2 story for some reason and in better shape , maybe because there seem to be no old single story houses here.


Yes, me too - I was expecting a two story house.

I don't know - that house doesn't seem in any kind of "good" condition at all. I think I'd be inclined to take a match to it - rather than all the labor it seems that it would take.

I know one guy called me that was taking down an old house - a 2 story house - and he called me because there was honey bees in the wall. It turned out the honey comb in the walls was old, and the bees coming around were just looking for a new place to move into.

This house was a 2 story house - and the guy had agreed to take it down for his neighbor. I think the deal was he tore down the house and cleaned it up, and the guy got to keep whatever he wanted.

I couldn't believe the house when I walked in. It was an old house and was filled with stuff. The kitchen still had the stove, cupboards with dishes in, bedrooms with old beds, dressers, etc.

Sadly, the people had seemed to be hoarders - and I think at the end were removed and put into a nursing home. The neighbor ended up buying the house and I'm not sure how long it was empty. My guess was probably for 20 years or so. 

A lot of the furniture was in bad condition - as part of the house had leaked, but some of the rooms were still okay - just very old, very used furniture that was mostly junk.

I hope you plan on scrapping the old stove and all the metal and such you find to get at least a little bit of money for your time.

Good luck.


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## simi-steading (Sep 27, 2012)

I plan to get the stove and some other metal to our postal peole.. they collect and sell scrap. I don't get enough to make it worth the while, and even if I did get a lot, it's way too much work for too little money. Metal isn't going for much right now.. 

As far as the wood in this building, there is a ton of money to be made off it. Just the sill beams are several thousand dollars worth of timber sold as is... ... Like I said, all the timber is dimension cut, and it's all oak... it's worth a whole lot of money, especially if I turn it into furniture...


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