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Silo demolition.

wolc123

By wolc123,
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wolc123 Grand Master

wolc123

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I knocked off the scary part of this spring project this morning.   It only took about 20 minutes of swinging a sledge hammer to bring it down.

I can't help but wonder how long it took my great great grandfather and crew to put it up in the 1880's.  The foundation will make a nice fire pit.

Now comes the time consuming part:  cutting up the iron bands with a torch, and sorting the rubble to separate the busted blocks from the relatively intact ones.

 

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wolc123 Grand Master

wolc123

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1 minute ago, mlammerhirt said:

Pretty cool wolc.....beautiful day in WNY to get some early spring work done. How tall was the silo?

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I probably should have measured it.  The "still standing" barn next to it has a 16 ft wall, so I will guess about 25 feet.

Now that the silo is down the path is clear to pull the barn frame down in that direction.  Our house and my new pole barn are on the other end, both in striking distance.

I still have some junk to clean out of that old barn and about 1/3 of the siding to strip, before I can pull down the frame.

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wolc123 Grand Master

wolc123

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26 minutes ago, mowin said:

Ok, so you knocked a hole in it. How did you get it to fall? 

That picture shows just the first block pounded out.  I had to pound out about half of the first course of blocks (on the side I wanted it to fall).   Gravity is your friend on a job like this, and so is your running shoes.

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mowin Veteran

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15 minutes ago, wolc123 said:

That picture shows just the first block pounded out.  I had to pound out about half of the first course of blocks (on the side I wanted it to fall).   Gravity is your friend on a job like this, and so is your running shoes.

Well, my hats off too you. There would be no way in hell I'd stand there breaking out blocks waiting for that thing to fall... 

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wolc123 Grand Master

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2 hours ago, Robhuntandfish said:

Would be cool to make a fire pit out of the concrete that your grandfather poured.  

My grandfather's grandfather poured that one.     He didn't hold a very uniform wall thickness.  It looks like it varies from about a foot, to almost 20 inches.    I will probably try to drill thru it, in a few spots at the thinner sections, so water can drain out.

I finished cutting up all the steel bands, thankfully not running out of oxygen or acetylene.   I dragged them all north, to the shady side of the barn first, so I didn't get sunburned.  Plus, I thought I would run out of gas and need to finish with an electric cutoff wheel, and I had closer power up there.

The 12 foot diameter, 140 year old, concrete fire pit will be a step up from my cut off air compressor tank. No fire in it until the old barn is down though, so we will have to get another season out of the red tank.

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mowin Veteran

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4 hours ago, wolc123 said:

My grandfather's grandfather poured that one.     He didn't hold a very uniform wall thickness.  It looks like it varies from about a foot, to almost 20 inches.    I will probably try to drill thru it, in a few spots at the thinner sections, so water can drain out.

I finished cutting up all the steel bands, thankfully not running out of oxygen or acetylene.   I dragged them all north, to the shady side of the barn first, so I didn't get sunburned.  Plus, I thought I would run out of gas and need to finish with an electric cutoff wheel, and I had closer power up there.

The 12 foot diameter, 140 year old, concrete fire pit will be a step up from my cut off air compressor tank. No fire in it until the old barn is down though, so we will have to get another season out of the red tank.

I'm thinking what a campfire it would be and hopefully spreads to the barn.  Seriously long sticks for SMORS. 

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rob-c Experienced

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8 hours ago, wolc123 said:

That picture shows just the first block pounded out.  I had to pound out about half of the first course of blocks (on the side I wanted it to fall).   Gravity is your friend on a job like this, and so is your running shoes.

So glad you didn’t make Funniest home videos . Feels good nocking projects off the list .. 

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wolc123 Grand Master

wolc123

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25 minutes ago, Pygmy said:

Jobs like that aren't for me...I can't run that fast anymore....

I'd have gladly helped, though, by standing by ( 50 yards away) to dial 911....

I did have to run pretty fast.  The bulk of it fell in the direction I wanted it to go, but a few blocks buckled and shot towards me, just before it went over.

 

 

 

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wolc123 Grand Master

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7 hours ago, Moho81 said:

This sounds like the type of excitement I’m up for. Give me a ring on the next one. Lol.


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I hope to pull the barn frame down by the end of the summer.  I completed the dismantling of a twin, slightly older barn a couple years ago.   I had removed all the siding, and cut out many of the diagonal braces at the corners of the timber frame.  Before I could pull it down, it fell on it's own. 

I was at work at the time and my kids were in the house.  They said it sounded like two semi trucks had crashed on the road in front of the house.  Looking out the window, they saw a huge cloud of dust.  When it cleared, the barn was down, with 4 layers of asfault shingles on top of cedar shakes crushing it as flat as a pancake.

The barn I am taking apart now has a lean towards our house, so I obviously dont want a repeat of that previous performance.  I currently have it cabled to a tree out back, so it cant fall forward.  When I finish removing all the siding, my plan is to pull it down towards the back with my largest tractor, and a snatch block and cable to double my pull force.  We will definitely make a video of that.

 

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wolc123 Grand Master

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12 hours ago, Merlot said:

epic old barn. If those barn walls could talk...

Lots of stories for sure.  Last night, we were out playing cards with some family and friends.  My aunt told a story of when her and my uncle were kids (he still lives next door to us).  They were out in that barn after dark, and he told her that it was haunted by the ghost of a neighbor.  He hung himself in it, sometime around WW I.  

My dad has told us about that many times when we were kids. The guys name was Jake.  I wonder which beam he used, looking at the picture in my previous post.

You can still see half of the "3" board up near the peak in that photo.  That is all that remains of the "1883" that was cut out from the siding boards up there, marking the year that my great great grandad built it.  I was too scared of heights to climb up that high and remove it gently, and it broke across the middle of the 3 when I tried to pull it down.

I did salvage the "18" in one piece.  I used that, along with a "20", on which I tried to match the font with a jigsaw, to mark the year that my new pole barn went up.  I also used many of the old hand hewn posts & beams, and siding boards to make a hayloft and workshops inside the new metal pole barn.

It is sad to see the end of those old barns, but a lot of them will hopefully live on for many years inside the new metal structure.  

 

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9 hours ago, Pygmy said:

Jobs like that aren't for me...I can't run that fast anymore....

I'd have gladly helped, though, by standing by ( 50 yards away) to dial 911....

Besides, that sledge hammer likely had no motor. Powered by Armstrong may not cut it any more.

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