Dallas Contracting Co., Inc.
Dismantles and Salvages Wood From Old Buildings
by Damon Kozul, PE, CHMM

South Plainfield, New Jersey, October 2006 ­ Dallas Contracting Co., Inc., a specialized contractor providing demolition services, onsite concrete aggregate crushing, equipment salvage and scrap metal recycling to various industries, recently completed the dismantlement and salvage of wood from numerous old buildings in Newark, New Jersey. The dismantlement scope is a smaller portion of a larger total chemical plant demolition project.

Dallas Contracting has had significant experience with salvaging of wood beams and planks and knew that the salvaging efforts would not only be profitable but would also be environmentally friendly. An engineering estimate was conducted on the wood beam and plank buildings for salvage value of the yellow pine timbers and it was decided that saving of the wood made both economic sense (the salvaged wood materials can be sold) as well as an environmentally conscientious decision (wood materials re-utilized versus transporting to landfill for disposal). The buildings to be dismantled consisted of five (5) 100 + year old, multi-story buildings with an approximate footprint of 75,000 square feet. Each of the buildings was constructed similarly and composed of brick walls, wood plank floors, wood support beams and timbers and a wooden roof. It was determined that the wood building materials were composed of a mix of short leaf and long leaf Yellow Pine and some Douglas Fir.

A dedicated crew was utilized to dismantle the buildings with a separate crew dedicated to preparation and loading of the bundled salvaged wood materials. An experienced dismantlement crew consisting of 6-8 laborers, a skid steer, a lull and a forklift worked in the buildings to safely and efficiently salvage the wood materials. This crew then brought the salvaged wood materials to a staging area where another crew, consisting of 3-4 laborers, a forklift, banding machine and various hand tools, worked to strip the wood of nails, cut off broken ends, stack, band and then load the materials onto flatbeds destined for the salvage yard.

Nearly 100,000 board feet of salvaged wood materials were reclaimed from the buildings. The reclaimed timbers and planking were either milled into new timbers or new flooring. A minimal amount of wood waste was generated for offsite disposal. Another benefit was that the remaining brick materials were very clean of any debris which made future onsite crushing easier. The entire dismantlement project was done without accident or injury.

Company Name: Dallas Contracting Co., Inc.
Website: http://www.dallascontracting.com
Author: Damon Kozul, PE, CHMM
E-Mail: info@dallascontracting.com
Address: 1260 New Market Avenue
City: South Plainfield
State: NJ
Zip: 07080