# Forum Home Renovation Demolition  recycling a demolished house

## GrahamC

Does anyone have any idea what percentage of a demolition of double brick house actually gets recycled? I was at the recycle centre the other day and one poor guy got his load of 'bricks' (bricks + dirt + roots) put back into his truck.  It seems to me that the standard demo is to knock everything down as quickly as possible and maybe take it to a sorting area and try to sort it. I can't really see how effective it would be to try to sort it and that most of it would simply end up at general rubbish.<O :Tongue: </O :Tongue:  <O :Tongue: </O :Tongue:   You might say big deal, but these days in Sydney at around $150 a ton for general rubbish, it really isn't that cheap just to throw a whole house away.<O :Tongue: </O :Tongue:

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## Bloss

3/5 of 5/8 of bugger all is the simple answer. Varies between states quite a bit, but construction is one of the most wasteful and energy costly activities we do. One of the reasons the land fill charge is so high is to encourage the use of building material recycling centres which accept certain loads at a lower cost - but there aren't many of them. Some of the better ones use concrete and bricks etc to create aggregate for road-base and other uses, but few actually treat for re-use.  
A big problem as it is with all waste is that it becomes contaminated (ie: mixed up) early in the demolition and removal stage as it is generally cheaper to simply smash it into a single pile and remove it as a load of 'rubbish'. Of course we all pay for the cost of managing the waste stream whether we contribute to it ourselves or are careful not too do so as much as others. 
Until we have an economic system that works on cradle to grave life-cycle accounting we will have that cost-shifting. For building waste it is the same as general waste - the manufacturers have no incentive to use less packaging or make it easier to re-use or recycle as the cost of waste management is passed onto taxpayers (generally through local governments). 
This is fairly recent - up until the late 60s it was still not uncommon for bricks to be cleaned for re-use, but gradually that changed as labour costs rose and the materials fell due to more efficient production (using fossil fuel based machinery and automation). I suspect that will revert over time as the costs of our current wasteful use of liquid fuels increases - even given the current financial situation (which will end as others always have). 
Off me soap box now (for a while anyway!)  :Biggrin:

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## SilentButDeadly

You can actually hire a brick crusher on-site and the result can then be disposed of as 'general fill'.  If you get a pro to do it then they may make the effort to ensure it is uncontaminated so it can be sold as 'brick waste' to a contracted buyer... 
The only way a recycling centre would take them is as clean bricks....preferably on a pallet. 
A good demolition is no longer a ripshitandbust affair........a bit like housebuilding really.

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## GrahamC

Ok, I have finally done it. I have recycled all the brick walls using non powered hand tools. I think there was 60-80 tons of bricks. Now I am just left with the floorboards and sandstone foundations. It was a bit of effort - but I did it. I also now have some decent biceps.

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## Bloss

Goodonya - the way of the past, the way of the future and you've done it now!  :2thumbsup:  For my sins I once cleaned and re-stacked 60,000 sandstock bricks from a former police station that my Dad had demolished.  Sure does put some muscle into your muscles!  :Biggrin:

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## seriph1

no offence but hearing that you're breaking up bricks and sandstone foundations not only sounds like a huge amount of work, it sounds like you're demolishing a period home, which would be a real shame. But obviously i have not seen the house so maybe it was all beyond saving. 
If you were in Melbourne, there is a huge recycling plant that crushes bricks to use in roadbed. The plant cost 25 million and paid for itself in 19 months.

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## Bloss

> no offence but hearing that you're breaking up bricks and sandstone foundations not only sounds like a huge amount of work, it sounds like you're demolishing a period home, which would be a real shame. But obviously i have not seen the house so maybe it was all beyond saving.
> .

  GrahamC can no doubt answer himself, but not many 'period' homes in Artarmon. More likely one built in the 20s or 30s - See:  http://www.artarmonprogress.org.au/H...ion/index.html 
Surely the choice about retaining and restoring a house or demolishing and rebuilding is for the owner - unless there is a heritage assessment that indicates special features to be preserved?  :Confused:  There can really be no valid argument for an unchanging streetscape unless progress and human imagination is to be denied and supplanted by some idealised notion of 'good design' or 'better time' - a recipe for decay rather than renewal. BTW - my preference is for older style houses - pre-Federation, and I would try to preserve if I bought one, although bring it up to modern energy efficiency as best I could, but that's just me . . . 
In any case he has taken the time and effort to dismantle the house and preserve the building materials - an approach that should be applauded IMO.   :brava: 
No additional energy waste involved other than his personal exertion, and the high value of the bricks is able to be re-used by him or another home builder rather than wasting more fossil fuel downgrading the bricks utility to become low value fill or road-base.  :2thumbsup:

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## GrahamC

The house is actually in Freshwater. I live in Artarmon. It was built around 1949. I know this because I found the lino was lined with a paper dated some time in April, 1949. I have since found papers dated, 1950, 1951 and 1970. All quite readible. Definely post war construction and definitely not heritage listed.  
Thanks Bloss for your support. Fortunately I have a very supportive wife and daughter as well - as long as I don't kill / seriously injure myself and come home for dinner, they are happy.

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## Bloss

> The house is actually in Freshwater.   
> Thanks Bloss for your support. Fortunately I have a very supportive wife and daughter as well - _as long as I don't kill / seriously injure myself_ and come home for dinner, they are happy.

  Always too real a possibility in the building game - especially demolition!  :Frown:  I like Freshwater too although haven't been there for yonks.  :Smilie:

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## seriph1

> GrahamC can no doubt answer himself, but not many 'period' homes in Artarmon. More likely one built in the 20s or 30s - See:  http://www.artarmonprogress.org.au/H...ion/index.html 
> Surely the choice about retaining and restoring a house or demolishing and rebuilding is for the owner - unless there is a heritage assessment that indicates special features to be preserved?  There can really be no valid argument for an unchanging streetscape unless progress and human .....

  You won't find any argument from me, except to say that I don't believe my statement in any way criticised graham for what he was doing, but the examples of streetscapes ruined by modern so-called designs are everywhere. If I did offend, I apologise sincerely. 
For mine, Graham displays an excellent awareness of responsible practices/desires, and while I agree that an owner for the most part should have the right to apply for a permit to d whatever they want, everyone would recognise that at times, people do things that are inappropriate regardless of who may be affected or what the laws may be. This still has no bearing on my sadness if a significant period home is demolished because the owner (or let's be honest, more often a developer who couldn't care less about a home or its heritage value) decided they want to utterly fill the entire block with units.

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## Bloss

Steve - I think we are in furious agreement . . . re-reading my post it seems a bit tetchy - must've been a 'bad hair' hour  :Blush7:  . . .  :Biggrin:

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## jatt

Sorry its not meant as a hijack, but I saved heaps of $ putting the secondhand freebies one gets to good use. 
Got onto a demo site (old abbotoir) and got them to dump 3 truck loads of bricks (for free) out the back.  Chose this site mainly because the mortar was easy to chip off.  Did my homework!  They jumped at offer cause it was costing them to dump at the tip.  Specified minimal conc/rio/garbage amonst it and they came thru :2thumbsup: 
Ended up becoming my paving in the carport and hard standing for trailer. 
Lets not forget crushed conc.  Stuff was great for driveway and as a base under sand for the shed, packs down well, less wash away than crushed gravel. 
Currently dismantling a skillion section of an old weather board.  The only bits I am chucking out are the plasterboard, random groove panelling and insulation.  Its about $80 bucks a tonne (according to the bin guy) to dump building rubbish here. 
Got fences to build at the new place, so those hardwood floor joists/bearers and roofing iron already have a home.

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## seriph1

love recycling, which reminds me  -  I need more sheds!

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## Studricho

Back on the topic of the house demolition recycling... 
The guy I do same casual work for is a tad OCD. He is a neat freak and he's in the demo game. 
When we pull down a house all the un-painted timbers are returned to the yard to be chopped up for fire wood. 
Any aluminum windows, stainless steel sinks and copper pipes are collected for scrap metals. 
Any roof tiles and bricks are taken to a place where they have a huge crusher to be re-used as road base. 
There's no much left over once all the stuff that can be sorted is. I've just talked him into keeping some of the old hard wood timbers that are long, thick and straight. 
He kept using them for fire wood...

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## Ronaldo451

There is a brick recycling plant at Kurnell - sells crushed brick dust for $4.00 per ton which is a great alternative to road base. Unortunately they only accept and sell in Commercial quantities - ie, big tipper truck loads..

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## GraemeCook

> Ok, I have finally done it. I have recycled all the brick walls using non powered hand tools. I think there was 60-80 tons of bricks. Now I am just left with the floorboards and sandstone foundations. It was a bit of effort - but I did it. I also now have some decent biceps.

  Possibly a bit late for you now, Graham, but mortar comes off bricks (and sandstone) fairly easily using a high pressure hose. 
Cheers 
Graeme

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## GrahamC

Thanks for that tip. In in the process of salvaging the sand stone for use of lining some of the garage. Any ideas as to what pressure I need for removing the mortar?

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## GraemeCook

> Thanks for that tip. In in the process of salvaging the sand stone for use of lining some of the garage. Any ideas as to what pressure I need for removing the mortar?

  No, just trial and error. Pressure dial nob and nozzle distance. 
I used a small Karcher to get the lime mortar off  a couple of truck loads of old sandstock bricks (c1850).   Too little pressure doesn't work,  too much damages the bricks. 
Cheers 
Graeme

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