Construction Job Stories any Job Subject for that matter....

[JAG1]

I have to tear down an old 70's house but the amount of asbestos tests required to have the dumpsters emptied at the Government run Waste station make it harder. We have gotten 4 tests done, each sample costs $48 bucks. We still need 4 more after I got the correct information from the dumpster company.

 

Makes it difficult when they have to wait in line while each load is inspected and all inspection reports are looked at. If any items can't be identified as having a test they will turn you down until it gets tested and comes up negative for asbestos. Yet we can drive 20 miles further and dump at a county run dump with no questions asked. Oh well.....

Edited January 28, 2018 by JAG1

[dripley]

Any time I am on job with a building demo a company is hired to come in and test everything in place. A report is written and submitted to the powers that be. At that time whatever has tested positive is dealt with and removed. Only then are we allowed to demo the building. I have however never done a house. Mine were all commercial and one multi family project. I cant imagine having every load checked at the land fill. Matter of fact one of the biggest violations I could make would be to release asbestos fibers to the air. Big no no out my way. Things are changing though. I am building a new CFA next to one that is about 13 or 14 years old. We will tear that one down after this one is complete. Due to the time frame it was built nothing is needed. 

 My house is of the same vintage as the one you are working on. I am allowed to demo any part of it and haul it to the dump no questions asked. I do have to haul to the dump myself though. If I hired a contractor it would be different story.

 

[JAG1]

I like how they do it out there better as it should be monitored with each building getting demoed not each load you take.

 

Used to let us burn a place by keeping the fire 10 ft x 10 ft. Just keep feeding the fire as it gets ripped apart only someone hid .22 ammo in one house. We all ran like hell on that job. Another one was an old barn and a nice chain saw rolled out of the bucket on the fire. My brother grabbed it so fast it was fine.

Edited January 28, 2018 by JAG1

[015point9]

3 hours ago, JAG1 said:

I have to tear down an old 70's house but the amount of asbestos tests required to have the dumpsters emptied at the Government run Waste station make it harder. We have gotten 4 tests done, each sample costs $48 bucks. We still need 4 more after I got the correct information from the dumpster company.

 

Makes it difficult when they have to wait in line while each load is inspected and all inspection reports are looked at. If any items can't be identified as having a test they will turn you down until it gets tested and comes up negative for asbestos. Yet we can drive 20 miles further and dump at a county run dump with no questions asked. Oh well.....

 

Sounds normal for putting screws to public.  One would think every dump within state would be the same rules.  After lots of reading getting rid of old siding...I found out if I double wrapped each bag and not over 35 pounds and with certain thickness of plastic I was OK.  Rules seem to on forever. 

But be thankful we don't have to re-cycle like Japan.  Watched a place getting demo'd close to base.  They had to strip off the plastic of wires and they pulled nails in all wood. 

[dripley]

 

When I have had asbestos removed it is usually double or triple bagged for disposal at a licensed facility. Depending on what material the asbestos is in dictates whether the contractor has tent the area they are working in or not. It can get quite expensive. 

 On my last job we encountered petroleum contaminated soil. While you just dig it up and haul it off like normal it goes to a special dump that was about a 100 mile trip. Trucking was quite high but the dump fees were much worse. I spent near $350k hauling that dirt off. It all came out of the hole for the biggest underground structure I ever installed on a site.

[Dieselfuture]

@dripley what is it supposed to be in your picture?

One time I remodeled a house that had some asbestos and called the dump, they told me just let us know when you get there, which I did and they had me back up to a hole they dug at dump, as son as I dumped my load it was buried and no questions asked, no extra fees.  they just wanted to make sure it was under dirt right away way.

Edited January 28, 2018 by Dieselfuture

[JAG1]

Dripley is that for parking lot catch basins and rain drains? It's cool lookin work anyway!

 

Where I have to tear that house down there is a nice drop off with a canyon on the place. Well when we did some logging last time we half buried all the cedar branches, a huge pile, and mixed them with dirt. In just a few years that pile rotted all away. It was big... really big and now its gone. You can see where I'm going with this, lol, but we would have to separate out everything and only bury the torn out wood framing.

[dripley]

@Dieselfuture, @JAG1 that thing is called a sand filter. It is about 35' wide, 65' long and 8' tall. All the rain water from the parking lot passes thru it. The chambers have perforated pipe in them buried in gravel with a layer of sand on top. You can see the gravel at the close end and the sand covering towards the other end. The structure will retain water as it slowly filters thru the media. Supposed to clean it up before discharging it to the storm system. The hole we dug was about 80' X 50' at the bottom. We had to bench the hole out at the top 40 longer to get in and out and about 25' wider to keep everyone safe. I wish I had had a better contractor for the job though. This guy made the job miserable. Kept wanting to go against the drawings expecting me to let him. We had 3 different entities inspecting the job plus me. He made life miserable for himself and could not see it. It was all my fault. Kinda took all the fun out of it.

 

One thing I have learned about asbestos is as long as it does not get airborne it is mostly harmless. The multifamily I did 20+ years ago had asbestos siding on them. The Hardi Board of its day I guess. We could encapsulate it under new siding, but any of it that was broken or lying had to be removed. Another weird thing was I could still go to Lowe's a buy it for small repairs.

[Mopar1973Man]

Should look up asbestos and see the history and what it's currently used in it might shock you.

[dripley]

On 1/29/2018 at 12:21 AM, Mopar1973Man said:

Should look up asbestos and see the history and what it's currently used in it might shock you.

In my day when I got into construction everything had asbestos in it. My first was in drywall and I sanded  and hung drywall never wearing a mask. As a carpenter I most likely cut a lot of materials with asbestos in. I am already contaminated.

[Dieselfuture]

It's amazing what human body can take and adopt to. But not all....