Taking part of a building away while the rest stays standing and, usually, stays in use. Rear extensions, chimney stacks, upper floors, outriggers and whole wings removed, with the remaining structure propped, made weathertight and left safe. This is the careful end of demolition and it is mostly about what you leave, not what you take.
Anything the removed section was holding up gets propped or needled first, designed rather than eyeballed where the loads justify it. Party walls, floors bearing into the section coming out and roofs that lose a support all get dealt with before the first block moves.
Where the building is attached, the party wall is the whole job. We work to the award if one is in place, protect the neighbour side, and expose and make good rather than break through and patch. Neighbours get told what is happening and when it will be noisy.
The exposed face is made good the same week, not left under a tarpaulin until the builder turns up. Openings closed, flashings and abutments dealt with, and the wall left in a state your next trade can build off.
Close quarters work is done with saws, crushers and nibblers rather than a bucket and momentum. Slower on the day, but it is the difference between a clean line at the junction and cracked plaster through the rooms you are keeping.
Yes, and that is most of what partial demolition is. The junction gets cut rather than pulled, anything bearing into the extension is propped first, and the exposed wall is made good and weathertight before we leave. The risk in this work is almost always vibration and momentum, so the machine is sized down and the cutting is done with the right attachment.
If the work affects a wall you share with a neighbour, then usually yes, and it is served before work starts rather than after somebody complains. We are not surveyors and we will not pretend to be, but we will tell you when we think a notice is needed and we work to the award once it is in place.
Yes. Stacks come down by hand from a scaffold or tower rather than being knocked, the flues are capped or the breast is left properly supported, and the roof is made good around the opening. If the stack is shared with next door only your half comes down and the party flue gets weathered.
That is the point of the temporary works. Where the building stays occupied we sequence the job so the live parts stay separated and secure, dust screening goes in, and anything structural is propped before it is exposed. If a stage genuinely means the building cannot be used for a day or two we tell you that up front.
We leave the structure safe, weathertight and clean, with the cut line straight and openings closed. Finishing trades, plaster, render and decoration are your builder rather than us, but you should not need him to undo anything we have done.
Run from the yard at Poorsland Barn near Clitheroe, with machines out across Lancashire and into Yorkshire and Greater Manchester most weeks. Getting somebody out to look at a building is rarely more than a few days away.
Call for a free site visit and a written price that covers the take-down, the clearance and the disposal.