Demolition

Demolition is the first stage of almost every renovation. It can be small, like stripping out the tiles and bathtub in a bathroom, or bigger, like knocking down an inside wall or taking an old floor back to the slab. It is usually done with breakers and hammer drills, taking care not to damage what stays: the neighbouring walls, the pipework, the floor underneath.

Before it starts, the water and power are shut off where work will be done, and it is checked whether any wall is load-bearingLoad-bearing wallA wall that carries part of the building's weight, such as floors, beams or the storeys above. It must not be removed or opened up without an engineer's design and the required permit.. Structural elements are not touched without an engineer and a permit.

Demolition makes noise, dust and a lot of rubbleDebris (rubble)The waste that comes out of demolition and building work: broken tiles, render, bricks and concrete. It is collected in bags and has to be disposed of legally.. Furniture and rooms not being worked on are covered or closed off, and the rubble is bagged and taken away legally. Often it is only once the old materials come out that the real state of things underneath shows, such as damp, worn-out pipes or rusted steelRebar corrosionRust on the steel bars inside concrete. Rusting steel swells, cracks the concrete around it and makes it fall away in pieces, leaving the bars exposed..