Okay, I have an old >100-year-old homestead home I need demolished. I have talked to three different small companies that say they will do it but can't seem to get them there to get it knocked down and haul away.

These guys owners of the company's I know personally, and all are very busy with other work than demolition jobs. The old ranch house is 28 long and 14 wide one story maybe 10 feet high. One third was an add on in early 40's.

So, other options I would have are burn it down and then clean it up or dig a hole and have someone push it in and burn than cover. The problem is getting someone there to do it.

Should I burn it down or what would you suggest. I would like to build back on the cement walls that are there now.

heat from a fire will be hard on 100 year old concrete

I would not burn it down,the heat from the fire could damage the concrete.

When I did my old farmhouse the cheapest option by far was to dig a hole, push it in and burn it, so that's what I did. The landfill fees would have been outrageous.
Also, that is probably the qucickest option for your contractor to complete so maybe they can work you in sooner.

If its in a safe place to burn, check with your local fire company. They'll sometimes burn them down for you, for training porposes.

See if a local fire department wants to burn it down and use the burning building for training purposes. My great-grandmother did that with a house on her property when I was about 13. Super fun to watch.

I hear, can't confirm, but I have heard that if you take the windows out and fill the entire house with brush 2 inch or less and really pack it in, that the fire will be so hot that the only thing left over will be the steel items. Supposedly even the fiberglass insulation will melt into a puddle.

some areas the only legal way is a track hoe, dump truck and landfill. not cheap. might could find somebody willing to tear it down for the lumber. that takes awhile to do even with 2-3 people.

Ckecking with the local fire departments is a good idea. However, when I checked they had a waiting list of old houses to choose from. They were in no hurry to do mine. Hopefully your local department won't have so many prospects!

Gas leaks I hear make them disappear, lol.

If you can rent an excavator with a thumb and have someone drop off dumpsters you'd be surprised how few bigt dumpsters it takes to get rid of a house.

Any Amish close by, maybe you could give it to them. Maybe you could rent a backhoe.?

Check with your local fire department.

Sometimes they are looking for structures to use for training. They will burn it down for free and do it 100% in a safe and controlled manner.



This was the trailer used for training firefighters. I was the last class who used it. The fire department just finished building a new training center , so I got to burn my school down. One item checked off the 'bucket list'....lol

I had a old farm house on the land I bought that we lived in till we built new.took everything out that was salvageable knocked it down and burnt it on a real foggy night. But it was a limestone basement that we didn't want to rebuild on.

Nothing around there for miles so safe burning would be a none issue. I'm not totally concerned if cement footer walls are not saved or not. I still would be able to build over top of that main bunk house.

The only real problem I could see if I burned it down is the carbon mess I would have when I rebuild on that site. It may not be that big of a deal but not sure.

I might have them dig a hole right beside the bunkhouse and push it in and burn. The other option some had noted is fire dept. for an exercise. I might contact fire dept. and give them 1500$ donation for burning it down and see what they say. I could deduct charity donation from taxes.

Open a propane tank in the basement then a half hour or so later use a remote igniter.
make sure you record it for Utube.

I would check with building department to see if an asbestos survey is needed first. A property-owner I trap on, demoed a house and the Labor Dept shut him down and fined him $25,000 for not doing an asbestos survey.

Unless it’s been recently re done I would not rebuild on 100 year old cement , fire or no fire.

Do you need to rebuild exactly on the same site? otherwise burning in an adjacent hole would probably suffice, your gonna need fill to level that spot anyway so no problem with the ash and burnt chunks

In my area, there are lots of people who tear down old houses and barns in exchange for the wood, brick, stone walls, slate roof and tin roof to resell to rich people who basically use the old materials as decoration. Even old windows often have value. Typically the contracts require the salvagers to haul off or bury everything left on site.

Old lightning rods and architectural iron can bring big money. Old wood floors can too.

You may have people in your area that also salvage old building materials.

Keith