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Exterior Demolition on the Victorian in Rowley, Massachusetts

Tim Berky, the general contractor on the Victorian remodel in Rowley, Massachusetts, explains the sequence of exterior demolition and foundation work to Bob. The first task is to contact Dig Safe to get clearance to excavate outside the existing back entrance to the home. Berky cuts into the existing driveway so that they can dig out the foundation and steps without damaging the rest of the driveway. The concrete stairs need to be removed, but it's important to maintain the foundation. Berky first excavates around the base of the stairs and uses a jack hammer to see if the stairs are poured against the foundation or independent of it. The crew discovers they are poured against the brick foundation and brings a large excavator with a pneumatic hammer to break up the stairs and to pull them away from the foundation. Berky will excavate to 48 inches deep to ensure that the new foundation wall is below the frost line.

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Excavation and Foundation Work on the Rowley Victorian Now Playing

Excavation and Foundation Work on the Rowley Victorian

Tour of the Victorian Interior Now Playing

Tour of the Victorian Interior

Exterior Demolition on the Victorian in Rowley, Massachusetts Now Playing

Exterior Demolition on the Victorian in Rowley, Massachusetts

Massachusetts Queen Anne Victorian Now Playing

Massachusetts Queen Anne Victorian

Reviewing Plans for Updating the Victorian Now Playing

Reviewing Plans for Updating the Victorian

Clip Transcript For:

Exterior Demolition on the Victorian in Rowley, Massachusetts

computer-generated transcript - may not be 100% accurate

" Now explain to us your approach is I mean does the job that involves some interior work as well as some exterior work in what are you getting done today. Well our first approach is to do everything on the exterior part of a home that way we accomplish minimal disruption to the homeowners inside while they're waiting for the renovation. I first approach is naturally calling dig safe and having dig safe come down -- mark everything safely the construction of the home. And I just feel safe didn't you generally can tell you if you have any gas lines or any kind of pipes around the area that you're going to be excavating -- it would be a problem. Correct we're not sure of buried pipes that could be running off in any part of these properties. Doing so what you've done here -- you've already taken."

" Run us through it step by step. Early this morning we actually came in and cut the pavement here so you minimize the disturbing -- rest of the driveway here the working area that we're in right now as you can see had a large concrete set of stairs. We brought a small jackhammer in just a deal to see how that was attached to the old brick foundation. My concern was whether it was actually built in and around north it was actually just poured up against we found out that it became poured up against. So what we've had made the next attempt was would be back always to actually bring out the corner of the and try to pull the stairs away from the."

" How to pull the whole thing away from the house correct. And as we started pulling the stairs away we noticed that the brick in the background here were actually started to pull width depth yeah. So and a brick in the background are the foundation of the house absolutely sure so what was the next thing you did so we stopped we made a phone call and actually brought in -- I just admitted with a hammer on it to actually break down the stairs. I'm concerned. Certainly was to protect the existing foundation. And so the big pneumatic hammer on the big machine makes quick work out of it absolutely we have been hampered the rest of the day just working of that small jacket you. And so now we're at the point that we removed all that had to be removed. And we're excavating how much more digging is involved here. We're we're going to excavate down to a depth of 48 inches. To be the bottom of the footing below the frost line yes good will let you get back to work."

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