Demolition Done! From House to Vacant Lot in 18 Days

A Saturday progress update from 31-01-26.

Our last post was on Tuesday 27-01-26, and a lot has happened since then. As of Friday afternoon, the demolition phase is officially complete. The final bin load—full of some seriously chunky concrete—is about to be hauled away.

The footings were massive for a residential house, likely because the external and internal beams excavations caved in during the original dig, so they just poured more concrete to fill the void rather than box/retain footing expansion. That explains the extra density!The site is now clear. All the remaining rubbish and the skip will be gone on Monday, leaving us with a blank canvas.

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A note on increased footing sizes due to overbreak: to comply with AS2870, AS3600, when the footing or beam increases, so too must the reinforcement to accommodate the new footing size. In addition, cover to reinforcement must be maintained, footing concrete is to be a minimum strength of 20Mpa often higher depending on soil acidity, exposure classification of site or uplift requirements of the structure.

In addition, this is another interesting point from AS3600 you too may find enlightening about footing construction:

"For strip footings and footings associated with a slab-on-ground with a habitable area above, a 200-μm DPM must be provided under the entire slab and footing and be returned up the edges of the slab/footing beam."

The demo team has been track rolling (compacting the soil) as they go, even though most of this area will be excavated for the basement. We have about 2,000 cubic meters of soil to remove!

Securing the Site & A Few Fixes

On Friday, we started putting up temporary fencing at the rear. We’ll add hoarding and sediment control fencing soon to keep everything safe and contained. We’ve made it easy to remove later with some simple bolts.

We’ve done our part to secure the site; if someone chooses to ignore that, it’s on them.We also had to get creative with the old jetty. It was originally on a slab, so we used an excavator to lift it up then refix it so the concrete path could be removed.

One of the hinge pins was rusted solid and had to be cut off with a grinder—we’ll remake that part later. For now, it’s safely propped up on blocks and temporarily fixed in place.

Temporary Power & Camera Relocation

Our temporary power setup needed a touch-up. The electricians didn’t glue the conduit bends, saying it was "only temporary." But for a two-year project, we need it to be a bit more robust, so we went around and glued all the joins so they stopped pulling apart.

We also had to move our site security camera

After pulling out the old stairs (which were pinned into the wall), we noticed the camera pole was starting to move out of plumb (and on the piss). Safety first! We used the small excavator to move it—a three-person job—and re-bolted it to a solid section of wall.

Then came the fun part for me: running new data cables in orange conduit, terminating the connections, and testing it all. I might talk about data cables a bit much, but I enjoy it and love when it all works!

The Inevitable Snag & A New BBQ Station

As often happens at the end of a long day when everyone is tired, we had a little mishap. The 25-ton excavator just clipped one of our awnings and buggered it. It’s beyond repair, so we’ll pull it down on Monday.

On a brighter note, we built a simple BBQ station on Friday! A bit of form ply and some treated timber on hinges created a fixed spot for the BBQ with a little serving area. A small comfort for the team on site.

What’s Next? Navigating Council & Finalising Designs

With the house gone, our focus shifts to paperwork. We’re finalising the Development Approval (DA). Council is asking for a specific letter regarding the coastal revetment wall before they issue the permit.

Getting engineers to sign off on something before their design is complete is tricky, so it’s been a slow three-week process. However, I’m optimistic after a good meeting with our Geotech engineer who is familiar with council and willing to help. Once we have the DA, we can:

  • Submit any operational works conditions to the civil engineer.
  • Finalise the hydraulic and structural designs (and their crucial Form 15s).
  • Gather insurance documents and submit everything to the certifier for the Building Approval (BA).

Then, we can finalise quotes for the sheet piling and dewatering system. Coordinating a fluid program here is critical, as dewatering is very expensive. The cost can rival the sheet piling itself if we’re not efficient!

Wrapping Up Demolition

Annnnddd, its gone!

southpark bank deposits - and its gone
crazy to think that in 18 days all traces of your home can be removed like it never existed!

What started as a 35-year-old two-story house is now a vacant site, ready for its next chapter, all in 18 days. The demolition phase is complete.

Thanks for following along, and I’ll see you next week with more updates!