Commercial & Industrial Demolition Debris: The Role of Breakers & Hammers

Every industry has its own “must-have” tools, and industrial demolition is no exception to this rule. Demolition contractors rely on their tools to tear down office buildings, factories and industrial plants. Today we’re examining how breakers and hammers are used in industrial demolition.

The Role of Breakers and Hammers in Industrial Demolition

Breakers and hammers break apart concrete and other hard materials such as refractory brick. Some hammers and breakers also have attachments for asphalt cutting. The main reason breakers and hammers are so important today is that modern industrial demolition contractors selectively remove building materials. While yesterday’s demolition contractors relied mainly on unpredictable tools such as explosives and wrecking balls, current industrial demolition is far more precise. Contractors and clients alike aim to isolate materials that may be recycled, such as scrap metal and concrete. A generation ago, most of these materials were sent to the landfill. Today, it’s possible to recycle (and recover value from) at least half of a building’s construction materials.

The Use of Breakers and Hammers in Green Demolition

Green demolition involves recycling as much as possible from a demolition project. For instance, more and more companies are choosing to recycle concrete on site, which requires powerful breakers and hammers. Breakers and hammers break concrete chunks into smaller bits that are small enough to feed into crushers. These crushers can then turn out evenly sized gravel bits. We use a mobile crusher called the 428 Trackpactor to turn thousands of tons of concrete debris into gravel, which may then be use for pipe bedding, as a sub-base layer for roads or as structural fill, among other uses.

Hammers and breakers are also critical tools for separating scrap metal, such as rebar, from concrete. The scrap metal may then be recycled.

Some breakers may be equipped with attachments for other purposes, such as soil compaction. For green demolition companies like Elder Demolition, soil compaction is an important part of doing business – primarily because many cities and states require compaction to prevent erosion.

The bottom line is that hammers and crushers are tools of precision for companies specializing in green demolitions.

[Photo by: Highways Agency, via CC License]