DIY
Best way to push this over without busting out my windows.
Got this rotted old gazebo in the backyard, took all the cedar shingles off and reduced the weight. How do I go about taking down the rest of the structure without it collapsing?
Discussion
Disassemble it piece by piece, starting with the top-center working outward, then the cross beams between the posts, then the posts themselves, while always ensuring that the most load-bearing elements are removed last. Use an impact drill wherever there are decking screws, or a sawsall where the screws are stubborn.
You do not want this thing to fall. It could harm you, the deck underneath, or the walls of your house. Uncontrolled demolition is always dangerous and risky, and not to be done DIY. Defer to the safer option: controlled demo.
Luckily just some old patio stones underneath so no risk to other decking. Unfortunately I'm a few hours from my usual kit (in storage). This came up out of the blue. Thanks for your advice.
You're welcome. Just remember to keep yourself safe, and to not rush it. You're not paying for labor or materials, so you can take as much time as you need. Wait on it a bit and grab your tools from storage. You could probably knock this down over a weekend or two with proper planning.
And I'll say it again: do not rush it! Safety first!
Weekend or two? The whole thing weighs maybe 800lbs. Cover the windows, cut out the center in chunks that you can easily manage, and then cut the rest of the sections down. two people with a single power saw, and a couple of plywood boards to protect the windows, you could safely have this down in an afternoon. If you had to use hand tools, it might take 6 hours of work to have it down in pieces small enough to be certain you won't hurt yourself.
A hacksaw with a wood cutting blade is more than enough to get it down in a weekend by yourself. If you had a sawsall, you could have it down in a couple hours, maybe 3 including cleaning up and sweeping up the wood chips/sawdust. It only looks 10' high and maybe 8' across with a little 4' section to cover the gap from the door.
If its rotted, it will be even lighter and faster. You just need to start with the heavy central bit until each leg is only attached to as much wood as you can carry.
Hell with a hammer, and no saws, I bet I could get this apart in a single day while taking my time and taking some breaks.
The framing for this gazebo probably took a weekend to put up and then a second day to shingle it. Why would you think it takes longer to take it apart?
Because I'm assuming that OP is gonna take their sweet time and not let the thing fall on them. It also appears that there's lots of deck screws that would eat through a sawsall blade, so that takes a little extra time to remove.
I wouldn't advise to chop it up into chunks, because OP might not be savvy enough to understand which pieces are load-bearing or not (no offense, just a safe assumption). Better to play it safe and disassemble down to the most obvious structural elements: the corner roof braces, the center hexagon, and the vertical posts. Cutting into any of those could cause it to collapse prematurely, perhaps while OP is up on a ladder. I don't want them getting hurt.
Yeah, I'm not going on top again. Slow and steady will win this race.
You have the best response, I would go so far as to suggest bracing any parts that seemed unstable as they started, top down approach. 2x4 bracing made at the centre could ensure the ring stayed solid while the roofing connected was removed
It doesn't really look rotted. The shingles maybe were but the rest just looks mildewed. Edit to say, I'd keep it, reroof and enjoy it for 15-20 more years.
It's not my personal abode, but it's in the family. Just trying to help out. Some of the 2x4s crumble when touched and the whole thing wobbles like crazy.
See the top post
This is the best idea !!!
Push away from the house
Or pull
Probably both
Got a winch? Friend with a winch?
Or a truck and a crazy friend...
Good luck
In my area they'd attach a rope to the top beam on the far side away from the house and then the other end would go on the truck hitch. Pull that thing right down! OP's place might not have the room for a truck though.
Support the center and take out the spokes.
Better to get a couple long pieces and prop it up rather than have it implode. Thanks.
If possible, use forklift? Lift middle, remove legs, put down, dispose at leisure.
A saw.
I also choose this guy’s dead wife?
I hate that I understood the reference.
Sawzall
Using an accelerant!
I promised I would take a video of the collapse/push/pull/height reduction. Slow and safe is the plan but I will update with the results by this weekend for sure.
Cut the posts on the opposite side of the home. The collapse will happen on that side and then you take out the rest of the top in pieces, finally finishing with the last posts closest to the home. No damage to windows.
Yeah, focus on bringing the mass down to the ground. I’d cut a foot or two off one side, then the other. See if you can get it all down where you can cut it right above the ground instead of overhead.
I would use a sawsall to cut a foot off of two legs, on the side you want it to "fall" toward. Then do one more leg on each side of that, which puts you to the side of the direction you want it to go. Make sure you have an escape route (like cutting a tree down) in case it doesn't go exactly where you expect.
Leave two legs near the house intact, to basically force it to fall the direction you want. If it doesn't fall all the way down, use a rope or winch or come-along to pull it down. (If a rope, tie it to something very sturdy (a tree) and push perpendicular on the rope instead of pulling it directly.)
Once one side of the crown is on the ground, start cutting the last two legs off in small pieces until you get the whole thing on the ground. Then go to town taking the crown apart on the ground.
This is the way. Same as felling a tree.
Keep cutting 2 feet off each of the legs until it is on the ground. Start at the outside so it leans away from the house.
Pull with a truck
That's one way to do it. Amazed it actually fell into that poor old truck.
Remove all cross beams from roof, remove that circle center piece from roof remove all trusses. Then disassemble piece by piece. You either do it that way now or you do it that way after you "tip it over" and fuck your lawn up or windows or something.
Yeah, lawn divits are easier than smashed windows, but I'll mitigate as much damage as can be mitigated.
Cut the legs farthest from the house, then tie a rope to the thing and yank it away from the house.
Pushing it over will create splinters and twisted boards under pressure. I wills take it apart. With a little more work, you can have a safer, calmer day and end up with a smaller stack of material that easier to dispose or reuse
Saw down the far posts a foot at a time. Then saw down the near posts. Then rip it apart when it's just lying on the ground.
Dont cut the columns first. Its asking for uncontrolled collapse
what part of "one foot at a time" was missing? You're lowering this thing gently, the bolts through dimensional lumber aren't magically going to give. Just don't cut off an entire pillar and go "good enough, next one". You're doing this in quite a few passes because your time is free, and if it wasn't, you'd be paying someone to do this for you. Take the time.
Maybe i misunderstood but arent you saying cut the posts before you take the roof off? Seems unecessarily dangerous to me
Need to see the other sides.
If it's free and clear on the sides we don't see, massively shorten the legs on the clear side, then dissasemble the parts you can reach and shorten -> remove -> shorten ->remove
Fully clear on the other side.
Seems like a bit of a silly question then, just pull it away from the house 🤷🏼♂️ that or I'd just disassemble bit by bit
I'm just hesitant of the posts kicking out and hitting a window if it falls funny. As per other comments I will board the windows first. There's room to tie a rope and be standing clear away from the house.
Disassembly manages the risk. Slow, methodical. Otherwise just tie it to your truck and drive away ;)
Support it all round on screw jacks (is it a complete hexagon?), remove the uprights, lower the jacks.
Or six synchronised shape charges designed to cut the uprights simultaneously and the top drops. Do you not watch those "ultimate demolition" shows?
Have you got room to have it fall away from the house? Use ropes to pull it in that direction, then saw the uprights gradually on one side like tree fellers so the thing falls the way you want it. Don't be under it when it goes though, it looks pretty hefty. Get help. Make them stand under it. After signing waivers.
Yeah, go buy hundreds of dollars in equipment for a job you're going to do once.
Or rent a sawzall + buy a couple new wood blades.
I'm talking about the Jacks that this guy wants OP to get.
Cheaper than fixing the house if he does it a stupid way. There are better options, but spending a couple hundred isn’t the worst option.
I literally think it'd be cheaper to smash the glass and replace it rather than buy 6 jacks. Better yet remove the door and only smash the window.
I hadn't thought of removing the door....woah....
You could probably rent 4 jacks for a day and buy 2 4x4s for less than $200.
That's way too complicated. Just cut the ones furthest from the house first and work your way towards the house then pull it down with a rope.
Karate Chop!
Knock the corner gussets out at the top of the posts. Push it over with help from a friend.
away from the house typically
get a sawzall n start cutting
You sell it. I’d give you $300 right now for it and I’ve come and carefully get it out of there too.
Take it apart in the reverse order you put it together - piece by piece. Don’t get help from friends who want the demolition to happen in 5-10 mi. & walk away before moving all the wood & debris out.
Built ~20+ years ago by previous homeowner, but I get what you're saying. Reverse build order would help it keep as much integrity as possible.
Precisely. Then once you've gotten it down to just the columns, you'll discover whether they can be pulled out of the stone deck with straps and some leverage, or if they need to be cut and yanked out with a big screw, or chopped up and plucked out in tiny pieces; rather than having six sharp, uneven wooden shards protruding from your deck.
Push it away from the windows duh /s
I thought defenestration would be my ally. No such luck.
Chainsaw
An investment to consider /s
Get a ladder. Take it apart piece by piece starting from the top. Put plywood in front of the windows as insurance.
You'll want to put plywood in the way of anything you care about. Then, you can either do a controlled demolition where you saw, prybar, and unscrew it apart from the top down.
If you want a faster method, then I'd get some high strength rope or load bearing straps and snake them around several of the supports and frame connections. It's better to assume that it'll come apart in pieces as it's pulled free.
Then yank on it from a safe distance.
without it collapsing
Collapsing would absolutely be my first impulse, if there's space in the side away from the house for it to go. Anchor to a tree or post, start pulling via winch, pulleys, or come-along. Don't be in a place where it can land on you.
I'm down for a controlled collapse, just want to do it as safe as possible.
Push it in the opposite direction of the windows
Away from the windows
Strap it to your car and floor it
Sawz-all the majority of the roof first and then take the columns and beams out separately beginning at the ones closest to the windows. The remaining will eventually fall but hopefully not until the high risk ones are out of the way first. Thats how I would do it
Top down
Hammer, ladder, and maybe a pry bar. Take it out piece by piece. Start with the middle and work out. It will get super wobbly and want to cave in after 1/3 is missing. Then make sure to work in the area that is cleared. So make sure you've got some help and the work area under the roof clear in case it does collapse.
Don't be an HGTV hero. Proper demolition is done carefully piece by piece. It a tally more worm to smash it all and then clean your mess up.
Push it away from the windows?
piece by piece and use temporary 2x4 supports to hold anything you think might fall before you are ready and heavy duty tie down straps if you need to sawsall the connections that don't come loose easily... just my .02 not a pro
I have nothing to add about how to tear this monstrosity down.
I just have to say, that is pinnacle DIY energy for whoever built that thing. Look at it. No planning whatsoever. It's straight out of Faulty Towers.
Just build a fucking hexagon out of 2x4s. Build a bigger fucking hexagon out of doubled 2x4s and add support as the ale moves you for that day.
Cut the legs off one section at a time to make it closer to the ground
Dismantling it , instead of pushing it over
Reciprocating saw.
Hand saw and elbow grease?
Just cut it down in small pieces, start up high and work your way down. The wood's all rotten anyway so it's not worth trying to rush this.
List it for free on Facebook marketplace. Someone will come take it down and haul it away
No clearance for anything that big to get down the side of the house. I wish :)
4 friends and a saw
Petrol and a lighter.
Nothing could possibly go wrong. Keep the garden hose handy though for unrelated reasons.
Buy a cheap electric chainsaw and take it apart a few pieces at a time. If you don't care about eec9veringvitll make it all easier.
FIRE
Away from the windows
Too bad you didn’t take a couple more photos showing the thing in its entirety. I’d be tempted to use a hydraulic jack and a post to lift it a bit so the support posts furthest from the house were off the ground. Then put in one post in a centered location made of a couple 2 x 6’s nailed together with a “birds mouth” cut into the end and angled away from the house. Lower the jack so the thing is only supported by the 2 x 6 post. Cut snd remove the existing posts. Tie a rope around the bottom (or have it pre tied better) then yank that post. Should crumple. Then have at it with a sawzall, sledge and 3’ pry bar.
Glass has a high melting point but wood does not, I recommend fire.
That structure looks solid. I would have someone do a wood restoration to bring back the wood tones and reshingle to get another 10 years out of it. Damn shame to get rid of it.
Termites. Brick house will be fine. 👋 /s
I’d recommend cutting the legs farthest from the house ik you don’t want it to collapse but you can collapse it safely that way or start by getting a ladder and a sledge hammer and and breaking the top structure before moving down to the posts
1) start by cutting out the inner sections piece by piece, letting them drop straight down, or swing away from your house.
2) create strategic weak points, if you'd rather take it down at once. Meaning, probably set one person on a rope attached to a horizontal beam for the roof, constantly pulling away from the house, then cut the supports starting with the ones furthest from the house.
Also, do what the first guy said - get some plywood over your windows, just in case.
I would use a sawsall. Detach from your house (if attached) then cut the legs out from under it on the side furthest from the house. Once it’s on the ground you can chop it to pieces.
Pull it straight down?_
This is what reciprocating saws were made for!
Take all the 45° supports off of legs. Tie rope to end away from door and pull away from door. If there are any other strong ties on the legs you'd want those off too. Make sure it's not a weak pull, your going to want to get a good yank to get momentum moving away from door.
Just saw each leg a foot at a time, in a repeating circle till it's lower than the windows, then go to town.
Time consuming, but for no damage: work it in a circle with your initial goal being the center piece. Gauge tension each cut to determine if you need additional support. You're only working on removing the center piece hexagon. If that pulls out smooth, you can easily cut out the remaining supports bit by bit.
If theres nothing to consider on the other side, look up notching, give a hard kick, and run away. You and your stuff might be good after. Not saying it's a good idea. But its AN idea thats really fast.
Remove 5 inches from the bottom of one leg, then five from the next. Keep going for a week or two. Then disassemble the roof which is now on the ground.
Chain saw
Best way would to just sawzall it down from top to bottom. then when nothing is left take out the posts
One BFH should do it
Chainsaw that shit. BE done in 30 minutes
Cut each post around the top almost all the way through from the same side, cut them again at the bottom from the opposite side. The whole thing will twist down to the ground. It went pretty slowly when I did it. I was kinda surprised it didn't even fall quickly.
Anchor it so it falls it falls away from the house, put up plywood for windows. Then take a sawzall (or cut most of the way through with a circular saw and finish with the sawzall.) Starting away from the house, cut off 6 inches from each leg. If you number legs 1-8 in order probably best to cut 1-2-8-3-7, etc. If 6 inches works well bump it up to 12 inches. Do this until it is waist high and then you can do whatever you wish. Should only take 15 minutes to cut 8 legs a few inches at a time. So 90 minutes to waist height. Get some grunts to haul it away while you cut to keep work area clear.
How heavy would you guess that whole thing?
My first idea would be to just call "the boys", habe each one grab one of the pillars and try to carry it a few yards away from the house. Then wreck it recklessly without having to worry about the house.
Then again I am the kind of guy that usually trys stuff and then regrets it, lol.
Probably 6-700lbs w/o the roof on it. I'd be down to try (floated the idea already) but I'd need a few extra neighbors and this isn't my neighborhood. Slow and methodical it'll have to be.
Probably pushing it away from the windows would be my guess. But I'm no rocket surgeon.
E s.
Don’t ! if you want it down then get a saw saw and cut it down in pieces only. Wood is heavy be smart not stupid so take your time look for screws take them out and then start chopping and cutting. No need to rush get hurt. Or ruin your property and cause more issues. GL
OSB over the windows, and take a giant saw down the middle of this thing. You can also cut the legs in half if you want. If you cut the legs near the top, you can just push it out to the side and it'll fall straight down. Now you can cut it apart from above.
Push it in the opposite direction of the windows ... hope this helps 🙏
Cover the windows/doors with plywood. Get a chainsaw and pickup truck with tow rope and a blankets. Cut far side posts 1' above the ground, halfway through. As someone else said, cut/remove corner gussets.
Attach tow rope higher up on the posts. Put blankets over tow rope, move away. Slowly add tension with the pickup.
Should pull over. Cut the rest up while it's on the ground and safe.
Cut the posts furthered from the wall first so it will fall away
push... away
10mm socket.
I'd recommend away from the windows.
Burn it down, burn it to the ground 🎶
I'm excited to burn a few of the cedar pieces, but there's a ban right now.
If it wasn't so close to the house, I would light that baby up.
Before you start cutting, look for weak points. If it does fall during demo, that's the direction it will.
Can you just collapse it away from the house?
Push it the other way
Use some ropes to anchor it in place and put tension on it. You want to pull it away from the house.
Protect the windows with plywood, use a sawzall
This is the only way.
Why not set it on fire? Or maybe cut all off the roof pieces till you're left with the vertical supports and get some help lowering those.
Could advertise for free if they take it down. Looks like an amazing structure.
The center is assembled horribly. But the wood doesn’t look bad from here. A power washer and some sealer, should be fine.
The original construction is a hobby job, some of the 2x4s crumble at the touch. Agree the center is very horrible.
Uhm..maybe hire some guys to help you..im a 100% do it myself guy..but that looks daunting.
I'm not gonna do it solo. I've got 2 helpers.
How can we say if you don't post photos of everything?
Somehow dozens of other people had good advice or at least a joke. Thanks for your 2 cents.
Regardless of how you plan to take it down without smashing the windows, I’d put plywood or something in front of them.
Good solid advice, I will protect the windows.
Just use a hammer, saw, or drill and take it down piece by piece. You'll have to do the same either way.
Also, a ladder
So, 4 hammers then?
Found the electrician.
It’s Hammer Time !
Found Jeremy Clarkson
He’d use power tools.
Sorry, POWWWEEEERRRRR!!!! tools.
Can you hook a chain to it?
I imagine if you put something solid there you could probably just go to town. At that point I’d worry more about not hurting yourself. A lot of nails in that picture. Might seem silly but I wonder if you could cut a few feet off of each leg and slowly lower it
That is silly but genius
Tis but a flesh wound.
I only have one foot each tho :/
I like the lowering it slowly idea. You already have to cut some thick stuff. It sounds like it would work.
You will still have to haul it off in a truck or trailer and don’t know the logistics but getting all that into said truck or trailer by hand would be way easier individually. As a carpenter for 24 years the best way to take something apart is reverse of the way it was put together. A reciprocating saw with a wood and metal blade will take that down safely In two hours piece by piece. Clean up as you go to keep your site clean to prevent injury.
Protected windows means you can really smash. Pick a big hammer and a sawzall. Go nuts.
This person knows.
This, and use a sawsall with a proper wrecking blade to carefully take down each piece and pop it into a pile. If you simply try and snap the beams, there is no telling how or where it will fall.
Save posts for last, or at least try to.