Scrapping out a house!

[Scrap man]

The story so far:

So, I just got a call from my grandmother about a house she's been "renting" out. She's been letting my aunt and uncle live there for the past year or so. My uncle had cancer and they were there to be closer to some specialized clinic. Now that the cancer is gone, they're moving out in May. My grandma said the house wasn't worth it and she's "seriously considering" having it torn down. She said I could scrap it out for all it's worth if she decides to get rid of it. You all have no idea how psyched I am.



This is an old house, so everything is copper: the water lines, wires, etc. As far as I know, there's no PVC pipe or whatever the new stuff is called. The furnace, water heater, boiler, and everything else has to go. The only catch is that I can't have the stuff that's good enough to furnish another apartment she owns. I'm hoping to make at least 1k if I scrap everything. That means ANYTHING that can get a quick buck on craigslist. I'm starting to save my 5 gallon buckets. I'm going to need them.

I'm gonna try to post pictures every few days and make progress reports once I start, kind of like Instaed did with the mobile homes. Also, if anyone knows of a cheap company near Binghamton, NY that takes down houses, please send me a PM with the company's contact info. I told her she should burn it down and collect the insurance instead of paying someone to take it down LOL.

On a side note, I made my first official trash day find. A bit of duct work, a bathroom vent, some aluminum trim (the stuff you put under doors) and a small peice of aluminum drain pipe.

[ComputerScrapper]

super sweet...I for one can hardly wait to see the pictures. Good score.

[parrothead]

many places you can get a tax right off by donating the old home to the fire department to burn down. You still keep the property. They just burn it and use it for training purposes. Check into that for her. They may burn it and put it out a few times before they let it all go down.

[nyjetsfanx93]

so your going to rip into all the walls for the pipe and wires?? which is great and all... Im sure you could do more than 1k if you are also selling contents of the house .... the question I have is, do you realize what kind of undertaking you are getting yourself into?? You are probably going to need a dumpster and if the house is really old you might be looking at some asbestos and what not.... This might be a bigger job than you think as you will have to demo the walls to get to the copper and wires... I'm assuming your not going to just leave the debris in the middle of the rooms... Gonna need a BIG dumpster...

[Scrap man]

No, no, I'm not the one who's going to be tearing it down. She's hiring another company to do that. As for asbestos, it's not THAT old.

[Scrap man]

many places you can get a tax right off by donating the old home to the fire department to burn down. You still keep the property. They just burn it and use it for training purposes. Check into that for her. They may burn it and put it out a few times before they let it all go down.

That's a good idea, but there are other houses and trees around it.

[Saroro]

Hey Scrap Man. Let me know the condition of the frame of the house before you let you're grandma tear it down. (and where it's located) Depending on condition, I may be interested.

[j&jscrap]

Another thing depending on age of the house is selling old doors, door knobs, and things like that. One other thing is before you contract will a demo company let them know you are gutting the house. Some salvage companies get salavage rights as part of the deal to take down a house. I lost out when the home onwer was going to let me strip a house out before the salavage company came, but they reminded him they had all salvage rights.

[Scrap man]

I was planning on selling the doors and everything else separate. The doorknobs are just standard cheapies and not worth selling separate. I think there's some drop ceiling tiles in there too.

Saroro- I'll send you a PM in a sec

[nyjetsfanx93]

the cheapie doorknobs are brass..

[Scrap man]

I was just gonna sell the knobs with the doors.

[NJSouth]

Just got an oppurtunity to do the same with a friends "in law" house out back. A converted garage-to-house that they are tearing down. I'm on my way to pick up some inital scrap but will be getting all the copper wiring and pipes in the house. I'll give you a report when I get back.

[Scrap man]

Just got an oppurtunity to do the same with a friends "in law" house out back. A converted garage-to-house that they are tearing down. I'm on my way to pick up some inital scrap but will be getting all the copper wiring and pipes in the house. I'll give you a report when I get back.

About what size is it (sq. ft, stories, etc)?

[NJSouth]

Small.. story and a half inlaw sweet... I'm gonna guess at 900sq ft. Good for me though.

[Scrap man]

I just got the O.K to start. I'm hoping to start today or tomorrow. I'll post pictures when I get there

[Dumpster-Dee]

that's great Scrap man ! Looking forward to following your progress. I have two possible houses I'm working on and I wouldn't know where to start !!

[parrothead]

Ah good. I like following a story.

[dherik]

there a bunch of derelict houses and buildings around here. I'd love to get into the demo business too.

[Scrap man]

Here's the house:

The bottom part towards the front is the garage. There's a wall between the two sets of doors. The right side is full of tools and most of the garbage that needs to go. Then there's a hallway after that where most of the goodies are; water heater, furnace, steam(?) radiator, some other unknown items, and lots of other junk. Towards the back is the basement where the washer and dryer were. I've started my piles back there. The second floor is the living room, kitchen, 1 bedroom, bathroom, entrance to the basement, stairs, and back porch, in that general order. The third floor (starting from the stairs and going forward) is a small closet, bathroom, general purpose room, small walk in closet, 2nd bedroom w/ closet, and master bedroom. Get the picture?

Today was spent cleaning out the left hand side of the garage. We basically took everything out, put the good stuff in the right side of the garage, I started some piles in the basement. We threw away a bunch of wood scraps, a grinding wheel, and a bit of other stuff. There's still more stuff in the hallway.

I found quite a few tools: screw drivers, wrenches, a tool box, and a pair of massive bolt cutters. I'll post a pic tomorrow.

I didn't get the chance to take many pics today. I'll try to be better with that tomorrow.

[Scrap man]

Anyone know how to upload pics from the camera app from an iPod?