DIY demolition tips you need to know

Tearing out a wall or taking a jackhammer to concrete can be great for stress relief, and doing this labour-intensive work yourself can save you a lot of money, too. But before you start breaking things, check out the following tips that will help you stay safe and on track during your DIY demolition projects.

Construction dust sucked into return air ducts can plug your furnace filter. Even worse, small particles can pass through the filter and coat every room in the house with a blanket of fine dust when the blower turns on. Air supply ducts can be a problem too – dust that settles inside will come blasting out when your heating/cooling system starts up. You can close the damper on a supply register, but it won’t seal out dust as effectively as plastic and tape. Note: Turn off the heating/cooling system while the ducts are covered. Operating the system with restricted airflow can damage it.

When you pull drywall from a wall, the screws usually stay in the studs. Unscrewing them with a drill is not the most efficient way to remove them because the screw heads are usually deteriorated or full of drywall mud. Use a pry bar or your hammer claw to pull them out just like you would with nails. Drywall screws are brittle, so if some joker used 8cm screws to install the drywall, snap them off with your hammer.

Since safety glasses are inexpensive, there’s no reason every DIYer shouldn’t have a pair. There are a variety of styles, including bifocal safety glasses. Wraparound glasses offer maximum protection and both anti-glare and tinted glasses are available. Keep a few pair around so there’s always one within reach.

Snip through wire mesh to separate chunks of concrete. Bolt cutters are the best tool for this job; don’t even try using a wire cutter.

Sometimes called a prybar or wrecking bar, a crowbar can be used to remove nails or as a lever to force apart objects, such as when you’re rebuilding a deck. Look for one with an ergonomic grip for easier handling.

Some old vinyl sheet or tile floors are super easy to pull up. Others are so thoroughly glued down that you’re lucky to remove quarter-size chunks with every whack of your handheld floor scraper. If a shovel and hand scraper are just not getting the job done in your kitchen demolition, rent a walk-behind scraper. For about $50 to $60 a day, you can save yourself a bunch of time and prevent a whole lot of wear and tear on your back and wrists. Many floor scrapers have an attachment for busting up ceramic tiles as well.

Cut through wall studs fast. First, make a pass with a circular saw at its deepest blade setting and then finish the cut with the recip saw. The circular saw quickly does the bulk of the cutting. Its saw cut acts as a guide and starts the recip blade running level. Ease up pressure as you get close to the plywood; your blade tip could kick back. Note: Watch out for electrical cable and plumbing pipes.

Pliers are a must-have hand tool for any DIYer. You’ll likely need a pair of pliers for demolition projects such as removing carpet or loosening nuts, bolts and screws.

Sledgehammers, pry bars and reciprocating saws aren’t the only demo heroes on the job site – your circular saw can be used for a heck of a lot more than cutting studs and sheets of plywood. Fitted with the right blade, your circular saw can cut up roofing, tin, concrete, rebar, steel doors and fibre cement. With a demo blade, you can cut up nail-embedded debris all day long.