Question: what is all involved in tearing down a house?

I live on the main street in our town where the lots are fairly narrow. Basically, you have a house, single driveway, house,single driveway etc... The house next to mine is for sale right now and it's bascially a shack. Was built in the early 50's and hasn't seen a nail in it since. I have the oportunity to buy this house for a low price. The house is structurally sound but would basically need to be guttted both inside and out to make it livable. It is on a cement basement. My neighbour on the other side of this eyesore is willing to go halfer's with us to buy this property and tear down the house. My question is what is all involved in demolishing a house with a concrete basement?

Call you local fire department. I know in our area you can donate the house to them for training purposes. They will keep it for a few fires or two and then let her burn. As for the basement I don't know other than maybe they will share in the cost to remove and fill??

murph

Fire Departments don't burn houses that are close to other houses. You will need a demolition contractor to tear down the house and remove the rubble. Then they will bust up the foundation and put the rubble in the center of the hole and fill it with dirt, if your jurisdiction allows this type of fill. Prior to the house being demolished, you will need to apply for a demolition permit to have the house removed from the tax rolls. You will also need the services of an exterminator to eliminate any rodents that are living in the house. I assume that once you and the neighbor purchase the house, you are going to split the lot in half and add your portion to your deeds? This will keep any problems from occurring later on when either of you sell your properties. If there are any city services such as natural gas, sewer, or water, those will also need to be terminated at the street prior to demolition. The other choice might be to build a common garage on the property that you will both share. That can be done on a condo style agreement.

The pre-demolition steps are as Junk noted.

To actually do it, an excavator could do it in a day or less.

Don't forget to tear out the copper pipes and wiring and sell that for scrap. Who knows, with the prices of scrap metal being as high as they are, you might recoup some of the investment.