Good machines, good soldiers and a good general. These are the things Paul King, owner of King Restoration in Toronto, needs on the front lines for a safe and successful demolition job.
Perfecting that lineup hasn’t always been easy. In 2012, when he was up against a project that involved demolishing and rebuilding 18 stories of balconies, there was one thing missing − a good machine that could handle a project of that magnitude and improve safety for his men.
King Restoration specializes in concrete restoration and brick demolition on larger, high-rise buildings, and its top priority is safety. King started the company in 1992 and now employs 24 people, including many dedicated “soldiers” who have been with the company for several years.
For most of King Restoration’s history, crews used handheld jackhammers for demolition projects. King was familiar with the Brokk machines and their capabilities, and in 2012 the ideal project for putting one to work came along. It involved 158 concrete balconies over 18 floors of an apartment building in Toronto. The concrete was spalling and de-bonding from steel reinforcement beams that had rusted, which increased the risk of structural failure. The balconies needed to be completely demolished and replaced.
Since tenants would remain in the building during demolition, it was imperative that the job be completed as quickly as possible. With a Brokk machine, King and his team were confident they could tackle the lofty project in just six months. The short timespan won King Restoration the bid over competitors that had projected two years using traditional handheld methods. “This was a large project with a lot of concrete, and because of that the risk of injuries to my men was even greater,” King said. “That’s why I knew we had to bring in the right equipment to make this a successful and safe job.”
Once the bid was locked in, King purchased a Brokk 50 machine, which was powerful enough to break up concrete yet light enough to be hoisted on an elevating platform. He had two crews working on the project, a demolition crew and a forming crew. The demolition crew moved with the Brokk machine from balcony to balcony using an elevating platform. They equipped the Brokk unit with a breaker to quickly break the concrete balconies and placed a receptacle on an extension a few feet below the machine to catch debris. Once the demolition crew was finished, the forming crew prepared the steel reinforcement beams on a separate elevating platform, placed the forms and poured the new concrete.
Since the Brokk machine did all of the demolition work, King was able to repurpose many of his men to forming the concrete, and that saved time overall. King Restoration did, indeed, complete the project in just six months. The General had his men, but what truly made the project successful was the final addition to his front lines − the Brokk demolition machine.
