The vast majority of industrial buildings that are set for demolition are made with a significant amount of concrete, and indeed concrete is the world’s most popular building material.

The biggest reason for this is that concrete is exceptionally good at handling the compressive forces put on it by gravity and any particularly heavy weight, and with the help of reinforcing steel rebar, it is even stronger and more capable of handling tension than tropical concrete.

However, this exact selling point also makes concrete more difficult to get rid of, with the task of demolishing concrete buildings typically being left in the hands of demolition contractors with the equipment, skill and certification to effectively destroy concrete and remove it from the site safely.

With that in mind, here are some of the most common ways to demolish concrete structures, some of which are familiar and used in other forms of destruction, whilst others are more specific.

Hydraulic Hammers

Typically used for destroying foundations, floors or pavements, hydraulic hammers are heavy-duty versions of pneumatic drills and work in the same way by using hard forces to break the concrete and create weaknesses that can be exploited in the future.

They can also be used to destroy other largely flat, horizontal structures such as the decks of bridges.

Ball And Crane

One of the oldest, simplest and most common demolition methods, a ball-and-chain almost needs no introduction. A crane is used to swing a gigantic multiple-tonne wrecking ball into the concrete structure, breaking its surface or crashing through it entirely.

Whilst simple in concept, it requires a lot of accuracy and careful operation to do so properly and safely, and a common consequence of using a wrecking ball is that there is inherently a lot of noise, as well as the kickup of dust and vibrations.

Top-Down Demolition

A preferred, systematic method of demolishing buildings that are a lot taller, particularly those made from reinforced concrete, as is the case for a lot of skyscrapers.

The general principle is to use an excavation machine fitted with an exceptionally long telescopic attachment with shears or crushers that effectively break up pieces of the building starting from the top.

Hydrodemolition

In recent years, using high-powered waterjet cutting tools to cut away at pieces of concrete ready for removal and reuse has become increasingly popular, because it removes the vibrations and noise commonly associated with other cutting tools such as hydraulic hammers.

This can be used as part of selective demolition techniques as well, as it would allow for the reclamation of many different building materials for recycling into new structures.

Implosion

In some cases, it is possible to collapse a building in and onto itself by using explosive materials on its main vertical support structures, leaving gravity to do the rest.

This requires a lot of project management, regulatory approval and strategic decision-making, as well as studying structural blueprints to determine the optimal way to knock the building down using explosive materials sequenced optimally.

Done right, however, and implosion is a rapid, relatively controlled form of demolition.