Volunteering to Recycle a Commercial Playscape.

[oliver2-44 11,194]

Yesterday I was in town and saw they began to demolish the old Baptist Church, daycare and gym buildings. 

There is a large commercial playscape at the daycare that about 25 years old, but is in pretty good condition since it had a shade structure over it.

The is a excellent Nonprofit called the ARK.  https://arkofhighlandlakes.org  that service our greater Highland Lakes area.

One of their many programs is a large duplex housing community which has program to mentor and train families to transition them from the street and poverty.

The director had previously said they would like to have a playscape for this property.  

So it hit me  and I got the wheels turning to try and recycle this playcape. 

The demo contractor project manage was agreeable, with a few conditions that we could agree to and a fairly fast removal time line.

Thankfully this is a large property and it will take them 3-4 weeks to get enough dumpsters for all the building material.

The ARK directors asked if i would take on this removal project and temporary storage.

I was able to contact the playscape manufacture and got and original layout drawing and a few removal recommendation.

They said they can provide new parts for a few of the domed windows and parts some vandals had dammaged.

This morning I took some tools and tested removing bolts from the main frame which went well.

Unfornatualy the short Allen bolts with the flat round domed flush nuts on the panels just spun when I tried to remove them. 

  

  

If anyone has a suggest how to get these out, there is roughly a 100 of them.

My one idea is to get a battery powered grinder and tried to cut a screwdriver slot in the domed head or grind the head off without damaging the pannel.

There are about 20 post or legs with concrete footings.

I dug down at a few of them and found there is about 1 ft. of gravel fill above the concrete footing.

The demo contractor offered to provide a machine (skid steer or excavator) to pull them out when we had everything else removed.

I have two thoughts on post removal which hopefully can be done without bending up the post or other legs

One is to dig down to the top of the post to get to the concrete so a choker sling can be attached to pull up right at the top of the concrete.

The other is get a jack hammer and hit the footings around the post to see if the concrete can be broken up some. (which would be a lot of work)

   

The ARK will help me get a couple of volunteers for the disassemble/removal.

My first order of busines is making some sketches with a numbering routine to mark all the parts for reassemble.

I thinking of using a paint pen for marking, and appreciate any suggestions for marking that will last a while.

I don't know if we will get the shade structure as someone else (a demo boss?) was looking at it.

So this will keep me busy for awhile. then installation will be an even bigger future project.

 

 

 

 

 

[Blue Chips 640]

27 minutes ago, oliver2-44 said:

If anyone has a suggest how to get these out, there is roughly a 100 of them.

 

A worthy project!

 

It's usually pretty easy to remove the heads from hex-socket-head screws by drilling, since the socket helps start the bit on-center. If they're hardened screws, you'll want to use cobalt-steel bits, sized about equal to the thread size. Hold the edge of the head with a vise-grip if it wants to spin. 

 

If you happen to drill one a touch off center, a light tap with a hammer and chisel (or prying with a screwdriver in the drilled hole) should pop it off. I suppose you could grind the heads off, but if there's any plastic attached, the heat from grinding could cause some melting. If your drill bits are sharp, there shouldn't be much heat.

 

 

 

 

Edited January 30 by Blue Chips

[Ed Kennell 44,603]

2 minutes ago, Blue Chips said:

 

It's usually pretty easy to remove the heads from hex-socket-head screws by drilling

    With the correct bit,  drilling the heads off would be the better option.   Then use a small pipe wrench with good sharp jaws to remove the remaining studs.      Kudos to you Jim for saving it from the landfill.       

[wallfish 19,029]

Might be difficult to drill if they just spin

If grinding the slot doesn't work maybe grind an X into the heads and chisel / break them off. Probably more control and less heat than just grinding the entire heads all the way off .

[Blue Chips 640]

4 hours ago, wallfish said:

Might be difficult to drill if they just spin

If grinding the slot doesn't work maybe grind an X into the heads and chisel / break them off. Probably more control and less heat than just grinding the entire heads all the way off .

 

One could also grind in very brief stages, partially grinding each screw head in succession, which would create a cooling pause in between each stage to avoid overheating and melting any plastic.

 

However, I think drilling is the best option. I believe it would be the fastest method and least likely to overheat the screws. Judging from the photo, it looks (to me) like the screws have a head profile similar to THIS ONE, in which case I think a vise grip could secure them IF they happen to spin while drilling.

 

 

 

Edited January 31 by Blue Chips

[wallfish 19,029]

59 minutes ago, Blue Chips said:

One could also grind in very brief stages with a cooling pause in between each stage to avoid overheating and melting any plastic.

I was approaching it more on the time side of things since there's over 100 of them.

Same for the poles in the ground. Could they just be cut off and then sleeved with a bigger piece and welded on? I don't see why they can't be dug out and pulled from the ground with a skid steer but now you have to deal with the big concrete bulb attached to it too. Weight, transportation, setting that thing back in the ground, etc. New larger poles could be set in the ground at the new site then the originals set into those and attched.

 

[Ed Kennell 44,603]

4 hours ago, Ed Kennell said:

   Then use a small pipe wrench with good sharp jaws to remove the remaining studs.          

My bad, I misread and thought the allen wrench was stripping the head of a screw in a tapped hole.

 

Maybe use a small angle grinder with a thin cutoff wheel to cut off opposite sides of the domed nuts creating flats for an adjustable wrench.

[Blue Chips 640]

10 hours ago, wallfish said:

Same for the poles in the ground. Could they just be cut off and then sleeved with a bigger piece and welded on? I don't see why they can't be dug out and pulled from the ground with a skid steer but now you have to deal with the big concrete bulb attached to it too. Weight, transportation, setting that thing back in the ground, etc. New larger poles could be set in the ground at the new site then the originals set into those and attched.

 

Cutting and sleeving is a pretty good idea, especially if the concrete footings turn out to be really big and bulky.

 

If the concrete footings are relatively consistent and not too large, for installing the posts at the new location you could auger holes that are large enough to accommodate the footings. Many years ago, we moved an 80-foot fence at my mother's place that way, and it worked well. It was a cedar fence set in cement footings and fairly new, but it had to be moved to conform to the property line. It was nice because we didn't have to buy any additional lumber. We used a rented two-person auger that dug a 10- or 12-inch hole (I forget now) and punched the holes quite quickly. Here at our home in Maine that wouldn't work, since the bedrock (aka, ledge in Maine parlance) is right at or near the surface. My spouse is interested in exposing more of the ledge as part of a backyard landscaping idea, but that's getting off topic.

 

 

 

 

Edited January 31 by Blue Chips

[wallfish 19,029]

17 hours ago, oliver2-44 said:

Unfornatualy the short Allen bolts with the flat round domed flush nuts on the panels just spun when I tried to remove them. 

Small compressor and an air chisel might knock those heads off pretty quick too. If needed, maybe even grind a slot across them then chisel from each side to snap them off? Use the grinder to keep the chisel sharp too!  Just spit balling again