Demolition Debris Removal in Roanoke

Two phone calls come before the first swing, and neither of them is to us. The first is a locate request. Virginia’s Underground Utility Damage Prevention Act says no person shall make or begin any excavation or demolition without first submitting a locate request to the notification center, and it defines demolition to mean any operation by which a structure or mass of material is wrecked, razed, rendered, moved or removed. That is the part people miss: 811 in Virginia is not only about digging. The timing is set by Va. Code § 56-265.19 A, which says the scheduled excavation date shall be “not less than 48 hours nor more than 12 working days” from the request. The ticket runs 15 working days. The operator is Virginia 811, which many people here still call Miss Utility, at va811.com.

The second call is to the Virginia Department of Labor and Industry. DOLI has to be notified at least ten working days before the start date of a demolition, and that applies to most buildings whether or not there is any asbestos in them. Contractors moving into Virginia from other states are regularly caught by this one, because it is a notification requirement attached to demolition itself rather than to a hazardous material. Keep the three state agencies straight and the whole sequence becomes manageable: DPOR licenses the people and firms who do asbestos and lead work, DOLI takes the notifications and issues project permits, and DEQ governs where the waste ends up under 9VAC20-81. DPOR licenses, DOLI notifies, DEQ handles disposal. Get those three in the right order at the start of a job and the rest of the paperwork follows without drama; get them in the wrong order and you find out at the permit counter.

Then there is the permit gate itself. Va. Code § 36-99.7 stops a local building department issuing a permit for a building whose initial building permit was issued before 1 January 1985 to be renovated or demolished until it receives certification from the owner or the owner’s agent that the affected portions have been inspected for the presence of asbestos by an individual licensed to perform such inspections. The residential carve-out is narrow and deserves quoting rather than summarizing: the provisions shall not apply to single-family dwellings or residential housing with four or fewer units, unless the renovation or demolition of such buildings is for commercial or public development purposes. So an ordinary house coming down for a family is one situation, and the same house coming down for a development is another. Ask the building official in your locality, because the City of Roanoke, Roanoke County, Salem and Vinton each run their own building department.

Demolition debris in this valley has a local flavor, and termites are most of it. Roanoke City, Roanoke County, Vinton and Salem are all designated SEVERE for termite infestation probability in the local design criteria, and combined with crawlspace construction and humid summers that produces a steady supply of sill plate, band joist and subfloor work. Taking out rotten framing is technically demolition, and it makes a load that fools people: short lengths, full of nails, often damp, and much heavier per cubic yard than clean lumber. Put it in a small box loaded flat rather than a large one loaded high. The same goes for anything with masonry in it. Our termite and rot debris guide works through what to expect once the crawlspace hatch is open. Sort it into its own container rather than letting it ride with the framing, because a small box of wet, nail-studded sill plate is a very different load from a large box of clean lumber.

For sizing, separate what the building is made of before you order anything. Framing, roof decking, siding and interior board are airy and belong in a 30 or a 40. Foundations, footings, block, brick, chimney and slab are dense and belong in a 10 or a 15 loaded flat and low. Virginia’s own regulation makes the same distinction: 9VAC20-81-10 defines demolition waste as what the destruction of structures and their foundations produces, and debris waste as land-clearing material including stumps, wood, brush, leaves, soil and road spoils. Those are different containers on most sites. One more consideration is peculiar to this valley: the ground is karst, so a heavily loaded container is a point load on soil that may be bridging a void. Tell us where the concrete is going and we will place the boxes accordingly.

Demolition Work We Load

Sizing A Demolition Container

Split the building by density before you order. Framing, decking, siding, cabinetry and interior board are airy: a 30 yard handles most house-scale demolition and a 40 yard suits a large gut job if you have room and flat ground for it. Foundations, footings, block, brick, chimney masonry and slab are dense: those go in a 10 or a 15 loaded flat and low, and they will reach payload while the sides are still visible. That is not the box being too small, it is the box working correctly. Running one of each is normal on a demolition and it is almost always cheaper than one container that has to be part-emptied before it can legally leave. Add a third for land clearing if stumps and soil are coming out. Dimensions sit on the container sizes page, and the yard will size it on the phone.

Before The First Swing

Work the sequence in order and a demolition here goes smoothly. Submit the locate request first: Virginia law bars beginning any excavation or demolition without one, and Va. Code § 56-265.19 A puts the scheduled date at not less than 48 hours nor more than 12 working days from the request, with the ticket valid 15 working days. Notify DOLI at least ten working days before the demolition start date, asbestos or not. If the building was first permitted before 1 January 1985, settle the § 36-99.7 asbestos inspection question with your building official before you file for the permit rather than after. Then think about placement. Karst ground and hillside drives are both real here, so we walk the set-down, board under the wheels and rails, and keep every container at least five feet from combustible walls, openings and roof eave lines under International Fire Code § 304.3.3. If a box has to stand in a City of Roanoke street, that permit needs ten calendar days’ notice and runs a maximum of 30 consecutive days.