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Demolition Activities
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Heavy equipment was used judiciously in restoration
of the Giant Forest.
© NPS photo by Athena Demetry.
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Building Removal
Many of the buildings to be removed dated from the 1930’s and contained lead-
based paint and asbestos in floor coverings, wall board, pipe insulation,
roofing, and other building materials. Polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) and
mercury were present in some light fixtures.
Removal and disposal
of these
materials had to conform to strict federal, state, and local regulations.
Smaller cabins were removed by lifting the intact
building off its piers with a long set of forks attached to a loader
bucket. This was the preferred method, resulting in little additional
soil disturbance. Heavier cabins that could not be removed by lifting
with forks were often dragged with a chain fastened
around the base of the building. Because equipment travel was constrained
to designated routes where soils were already compact, this method
also resulted in minimal soil disturbance. Sometimes chains were run
through doors and windows and the building lifted with the excavator. The
largest buildings were demolished in place. Buildings were moved to
a central area to be broken up, and the debris either
loaded directly into containers or ground
into chips using a large tub grinder for transport out of the park.
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