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BUILDING DISASSEMBLY PRACTICES IN TURKEY

F. Zehra Çakici, Nese Dikmen Department of Architecture, Middle East Technical University, Ankara, 06531

E-mail: zehra@arch.metu.edu.tr & nese@arch.metu.edu.tr

ABSTRACT: The most important issue regarding building activities today is related to its environmental efficiency. Recovery, reuse and recycling of materials offers economical, social and environmental benefits. Deconstruction is a process of carefully dismantling of a building or a structure, into its components, subcomponents and materials with the aim of maximizing their recovery for reuse, recycling and resale. Consequently, deconstruction of structures has gained more and more importance in recent years. This paper will report a case study of a sample building, which was deconstructed, in Ankara, the capital of Turkey. The process of deconstruction and demolition was observed and photographs of recovery works were also taken to visually record various recovery methods of building components and materials. The costs involved were calculated and the deconstruction costs and benefits were investigated, accordingly. Keywords – Building materials reuse, deconstruction of buildings, demolition economy, disassembly, sustainability.

1 INTRODUCTION

Turkey is a developing country. Besides increasing population, migrations from rural to urban areas (especially to big cities like Istanbul, Ankara and Izmir) raise the need for more buildings and hence, more building materials. However, existing buildings could not meet this increase in population due to migration. This need for more buildings was met by demolishing low-rise structures and building high-rise ones instead. Consequently, more accommodation was provided on the same piece of land. On the other hand, demolition of old and low-rise buildings to erect new ones is a process, which results in enormous debris.

Even if the reason for demolishing a building is not the need for such replacement it can also be due to the end of its service life. The average lifetime of a concrete building, usually being erected in Turkey, is about 30-50 years.

The enormous amount of waste produced during construction, renovation and demolition activities is a serious environmental problem, which is worsening as building activities continue. However, deconstruction of buildings is a way to reduce debris to be landfilled. Deconstruction aims at dismantling buildings in order to recover materials for reuse, recycle and resale. Hence deconstruction of buildings has become an inevitable need. To reduce waste generation and material use, and protect the environment and natural resources, deconstruction of buildings should be preferred prior to demolition. In addition to this, reuse and recycling of salvaged materials should be promoted.

Deconstruction is a process of carefully dismantling a building with the aim of maximizing the salvage of materials and components with the least damage. While demolition is highly mechanized, capital- intensive, and waste generating, deconstruction is labor intens ive, low-tech, and environmentally sound (Leroux and Seldman, 2004). In order to deal with the waste problem and to save our planet, it should be given importance on the issues of recovery, reuse and recycling of building materials in terms of economic, environmental, social, and historic aspects. Building disassembly intends to:

• reduce environmental impacts resulting from demolition practices, • reduce pollution, greenhouse gas effects, and the need for landfilling, • conserve energy and natural resources, • reduce the need for new materials

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• reuse old materials • provide second-hand and inexpensive materials, • make savings on disposal costs reducing demolition costs, • create job training and employment opportunities, • gain revenues from the sale of recovered materials (Leroux, and Seldman, 2004).

2 DEMOLITION PRACTICES IN TURKEY

The tradition of recovery and reuse of building materials and components from demolished buildings dates back to Ottoman Empire era (Elias-Ozkan, 2002). They recovered especially marble and stone columns and their pedestals from structures that could not be repaired, and then they reused them in new structures. It is possible to see these columns and pedestals in some mosque structures in Turkey. Nevertheless, there is no written document about these practices, which are referred to as ‘devsirme’ in Turkish.

Today, demolition companies may spend one or more week to complete the demolition work, depending on the size and complexity of the project. Selective deconstruction and demolition work is done manually. Firstly any building components that have resale potential are removed from the structure, and then manual demolition is performed. Manual demolition is a time consuming process; therefore, demolition contractors prefer to use simple tools, such as pick-axes, sledgehammers, pincers and long handed wrenches, to break down the masonry structures. However, to pull down the reinforced concrete structures, it is preferred to use more complex tools and machines, such as pneumatic drills, excavators, and pressurized oxygen, and other special machines can also be used. The number of workmen employed can vary from five to fifteen depending on the size and complexity of the building (Elias-Ozkan, 2002).

More than thirty demolition companies are located on Bentderesi Avenue in Ankara (Elias-Ozkan, 2002). Demolition teams usually concentrate on partial deconstruction in order to recover those materials, which provide the highest profit. These include fenestration, door sets, boards, rafters, battens and joists, rebar, iron grill-work balcony and staircase balustrades, zinc components, roofing tiles, bathroom fittings and fixtures, pipes, built- in cupboards, kitchen cabinets and sinks. Elias-Ozkan (2002) mentioned these components along with corrugated roofing sheets, steel reinforcement, and aluminium components. Besides these materials, masonry and concrete rubble is left on the site to be disposed of by the contractor who will undertake the excavation and construction work.

The salvaged materials and components are either sold during the demolition work on site, or taken to the demolition contractor’s yard, sorted, repaired if required, displayed and then sold in the following months. The demolition companies collaborate with carpenters to repair the recovered materials. Rebar are taken to scrap dealer’s site to be sold as scrap iron or they can be recycled. Bricks can be removed from the structure if mortar has started to crumble otherwise they too are dumped. Recovered bricks are cleaned and then reused in constructing traditional ovens, in gardens for decorative purposes and other decorative works, and also for cladding façades. The demolition rubble is taken away from the site to be dumped in the landfills designated by the municipality.

2.1 Why demolish?

Due to various reasons buildings become worn out or obsolete, and eventually they have to be demolished. Building obsolescence can be defined as ‘the condition of being antiquated, old fashioned, outmoded, or out of date. The obsolete item is not necessarily broken, worn

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out, or dysfunctional’ (Bowes and Golton, 2001). There are a number of reasons for their becoming obsolete and demolished. These reasons can be explained as follows: modifications of the zoning plan, infrastructure problem and other reasons such as structural rigidity problems, etc. These causes will be explained briefly in the following sections.

2.1.1 Modifications in the Zoning Plan

The most important factor for building demolition is changes in the zoning plan in response to housing demands. With the revised zoning plan, the following changes can be incorporated in the existing settlement (the Building Control Authority of Yenimahalle Municipality):

• Change distance between building line and property line • With the change of road levels over the years, ground floors are converted into

basement floors. • Permission for additional storeys. For example, the revised zoning plan gives

permission to add two storeys to a two storeyed building. As a result, homeowners want their buildings to be demolished and erect new ones as per the revised zoning plan.

• Regularizations of squatter settlements leads to the grant of permission for additional storeys, the land prices also shoot up. Therefore, squatters want their buildings to be demolished and construct new ones according to the zoning improvement plan.

2.1.2 Infrastructure Problems

Another reason for building demolition is that existing buildings no longer meet the variable and increasing requirements of the people living in them. For instance, old buildings are not suitable for installing of plumbing or HVAC systems (the Building Control Authority of Yenimahalle Municipality).

2.1.3 Other Reasons

Besides modifications of the zoning plan and infrastructure problems, local municipality can certify a building as inhabitable due to weakening of its structure or exposure to a natural disaster, such as an earthquake, a flood or a fire. Consequently, the building has to be demolished (the Building Control Authority of Yenimahalle Municipality).

2.2 Official Procedure for Demolition

Yenimahalle is a district located in the northwest of Ankara, the capital of Turkey. Buildings in this district were constructed during the 1950s and so it is considered to be a new settlement. Most of the buildings are 50 to 55 years old. Most of these buildings, with masonry structure, have no problem with their structural systems or rigidity. Yet due to modifications of the zoning plan, lack of infrastructure, and the wishes of the owners to possess bigger and newer buildings, people have decided to demolish their homes and build new ones. This decision is in effect the first step of deconstruction and demolition of buildings. A new architectural project is designed in accordance to the revised-zoning plan. The construction permission is obtained from the building control authority to erect a new building. This permission also allows demolition of the existing building (the Building Control Authority of Yenimahalle Municipality).

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After obtaining building permission, work is started for demolition process. The owners mostly transfer the responsibility of managing the demolition to the construction contractor. Demolition contractor examines the building and estimate the amount of construction materials to be recovered depending on their quality, quantity, market potential and re-sale value. If the construction contractor comes to an agreement with the demolition contractor, demolition work can be undertaken in three ways. If the estimate is high, the demolition contractor tenders a bid for the job. If low, then they agree on a negotiated sum in favor of the contractor. The last is a no-fee contract where the demolition contractor demolishes the building and neither gives nor takes money for the job. Sometimes, if the demolition contractor has another demolition job at hand or does not have a demolition team, he gives the job to another demolition team. In this case, the demolition team only dismantles the building in return for an agreed price and the recovered materials belong to the demolition contractor. The demolition work can also be done according to the directions of the construction contractor; if he wants the building to be demolished speedily to start construction immediately, destructive demolition is performed without consideration for building materials to be recovered. In this case, the construction contractor gives a fee to the demolition contractor to demolish the building (Elias-Ozkan 2002).

2.3 Training, Health and Safety

Ozkan (2003) stated that “the ‘Technical Contract for Demolition and Dismantling’ prepared by The Ministry of Development and Housing requires the demolition contractors to:

• prepare a demolition action plan in view of the structural typology • take stringent precautions for human safety and reduce environmental pollution • use proper scaffolding, machinery and tools • employ trained workers • recover as much building material for reuse or recycling as possible • store the recovered material properly until removal from site”.

There are Turkish laws, bye- laws, rules and regulations enforced by The Ministry of Works, related to construction and demolition works, worker training, safety, health, employment conditions, recycling and waste disposal (Ozkan, 2003). Furthermore, the Ministry published a ‘Risk Group List’ and assumed construction and demolition of buildings and ships as a dangerous job type and published in Official Gazette (13.04.2004). For example, the ship breakers’ association of Turkey provides ship breakers with job training, regular health check twice a year, and special equipment for safe removal of asbestos from ships (The Shipbreakers’ Association of Turkey, 2004); however, such training and others are not available for workers engaged in building demolitions. The regulations are present, but the resources for the enforcement are very limited.

2.4 Buyers and Users of Salvaged Building Materials

Isik (2003) stated that the main reason for choosing salvaged building materials into new structures in Turkey stay behind the economic opportunity rather than environmental benefits, since the price of second hand material is three times cheaper than that of virgin one. As Isik (2003) mentioned, there are several types of customers of recovered building materials as well as used timber elements. The most frequent customers are squatter’s and rural dwellers from the villages near Ankara. The main reused timber materials are load bearing and partition timber members, fenestration, doors, windows, floor and façade

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coverings (Isik, 2003). Besides these, boards, rafters, battens and joists, rebar, iron grill-work balcony and staircase balustrades, zinc component s, roofing tiles, bathroom fittings and fixtures, pipes, built- in cupboards, kitchen cabinets and sinks are also preferred used building materials. Another type of customer is the used building material merchant coming from southeastern and eastern Anatolia to buy truckloads of salvaged materials. Their customers are not different from that in Ankara. Some building construction contractors also prefer used timber elements for formwork, scaffolding and roofing structure of new buildings. Finally, the craftsmanship of timber elements used in old Turkish houses is very precious. These valuable ornamentations include wooden gates, timber column, exposed joist and beams, wardrobes and ceiling panelling from traditional houses. Interior decorators use them in decoration of hotels, pubs, restaurants or office buildings (Isik, 2003). As an example of the use of recovered building materials in new structures, the many deconstruction contractors in Bentderesi in Ankara use recovered materials in their warehouse to build a shelter for door sets and window units, also for de-nailing and resizing areas (Isik, 2003).

Another example is in a straw-bale house. The house was built in August 2004 in Sahmuratli Village in Sorgun, Yozgat. This house has a living room, a bathroom and a kitchen, which required four doors including the entrance door. When erecting the building, four used doors were bought for the price of 150 YTL (110 $) in Sorgun. If new ones had been used, they would have cost approximately 80 YTL (60 $) for each interior door and 100 YTL (74 $) for the main door, totally 340 YTL (250 $). Since salvaged doors were used for the house, 190 YTL (140 $) was saved. However, the use of salvaged material was not taken into consideration at the beginning of the project, the use of recovered window units and other elements were not possible in the building.

3 CASE STUDY

As mentioned earlier, Yenimahalle is located in the northwest of Ankara and is one of its central districts. The deconstruction and demolition works of a masonry building in Guzelevler quarter of Yenimahalle was observed and photographs of recovery works were also taken by the author to visually record various recovery methods of building components and materials. The building with two-storeys was built in 1966. As a result of the modifications in the zoning plan, it became possible to construct four-storeyed buildings in this area. Also, the building had become obsolete and old-fashioned and it could no longer meet the requirements of the inhabitants; therefore, the owner of the building decided to demolish it. He wanted to erect a new four-storeys building with eight new flats. After fulfilling the official requirements, the building permission was obtained. The demolition contractor gave a bid for the job; however, due to another demolishing work at hand, he commissioned another demolition team to do this job. As per the agreement, the team was to perform the deconstruction job and the recovered materials was to belong to the contractor. In other words, the demolition contractor had the right to repair and resell the salvaged materials. After this agreement, the demolition team started the deconstruction of the building. Since they do not possess a deconstruction and demolition plan for the building, the procedure is decided upon and followed by the demolition team in view of their experience.

3.1 Deconstruction and Demolition Process

Demolition teams generally adopt the following sequence for building demolition: firstly, doors and windows are removed from the structure. Next, built- in wardrobes, kitchen

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cabinets, built- in cupboards, sinks, bathroom fittings and fixtures, balcony and staircase balustrades, and zinc components are salvaged. Then roofing tiles, boards, rafters, battens and joists are dismantled. Finally, the demolition work is started and bricks, rebar, pipes and electric cables are recovered at this stage. Once the demolition has been completed, the site is cleared and made ready for the construction.

Fig. 1. The masonry building, which was dismantled, in Guzelevler, Yenimahalle

The deconstruction and demolition work of the building in Yenimahalle was undertaken by following almost the same sequence as above. The job was started with the doors and windows. Before recovering windows, window sashes are taken out and put aside. Since the windowsills are made from pre-cast mosaic, it is not possible to reuse them. For this reason, firstly, the sill was broken down with a sledgehammer and its remains were cleaned with a pickaxe (Figure 2). Next, the walls alongside the other three sides of the window were clipped and the rubble was removed. Then, the wooden anchors fixing the window to the walls were removed with a pickaxe. The wall below the window was broken down. After that, the frame was shaken loose and was taken out (Figure 3). Finally, the sashes were re-fixed to the frame and thus, the recovery of the window frame was completed. Other windows were removed from the structure in the same way.

Fig. 2-3. Disassembling the window

Dismantling of the doors is a bit different from that of windows. Firstly, the door wing

was taken out and put aside. The beading on the external side of the frame was refused first with a pickaxe. The ends of the door stiles that are embedded in the flooring were feed by breaking the mosaic around it. By striking the frame with a sledgehammer, it was pushed

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towards the inside to remove it intact (Figure 4-5). The frame was detached from the anchors. Finally, the door wing was re-attached to the door. Other doors were recovered from the structure in the same way.

Fig. 4-5. Taking out the door frame

Two workers disassembled the fenestration and doors and this job took a half a day to be

completed. Two othe r workers dismantled the built- in wardrobes, kitchen cabinets, built- in cupboards, sinks, bathroom fittings and fixtures. During the recovery of these built- in wardrobes, firstly the nails were taken apart via a pickaxe (Figure 6), and then the wooden elements were shaken loose and were taken out (Figure 7). Salvaged components were first left in the rooms, and later taken to the garden and stored there properly.

Fig. 6-7. Dismantling of the built-in wardrobe

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Fig. 8. Taking apart the cupboard

Meanwhile, one worker started to dismantle the wrought iron balcony balustrades. Firstly,

he broke down the cast mosaic sill with a sledgehammer, and then pulled out the edges from the walls (Figure 9). After that, he connected a rope to the balustrade and held tightly. The other worker pushed it with a pickaxe, and then the balustrade was lowered down slowly on to the garden with the help of the rope (Figure 10).

Fig. 9-10. Dismantling the wrought iron balcony balustrade

Roofing tiles were put one on the top in batches of eight or ten each, on the roof. Then,

zinc downspouts and sheets below roofing tiles were removed (Figure 11). After that, a simple pulley was set up and the roofing tiles were moved towards it. While one worker on the roof was lowering the tiles via the pulley, the other one on the ground picked them up and stored them on the site in a proper manner (Figure 12).

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Fig. 11-12. Pulling out the zinc sheets and recovering the roofing tiles

After these deconstruction works, the destructive demolition phase began. While two

workers were breaking down the roof slab by means of sledgehammers (Figure 13), the other one was cleaning the remains with a pickaxe and the forth one was removing the rebar carefully from the concrete with the help of a pickaxe and pincers (Figure 14). Since the floor was made of cast mosaic, there was no other option but to demolish it. Small holes were opened first on the floor to let the rubble fall through. While the work advanced, the holes were enlarged and the whole floor was demolished.

Fig. 13-14. Demolition of the roof slab and extracting the rebar

Meanwhile, masonry walls were demolished by using a sledgehammer and a pickaxe. Since demolition work was performed in winter and bricks are usually sold in summer months, instead of removing them from the structure for resale, it was preferred to demolish them. Demolition contractors mostly sell the recovered materials on the demolition site and they do not want to take them to their yards because of transport expenses and the lack of storage place. Since there was no buyer for the brick and no enough storage space to keep them until summer, bricks were not salvaged. If this work was done during the summer season or if there were any buyers, the bricks could have been dismantled.

After the demolition work, one worker picked up the undamaged bricks, almost a truck-full, from the rubble. The demolition team completed the job and left the site without cleaning up since the construction contractor was responsible for it. The construction contractor had the rubble transferred to the trucks to be sent to the landfill.

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3.2 Economic Aspect

The demolition contractor paid 1.250 YTL (~ 925$) for the rubble of the building, that is, for demolishing the building. He had sublet the job to another demolition team who performed the deconstruction and demolition work for the agreed price of 1.450 YTL (~ 1075$). Therefore, the demolition contractor paid the sum of 2.700 YTL to the construction contractor and the demolition team. Apparently, the demolition contractor expected to earn more than 2.700 YTL (~ 2000$) and make a great profit on this job. The deconstruction and demolition work was started on 30 December 2004 and completed on 10 January 2005, that is, this job took twelve days to be completed. Most of the recovered materials were sold during the dismantling process. The components that were sold included doors, windows, roofing tiles, bathroom fittings and fixtures, and timber elements from the roof as fuel. Recovered rebar was taken to the scrap dealer’s site to be sold as scrap iron or to be recycled. Recovered materials and their sale prices are given in Table 1 below.

Table 1. Sale price of recovered materials from the building (January 2005) Material Size Quantity Price in Turkish Lira Price in US $ Door Standard unit 35 piece 30 - 40 YTL 22.20$ - 29.60$ Window (glazed-3-bays)

2m x 1.2m 6 piece 25 - 35 YTL 18.50$ - 25.90$

Window (glazed-2-bays)

1.4m x 1.2m 22 piece 20 - 30 YTL 14.80$ - 22.20$

Kitchen sink-ceramic Standard unit 3 piece 5 - 10 YTL 3.70$ - 7.20$ Washbasin Standard unit 4 piece 8 - 10 YTL 5.90$ - 7.40$ Washbasin Small 4 piece 5 - 8 YTL 3.70$ - 5.90$ Commode Standard unit 3 piece 10 - 15 YTL 7.40$ - 11.10$ Wrought iron balcony balustrade

0.90m x 3.5m 4 unit 7 YTL / 0.90m x 1.0m 5.20$ / 0.90m x 1.0m

Cupboard 2.50mx 0.80m 3 unit 50 - 70 YTL 37$ - 52$ Wardrobe (built-in) 3m x 2.70m 3 unit 50 - 70 YTL 37$ - 52$ Roofing tile Standard unit 2500 unit 0.10 - 0.20 YTL /piece 0.08$ - 0.15$ /piece Rebar Various sizes 5300 kg 0.35 YTL/kg 0.25$ /kg Zinc components Various sizes 80 kg 1.00 - 1.25 YTL/kg

(depending on thickness) 0.74$ - 0.93$ /kg

Timber elements (rafters, battens, joists)

Various sizes (5x10cm, 10x10, 2.5x15cm)

4 m³ 100 YTL /m³ 74.00$ /m³

Brick 5 x 9 x 19 cm 1 truck-full 0.10 YTL /piece 0.08$ /piece Expected revenue 5550 YTL 4100 $ (1.35 YTL ~ 1.00 $) Table 1 apparently shows that the demolition contractor expected to make a profit of about 2800 YTL (2100$). This figure also shows that the demolition work is a profitable job.

4 CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS

Deconstruction of buildings and structures is a way to reduce debris to be landfilled and to recover materials for recycling or reuse. Therefore, to reduce waste generation and raw material consumption, and protect the environment and natural resources, deconstruction of buildings should be preferred to demolition. Buildings in Turkey are generally erected with reinforced concrete and masonry walls. This type of structures gives rise to difficulties during the demolition work; in fact, this offers no other option but to demolish the building. This process causes more rubble to be produced; hence there is a need to find ways of dismantling such buildings.

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Although the Ministry of Development and Housing has prepared a ‘Technical Contract for demolition and Dismantling’, which covers all technical aspect of such works, demolition contractors are not aware of it (Elias-Ozkan, 2002). For example, such a contract is not drawn between the parties, nor is there a definite price for demolition works. To protect the construction and demolition contractors from making a loss and to make building deconstruction practice more attractive, it is important that local authorities regularly check such works whether the contractors obey the regulations or not. Finally, during the deconstruction and demolition process, care and experience of the workers are of paramount significance. Due to the lack of worker experience, some materials were wasted during the deconstruction. In this context, training programme can be provided for workers who are willing to do the demolition job. For a safe demolition work, demolition contractors should employ structural/civil engineers to assess the building to be demolished, and demolition workers should take safety precautions such as wearing protective helmets.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

Information presented in this paper was collected through informal interviews with the manager of the Building Control Authority of Yenimahalle Municipality (regarding the zoning plan and official procedure for the demolition practices), some construction and demolition contractors (regarding building demolition and deconstruction practices), and with the manager of the Shipbreakers’ Association of Turkey (regarding ship demolition and deconstruction practices).

6 REFERENCES

Bowes, H. and Golton, B., Obsolence and Demolition of Local Authority Dwellings in the UK -A Case Study, Proceedings of the CIB Task Group 39, Deconstruction and Materials Reuse: Technology, Economic, and Policy, Wellington, New Zealand, 6 April 2001, pp87-97.

Elias-Özkan, S.T., An Overview of Demolition, Recovery, Reuse and Recycling Practices in

Turkey, Proceedings of the CIB Task Group 39, Design for Deconstruction and Materials Reuse, CIB Publication 272, Karlsruhe, Germany, 9 April 2002, pp128-138.

Elias-Ozkan, S.T., Report 8: The State of Deconstruction in Turkey, http://web.dcp.ufl.edu/ckibert/DeconstructionBook/CountryReports/8.Turkey2003.doc, last

accessed on July 2004. Isik, A., Disassembly and Re-use of Building Materials: A Case Study on Salvaged Timber

Components, Unpublished Master Thesis, Middle East Technical University, Ankara, 2003.

Leroux, K., and Seldman, N., Deconstruction: Salvaging Yesterday's Buildings for

Tomorrow's Sustainable Communities, http://www.ilsr.org/recycling/decon/deconreportes.html, last accessed on July 2004.

Ministry of Works, Risk Group List on Labour Health and Safety, Official Gazette,

Publication no. 25432, dated 13.04.2004.

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The Shipbreakers’ Association of Turkey, http://www.gemisander.com/tr/tanitim.asp, last accessed on November 2004.