Serious power tools

As I mentioned in an earlier post, we are doing a major job at our test exposure hut, replacing six walls with new ones. Unfortunately, the demolition was made more difficult by the fact that one of them is made out of this block known as Durisol--it's about a foot thick, with exteriors made of this wood-cement mixture (think of wood granola), and the cores is filled with steel-reinforced concrete. My advisor has a close relationship with this manufacturer; he is building his new home out of this stuff.

This family of construction (known as ICF, or insulated concrete form) is touted for having excellent airtightness, thermal mass, and strength. Have to say all of those facts are true, and I like the system... but it doesn't make it the be-all and end-all of construction. Incidentally, Army research found that ICFs are very resistant to truck bombs--I guess it's like building a concrete building, and then wrapping it with a bike helmet for protection. Which might provide some indication of how hard it is to take down.

So back to the demolition at the hut. We got the grounds crew to knock the 4'x8' wall out with a front end loader, but we needed to break it up to get it into a dumpster. Fortunately, the school has resources like a Bosch breaker hammer (electric powered), and a gas powered cutoff saw.



Man... it's fun to use this thing. Even if it is a beast, and I'm hauling 60 lbs above my center of mass when starting it. For some reason, while breaking up the wall, I felt this sudden urge to whistle at random women passing by.