Demo contractor bypassing onsite crushing with use of material handler
Celtic Demolition Inc. recently had an opportunity to offer a quote on a 700,000-sq.-ft. building demolition project. The company faced a significant challenge with this particular opportunity, though.
“The customer would not allow any onsite crushing to take place,” says Ross Tumulty, president and founder of Celtic Demolition, a company servicing the metro Washington, D.C., area.
Tumulty needed a solution to truck all the concrete to a recycler off the demolition site for crushing. The process led him to Sennebogen, from which he purchased an 821 R-HD green line material handler. The material handler is fitted with a 48-in. scrap magnet. It’s a compact model that’s mounted on crawler tracks and features an elevating cab.
According to Tumulty, the 821 R-HD allowed him to ship concrete to the recycler that was about 98 percent free of metals.
“It’s so clean that our recycler took $5 a load off his original quote, just because he liked the material,” Tumulty says.
According to Tumulty, Celtic Demolition uses an excavator with a concrete pulverizer to perform a primary demolition. The company uses a loader to build material stockpiles, and the 821 R-HD then sweeps the piles with a magnet to separate the metal and load it into a container.
One advantage of the material handler is the elevation it provides operators, Tumulty says.
“Having a bird’s-eye view into trailers is especially helpful for moving bulky material into the trailers,” Tumulty says. “The high perch lets you see how you’re loading the material. You can be more accurate and build the load evenly.”
Although Celtic Demolition purchased the 821 R-HD with a specific need in mind, the company sees this new process as its preferred approach to move and recycle material from a worksite.
“Now that we’ve seen what we can do, it makes sense for us to continue this way,” Tumulty says. “Our new process with our Sennebogen doesn’t take up as much room on the jobsite as a crushing and screening plant. This makes it a safer and more cost-effective way to operate. It’s a great tool for us. We are the only ones using it in the area, and it gives us an advantage when we’re quoting.”