Demolition in Sterling reads like a farm ledger: barns, silos, burned sheds, old trailers.

DAY 1

Survey and strip. Asbestos survey already cleared the roofing; power to the barn confirmed dead at the pole by Eversource. We clear the brush line around the structure — the same first move as any land clearing job — then strip roofing and board siding into separate piles. Hand-hewn frames have buyers; we do not chew up a two-hundred-year-old chestnut beam with a grapple if a salvager wants it whole.

DAY 2

The frame comes down away from the bank wall, in sections, lowest stress first. Steel roofing and hardware go to the scrap pile, salvage timber gets loaded, and everything else is sorted into the C&D containers. A bank barn is half building, half retaining wall — the demolition plan has to respect the half that is holding back the hill.

DAY 3

The foundation. Dry-laid fieldstone over granite ledge, which in Sterling means the stone comes out clean and stays on the property — wall stone, cellar-hole fill, rip-rap. We grade the ramp and bank smooth, spread topsoil, and the hillside reads as a field again instead of a hazard.

DAY 1

Drop and separate. A stave silo is a masonry tube under hoop tension — it comes down into a planned fall zone, never “wherever.” Once it is on the ground the steel hoops are cut out for scrap and the concrete staves get piled for processing.

DAY 2

The ring. Silo foundations here are poured directly over granite, so there is no chasing footings six feet down — the ledge is the bottom. We hammer the ring, crush the concrete with the staves, and use the product as sub-base for whatever comes next. On one job that is a pole-barn pad we grade the same week; on another it is simply a clean field corner. Either way the material never rides a truck twice.

DAY 1

Document, then touch. Fire jobs start with photographs and the adjuster’s sign-off, because once the machine moves, the evidence is gone. The DPH notification still applies to a burned structure, the power disconnect still gets confirmed — fire does not waive paperwork. We fence the well head before any iron gets close to it.

DAY 2

Burned debris is mixed C&D and it all leaves — nothing gets buried in the cellar hole, nothing gets re-burned, both of which were the old Yankee habits and neither of which is legal now. We excavate the ash layer, backfill with clean material, and compact so the site is ready for site preparation instead of remediation later.

DAY 1

Disconnect and gut. Power confirmed cut, propane tank picked up by the supplier, well line valved off at the house side, septic tank pumped. Interior strip-out separates the regulated and recyclable material before the shell is touched — a mobile home is mostly steel chassis, aluminum skin, and light framing once you sort it honestly.

DAY 2

The shell comes apart, the chassis goes to scrap in one piece, and the pad gets pulled. Then the Sterling question: what is under it. Usually processed stone over till or ledge, which we regrade in place — with stumps and any surprise boulders handled the same visit, since we already brought the machine that eats rock.