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I by no means am an expert in the Demolition field.. I just started not to long ago and do small structures like barns, small single storry homes, pools, etc.. and Living here in Orlando I knew this was going on.. When i saw how they did it I was completely confused as to WHY they did it in that fashon, and why they wanted to use explosives at ALL. I think I learned a little now and can only thank you for the insight.
Absolutely, RDZ. I have an operational philosophy of not thinking I know everything and approaching every project as a new learning experience, so I'm always ready to ask questions, either of myself or of others who have more experience, so when some dude starts saying I don't know what I'm talking about, it kinda gets my dander up. I think I even said in a previous post that I only have 3 years of explosive experience; but I also have 20 years of conventional time in the trenches so I might know a couple of things.:)
Demobud, I agree with you 100%. I'm just tired of this dude taking pot shots at us every chance he gets. We didn't even bid on the job.
It's no secret who I work for, but every time someone asks the so-called explosives experts on this forum who they work for and what qualifies them as an expert, they never say.
A judgement or opinion based on fact is always welcomed. A judgement or opinion based on animosity is not.
Bud, we are on the same page. It was a precast structure and sometimes they can get a little squirrelly when they are being demolished. Their failure mode is instant very unlike a similiar parking structure which is cast in situ.
Sometimes you will see shorter parking structures imploded because they are post tensioned and the contractor doesn't want to have to worry about detensioning tendons because the failure mode in post tensioned structures in a lot of cases can be instant too. Blasting allows the tendons to be detensioned simultaneously whic results in a much safer demolition.
In this particular instance, it would only have taken a few more holes to drop the outside columns and the cost is pretty much negligible.
DemoDave1 said:
You guys don't know what you are talking about. It doesn't take a PhD in Structural Engineering to figure out that this wasn't an implosion.
The Loizeauxs' developed a new technique called "Percussive Softening" whereby the structure is shot but it still stands. It is softened so that it can be conventionally wrecked.
Watch what they do with the Hotel San Diego which is only 5 stories.
I too have worked on projects where "implosion" is not the specifically correct term to use. I have worked shots where partial explosives demoliton is used to size a structure to where it can be further demolished conventionally. I think what Robert and I were commenting on (Robert, I apologize in advance if I speak for you) was that the structure could have been easily (at least from the photos) demolished either with a "full implosion" or by conventional means with an excavator mounted processor. We are simply speculating, or at least I am, as to why the structure was demolished in the way seen in the video. I am not judging anyones aptitude or demolition knowledge, especially since I was not on site and have no first hand knowledge of the deck, barring a brief trip to Orlando in the early 90's. I think to attack someone's credibility based on comments made in an internet forum, without knowing their background is inappropriate. To take potshots at the Loizeaux family becuause of their visibility is also inappropriate.
9:16 PM
You guys don't know what you are talking about. It doesn't take a PhD in Structural Engineering to figure out that this wasn't an implosion.
The Loizeauxs' developed a new technique called "Percussive Softening" whereby the structure is shot but it still stands. It is softened so that it can be conventionally wrecked.
Watch what they do with the Hotel San Diego which is only 5 stories.
I knew it wasn't going to be a "run of the mill" implosion when I saw the prep photos and they were drilling the slabs and not the columns.
Check out #5 and 6 in the photo gallery http://orlandosentinel.com/orl.....?track=rss
But the paper said it was "perfect" so there you go.........
Robert, I am confused. I have only three years of explosive work in my career, but I agree I have never seen any thing like that. It makes me wonder whats the point? Withte mess they have left, it's going to take just as much time to clear debris as if you'd gone after it with a processor. From the still pics, it doesn't look like the floors broke up much and ther are a couple that have hung and they still have to demo the beams???
I have been in the explosives demolition industry for over 20 years and I can honestly, unequivocably say that I have never seen anything like that before. 
James, do you want to go partners with me in an explosives interior strip out company?? 
Demobud I agree. I don't see any reason to implode this one, other than maybe the developer wants to use it as a media circus to promote what ever is going to replace it.
There is really nothing around it save for the highway on one side and that is a good distance away. It is located about 2 blocks behind City Hall between City Hall and Lake Lucerne.
They said the implosion contract was for $200,000. If that is the case somebody should be really happy.
From the pic, it seems that it would be just as easy to demo with a processor, but there may be more there than the pic shows.
Bud,
I hope they remember to sever the ramps. The best machine that I ever saw when it came to handling the debris from a building that "slabbed up" was the Cat 983. It had enough power to get on top of the pile and push the slabs off.
I have never run into a municipality that actually prohibited it. There are a couple of cities that make it so difficult to get a permit that they have tacitly prohibited it. The Department of Labor in New Jersey has made it so difficult that a number of implosion contractors won't even look at projects there. In Broward County Florida the blasting permit alone costs something like $15,000. (You had better make sure you included that in your bid!)
Hong Kong prohibited explosives demolition by prohibiting nitroglycerin based products but with the intro of emulsions that law was kind of moot.
I don't think we will ever see another structure imploded in NYC.
I was always a little suprised at how many municipalities prohibit the use of wrecking balls. They are prohibited here in Baltimore (but that doesn't stop anybody)
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