Day two of the demolition process will begin Tuesday morning as construction crews work to bring down the core shaft of an 11-story building that was imploded on Feb. 16. 

While the rest of the building collapsed, the core that contained the elevator and stairwells stayed intact. The ‘Leaning Tower of Dallas’ became an immediate icon across the city, with people flocking to the area to take photos with the building and a petition to save it cropping up. While the public got time to take their photos, crews were working to bring in a crane and wrecking ball to begin the process of taking the tower down piece by piece. It took about a week to get the necessary equipment, with Monday being the first demolition day in what had become a highly anticipated public event.

And then people saw it– what looked like a rather small wrecking ball “bumping” against the tower to try to bring it all down. That in and of itself became its own storyline in the saga of the tower Monday. The ball even got its own Twitter account. The tower, naturally, already had its own as well.

But the size of the wrecking ball isn’t actually that uncommon.  “That wrecking ball is not all that tiny,” structural engineer Stan Caldwell told WFAA. Caldwell, who is not affiliated with the demolition, has almost 50 years of experience in the field, having worked on more than 800 projects throughout his career. 

“The steel shell [of the wrecking ball] is likely filled with lead, which weighs 709 pounds per cubic feet,” he said.He explained the wrecking ball is a safe size for the project and adequate for the “piecemeal” way crews are using it to bring down the tower.A spokesperson for Lloyd D. Nabors Demolition, the company behind the work, echoed that sentiment, saying the ball weighs 5,600 pounds and is the right size for the crane being used based on federal safety regulations. Crews believe it will take three to four days to bring the tower down using the current set-up. 

Author: Jennifer Prohov (WFAA)