I need help/advice with a backyard project

[BlazeFallow]

Edit: Victory! (I need help/advice with a backyard project)

Hello everyone,

Ok, so we want to build a grill/smoker in our backyard, we have the schematics from a previous build, so we know what we need to do, and how to build it.

So at this point you're probably asking "ok, so you know what you need to do for the grill, why do you ask for advice/help?"

We have something currently in the spot where we want to build it, and we are having the most difficult (read: took us 4 hours to remove one board) time to remove it.

What 'it' is is a raised bed built from 6x6 support boards. This thing is over-engineered to the point of us wanting to just dynamite it apart. That not being an option, we need some advice on how to remove this structure, it is most perplexing.

so far we've taken a 4 foot crow bar and 4lb engineers hammer to it, but the nails just wont budge. The top few board are rotten, which is how we got the one off. We split it around one nail, and managed to pull it up and off, which happened to remove the nail at the other end. the problem is that it then showed that each plank seems to have at least 1 to 2 nails through it.

What ever happened to drilling holes through and connecting with rebar?! :facewall:

So yeah, how do we remove this box from it's current location in the most cost effective way possible.

The Box:

10-inch nails:

More nails:

More nails:

What once was the tree/bush that was there:

 

[Lance]

Use a bigger hammer.

Actually, that is rather a tricky one, due to the lack of leverage on anything (kind of a clever design, I can see why log cabins used a similar pattern ). Might be a little too ridiculous, but is burning it a possibility? It'd be tough to get the wood to burn all the way through I suppose.

Best bet is probably to take everything out of it and keep prying on it.

 

[BlazeFallow]

Yeah, my father finally got back to me on the issue and suggested I use an 8lb sledge to beat the thing into submission. I told him that doing so would involve first digging out all of the dirt on the inside, which I am trying to avoid.

I know the dirt will eventually have to be moved anyhow, the problem is that the root system of the bush is still intact, and removing it at the base of the box would be much easier than painfully digging it out.

He then suggested that I get a piece of pipe that we can slide over the crowbar to add another 4-6 feet of leverage.

I expanded upon this idea by also suggesting that we get a wedge to partially split the beams near the nails to more easily poll the board over the nails.

This seems to be the best bet so far, as those nails just don't want to come out for anything.

The things we'd like to avoid include:
- Hiring it out, as that'd be expensive and an admission of defeat, which as men, we are unwilling to do.
- renting some sort of bobcat to tear it to pieces as, again, that'd be expensive. and could potentially tear up the yard.

 

[Frank Booth]

That looks like 6x6 wood. The bars must run all the way down. One thing i would do is empty it as much as possible. Downward or sideways force will not budge since it is interlocked and reinforced.

One trick you can try is to expand the steel rods. Just heat them up with a blow torch and get them red hot for a little. Let them cool. The heat will expand them enough so you might just lift the boards off.

Or you can get a metal wedge and split every beam in half. That should be the cheapest way. You can even do it with an axe or pick and a sledge hammer. Just start at one end and hammer it down, but be careful you need to remove the wedge to move it and it can get stuck if you do not do it right.

And that will not burn, seems to be treated wood.

 

[BlazeFallow]

nah, the nails don't go all the way through ever beam, they are only about 8-10 inches. They go through the first beam and go about 3-4 inches into the next. This does, of course, make them very difficult to pry out. >.<

I think we will be trying to split the beams at certain points and to use leverage to bring the beams up around the nails.

We'll be doing this tomorrow at some point so if you have any further suggestions or techniques feel free to post up thanks for the help guys.

 

[Music]

My first suggestion will sound kind of stupid. But if your backyard has enough room, try securing that 6X6 with really good chains and attach the other end to a truck and pull it off.

My second is to empty the remaining dirt from it and use a chainsaw to cut sections from the plank. Because, from the picture, you can see were the nail heads are, right? So, can't you cut sections of the wood where there are no nails and just remove the freshly cut sections piece by piece?

Hope my suggestions help.

 

[Lance]

- Hiring it out, as that'd be expensive and an admission of defeat, which as men, we are unwilling to do.

Good man.

Yeah, the whole burning idea was stupid. Thankfully, we can still include fire, as I think Frank had the right idea with the heating thing. Heat is a very helpful tool for making things move

 

[BlazeFallow]

Victory

I have tasted the sweet and succulent delight of victory.

I went out and bought a wedge axe and a sledge, both hickory shafted and 8lb's each.

And then we went to town on those boards. Took us about an hour and a half to get them in pieces and up around the nails, but we finally got it down to the ground.

That's when we tore up one of the landscaping tiles and found that there is not just the one layer protruding from the ground left, which is what we thought, but rather there is another set just beneath that.

So we're going to have to do a bit of digging to get the project truly completed, but We have won us a great victorious battle today, even if we have not yet won the war. Which we will win, oh yes we will.

Mid-demolishing and the all too important Mt. Dew Throwback can on the table:

WTF?! these nails gave us such a problem

Being all manly and such

More man strength

and finally getting that board all the way off.

Battle is over for today, but more will come.

 

[Lance]

Sad thing is that that box is probably built better than most houses these days. :\

 

[BlazeFallow]

you know that's probably true because I get the feeling that it was probably built around the same time as the rest of the house, which would be about 80 years ago. lol

I think we'll be continuing work on it tomorrow, in that we'll be digging trenches to get the rest of the wooden supports out.