An old barn or outbuilding comes down safely when it is emptied first, checked for anything hazardous, disconnected from power and water, and then pulled apart in order, roof first, by a machine rather than by people standing under it. The debris then gets sorted into metal, wood and concrete, because each goes somewhere different, and none of it can legally be burned.
Look at it from the outside first
Old farm buildings fail in ways that catch people out. Sills rot where they meet the ground, posts go soft at the base, and a roof that looks fine from the road can be held up by habit. Walk around it and look for leaning walls, sagging ridge lines and posts that no longer touch anything. Do not climb into a loft or onto the roof to start pulling tin off. Wasps and hornets like old barns, and so do snakes in the debris around the base. If a building is leaning hard, stay out of it entirely and take your photos from a distance.
Empty it before it comes down
Barns collect decades of things nobody wanted to deal with: old pesticide bags and jugs, fuel cans, motor oil, paint, tires, batteries, baling twine, feed, and furniture someone meant to fix. Most of that should not end up mixed into the demolition pile. Chemicals, fuel and paint each need their own route, and the county solid waste office can say which site takes them. Tires and car batteries are taken separately at most county sites. Hay and loose feed can usually be spread or composted. The emptier the building is, the faster and cleaner the teardown, and the easier the debris is to place.
Asbestos, lead paint and old materials
The EPA says you cannot tell whether a material contains asbestos just by looking at it, unless it is labeled, and that damaged material should be handled by trained professionals rather than sampled at home. Old outbuildings sometimes carry siding, roofing panels, floor tile or pipe wrap from the decades when asbestos products were common, and painted barn boards may carry old lead paint. If any of that is on yours, get it checked before anything is broken up. North Carolina's asbestos demolition notifications go through the NC DHHS Health Hazards Control Unit. In South Carolina, the SCDES Bureau of Air Quality covers renovations and demolitions.
Permits, power and the building department
North Carolina's statute on building permits lists demolition among the work that cannot start without whatever permits are required, and what is required depends on the county or town. Ask the county building inspections office, or the town if you are inside town limits, whether your barn needs a demolition permit and whether a farm building is treated differently. South Carolina counties set their own rules too, so ask the same question there. Separately, have the power company disconnect any electric service to the building, and shut off and cap any water line. Do not assume an old barn has no live wiring.
Why the barn cannot be burned down
Burning an old barn looks like the simple answer. It is not legal. North Carolina's air quality division says it is always illegal to burn construction materials or anything man-made, and lists buildings, treated or coated wood, asphalt shingles and tires among the things that may never be burned. South Carolina's Forestry Commission limits outdoor fires to vegetative material such as leaves and limbs. A barn fire also throws embers onto woods and pasture and leaves a mess of nails, wire and half-burned timber that still has to be hauled. Brush cleared from around the building is a different matter, under the normal burning rules.
Taking it apart in order
The safe sequence is the reverse of how it went up. Roofing tin comes off and gets stacked first, because metal is worth keeping clean of everything else. Then the structure is pulled down from outside its fall zone, with a machine, not with a rope tied to a truck. A mini track loader with a grapple can pull walls in, sort timbers from tin and load the pile, and an excavator handles the heavy posts and anything set in concrete. Old concrete floors, block foundations and piers get broken out after that, the same way as an old slab. If the timbers are sound and someone wants them, say so before it starts.
The footprint afterwards
Expect nails. The ground under and around an old barn is full of them, along with wire, glass and bits of hardware, and they work up for years if nobody deals with them. A rolling magnet sweep over the footprint helps. Old barn floors are often rich soil or packed manure, which is good for a garden and poor for a building pad, so say what is going there next. Trees that grew up tight against the walls often get cut at the same time, and their stumps can be ground out on the same visit. See how to demolish a shed for the smaller version of this job.
Common Questions
Can I burn down an old barn instead of tearing it apart?
No. North Carolina's air quality rules list buildings, treated wood, shingles and tires among things that can never be burned, and South Carolina's Forestry Commission limits outdoor burning to vegetative material. A barn has to be taken apart and the debris hauled to a site that accepts it.
What should come out of a barn before it is torn down?
Everything that is not part of the building. That means chemicals, fuel, paint, oil, tires, batteries, feed, furniture and anything you want to keep. Chemicals and fuel have their own disposal rules, so ask the county solid waste office. An empty building comes down faster and leaves a cleaner pile.
Is the old wood from a barn worth saving?
Sometimes. Sound beams and weathered siding boards can be reused, and some people look for them. Rotten, wormy or painted wood is rarely worth the effort. If you want to keep timbers, mark them and say so before the teardown, because pulling a building apart carefully takes longer than pulling it down.
What to Do Next
An old barn, shed, carport or outbuilding that has to come down? Send photos of the building from two sides and the way a machine would reach it, along with your town, and Jordan will quote demolition and hauling before anything is touched. Or call (828) 574-4474.
See our demolition service or call (828) 574-4474.