Demolition Debris Removal in Rochester

Demolition in Rochester begins with a date. Under 12 NYCRR § 56-5.1, New York’s Industrial Code Rule 56, the requirement for an asbestos survey before demolition, renovation, remodelling or repair falls away only for structures whose original construction commenced after 1 January 1974. More than half of this city’s housing was built before 1940, so on most Rochester jobs that exemption simply does not apply. And the exemption that people do reach for is narrower than they think: it covers an owner of a one or two-family dwelling who contracts for but does not direct or control the work. It is not a rule that houses are exempt from New York asbestos requirements. Read it once, properly, before you plan a demolition sequence, and take the guidance from the New York State Department of Labor rather than from a contractor forum.

Then read the sentence that follows from it, because it reverses what most people assume an exemption means. The Department states: “Buildings qualifying for exemptions must still be assumed to contain asbestos and demolished as an asbestos project unless there is a survey that appropriately documents that there is no asbestos.” An exemption from the survey is not an exemption from the rules. It is a presumption that asbestos is present, and demolishing a building as an asbestos project costs a great deal more than surveying it first. On a pre-1974 Rochester structure, where nine by nine vinyl asbestos floor tile and asbestos pipe insulation are routine finds in basements every week of the year, the survey is almost always the cheaper path. We do not accept asbestos in our containers under any circumstances; it moves under a separate NYSDEC Part 364 permit and a licensed abatement contractor.

The second thing to check is on the wall, and it is a duty that names demolition contractors specifically. New York has banned the disposal of mercury thermostats since 2005, under Environmental Conservation Law Article 27, Title 29. What makes it relevant here rather than merely interesting is that the Department of Environmental Conservation states that contractors replacing mercury thermostats or demolishing buildings are required to bring mercury thermostats to collection programs. That is not a general environmental aspiration, it is a demolition-specific obligation. If you are taking down a pre-1990s Rochester house or gutting one, the old round thermostat in the hallway comes off the wall and goes to a collection point, not into the container. Manufacturers fund that collection at no cost. It takes two minutes and it is a genuine legal requirement rather than best practice. See NYSDEC for collection sites.

Where the debris goes is decided by the City. City Code § 20-15F: “Contractors performing work must make arrangements for the proper and legal collection and disposal of waste generated during the construction process and such waste shall not be collected by the City.” Demolition debris is the clearest possible case of that. Meanwhile Mill Seat Landfill in the Town of Riga is commercial accounts only, no residential customers, Monday to Friday from 7:00 am to 3:30 pm, so a homeowner taking down a garage cannot simply drive the material out to the county facility. That gap between what the City will not collect and what the landfill will not accept from you directly is the entire reason roll-off service exists in this market, and it is worth understanding before you swing the first sledge rather than after. Our construction debris article sets out the sequence.

Beyond asbestos and thermostats, demolition on old Rochester stock throws up the usual list. Lead paint is effectively a given: roughly nine houses in ten here predate 1980, and the federal renovation, repair and painting rule at 40 CFR Part 745 covers demolition in pre-1978 housing always, regardless of square footage. Knob-and-tube wiring, cast-iron drain lines and galvanised supply are all normal finds and all worth separating for scrap. Fluorescent tubes, ballasts, refrigerant-bearing equipment, fuel oil tanks and propane cylinders come out before the structure does. And if there is anything that breaks ground — a slab, a footing, a foundation — call in a locate to UDig NY first: at least two but not more than 10 working days’ notice under 16 NYCRR § 753-3.1. It is UDig NY in New York, renamed from Dig Safely New York in September 2021.

Demolition Jobs We Supply Containers For

Sizing A Demolition Container

Demolition produces two kinds of debris and they want two kinds of container. Dense material — concrete, brick, block, mortar, stone, plaster and lath, tile in a mortar bed, foundation spoil — goes in a 10 or a 15, loaded flat and spread across the floor, and it will reach a legal payload while the sides are still visible. Bulky material — framing, sheathing, roofing, siding, cabinetry, trim, insulation — goes in a 30, which is the standing container on most demolition jobs here. A 40 is for airy work only, such as a commercial gut job producing partitions, ceiling grid and systems furniture, and it should never see masonry or soil. On a garage teardown the honest answer is usually a 30 for the structure and a 10 for the slab. That costs less than one container that reaches payload half full and then cannot lawfully leave the site. Dimensions are on the container sizes page.

Sequence, Access And Permits

Get the sequence right and the container work is straightforward. Survey or presumption first, under 12 NYCRR Part 56. Then the strip-out: thermostat off the wall for collection, fluorescent tubes and ballasts out, refrigerant equipment and fuel tanks out, electronics out, scrap metal separated. Then the structure. Then the slab, in its own container. On access we need roughly 60 feet of straight approach, about ten and a half feet of width and 20 feet or more of overhead, and on a narrow Rochester lot with a garage at the back of a long drive the overhead is usually the constraint, because the service drop crosses the drive from the pole. Plywood under every wheel, always, and particularly in March and April when the silt loams under this county are at their wettest. If the container has to go in the right-of-way, that is a permit in writing from the City Engineer under City Code § 104-24, barricaded and lit at night under § 104-24(C). Contact the Department of Environmental Services for current fees. Placement holds five feet clear of combustible walls, openings and roof eave lines under 19 NYCRR Part 1225.