Interior demolition in Toronto
Bins usually sit on the street under a City street occupation permit or in a rear laneway, and the crew carries out through a 30 inch side passage. Dust walls up, the stair protected, every finish and partition out, and the joists and studs swept and photographed at handover. Interior demolition is the house gutted and the shell left standing, the first trade on any whole-house renovation.
Toronto, on the ground.
Toronto's stock runs from 1890s brick semis downtown to 1950s bungalows at the edges, and almost none of it has a wide side yard. That tells us what the walls are made of and how many layers of floor are waiting under the carpet. In Toronto we mostly gut kitchens and basements ahead of a renovation, cut out load-bearing walls for open plans, and take down garages for laneway houses.
Read more about demolition in Toronto or the full interior demolition service page.
On the ticket.
Whole-house containment: dust walls, sealed HVAC, protected stair and exterior doors
Water and power isolated by licensed trades; services to stay marked and protected
Drywall, plaster and lath, ceilings, insulation, flooring and underlayment out
Kitchens, bathrooms, closets, built-ins, doors and trim removed
Non-structural partitions out; load-bearing walls left or removed under the structural scope
Nails pulled, joists and studs swept, photos of every room at handover
Paper first.
Gutting a house is non-structural and usually needs no permit; the renovation that follows does, and any load-bearing wall needs an engineer. Toronto Building issues the permit, and residential tear-downs go through the City's demolition control process, so having the replacement building permit ready shortens the wait.
- Gutting a house to the studs is non-structural and usually needs no demolition permit. The renovation that follows needs a building permit.
- Any load-bearing wall, stair or floor opening is structural: permit, engineer's drawing and temporary shoring.
- Pre-1990 houses: a designated-substances survey comes first (O. Reg. 278/05). Plaster, floor tile, vermiculite and pipe insulation are the usual finds.
- Multi-unit conversions and second suites need a building permit and, in some municipalities, zoning approval before the finish goes in.
The plates on every truck: WSIB, insurance, demolition permits, asbestos survey, utility locates, crew training.
| Driver | What we look at |
|---|---|
| Floor area and storeys | Square footage over every floor coming out. |
| Walls and floors | Plaster and lath and three layers of flooring take longer than drywall and one. |
| Access | Hand-carry to a street bin adds labour on every load. |
| Bins and tipping | Bin count by weight. |
| Permit and utility locates | Whether a permit applies and whether we book the locates. |
The number comes from a site walk. Plaster and lath, three layers of flooring and hand-carry to a street bin move it up; the walk accounts for all three.
Not for the strip-out if nothing structural comes out. The renovation that follows needs a building permit from the City of Toronto (Toronto Building).
About a week for a typical two-storey with a crew, less for a bungalow, more where there is plaster and lath. [Kam confirms.]
Yes. Toronto Building issues it, and residential demolitions go through the City's demolition control process, which looks at what replaces the house. We file it and book the utility disconnects.