In May, there was a storm in Gainesville, TX, with 100MPH straight line winds. The wind somehow got under the roof of this house and ripped half the roof off, simultaneously lifing and turning the house about 90 degreesclockwise. The result is a total loss, but due to the quality of construction, the materials will be salvaged. This house was built at the turn of the century. In 1920, electricity was installed. Houses built back then do not have sheet rock walls, but rather they have 3/4" thick planks for the walls, and this was usually covered with wallpaper. If this had been a modern 'sheet rock' house, nothing would have been left to salvage, it would have been scattered over an acre. Anyway, several things need to be done. The house is part way on the neighbor's property. The walls need to be pulled down so that the planks, millwork, and shiplath can be salvaged. Sure the wood is about 100 years old, but it is now very hard and seasoned. Most of it is pine. It was not practical to try to disassemble the house since its condition was changing fron day to day and it was not safe to work on the structure inside it. In order to level it, an M35 6X6 military truck weighing right at 10 tons was called in to pull down the walls, allowing the structure to collapse flat. With 10 wheels and all wheel drive, it is good for the job. The owners can now go to work and save the best wood. The images here show the main structure as it was after the storm, but already some windows and fixtures have been pulled for salvage. Later, after all the images have shown the progress, only the rear wall and a couple of partitions remain, and these will be dealt with later after some salvage. All of this was done in an afternoon. The work was very difficult because the house was really well-built. Some videos were taken. The file sizes are large because the videos are 640x480 at 30FPS (best TV quality).
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