126-Year-Old Mentone Building Demolished For Public Safety
July 28, 2016 at 4:25 p.m.
By David [email protected]
Demolition of the 126-year-old blue building at 123 E. Main St., previously owned by Richard Surface and once known as the Davison building, started at about 8:30 a.m. Saturday.
The town had plans to tear down the building eventually, ever since Surface deeded it to Mentone a couple years ago, but the storm caused pieces of the two-story building to fall off.
“This is kind of an emergency situation right now,” said Council President Tim Croy early Saturday. “Once the storm came through, the wind blowing through the other side of the building where the windows are out, it peeled the outer stucco, and then the outside brick wall started falling to the ground. Then as you can see, each day as it goes by more and more keep falling out each time.”
Croy said the Indiana Department of Environmental Management was going to require Mentone to put a plastic tent around it. Scaffolding would have been brought in to take the stucco off.
“In a way I guess I’m glad that didn’t happen because if you would have guys on there removing stucco, that wall probably would have came off on them and knocking the scaffolding down. Then you have the chance of hurting somebody or actually killing somebody,” he said.
Though some residents of Mentone were without power for about 19 hours, Croy said there was a silver lining to the storm. The town was able to get an emergency waiver Thursday from IDEM to demolish the building.
“We had to go clear through the head guy clear down in Indianapolis. He gave us the OK on it, getting it down just because of the safety factor,” Croy said.
Utilities Superintendent Josh Shepherd said Wednesday morning he contacted Doyle Houser, IDEM Northern Regional Office, and told him about the storm damage to the building.
“He made me send notification to Indianapolis. Then they’ll send back and we pay a $50 for a permit to tear it down,” Shepherd said. “It went really, really well. Working with IDEM went really well.”
Fire Chief Mike Yazel sent a letter to the town stating the building was unsafe and needed to come down. Shepherd sent a copy of that letter to IDEM, too.
“Obviously, it’s structurally no longer secure,” said Yazel. “It could fall off and into the highway and the business next door. We didn’t have much choice. A bit of it fell since the storm now.”
Windows have fallen out, the outer veneer has come off and water has gotten into the building, he said.
Dave Jackson, of Jackson Services Demolition & Excavating, Rochester, was contracted to do the demolition. The town had planned to use his business even before the storm sped up the process.
“Working with David Jackson also went really well,” Shepherd said.
“These guys are experienced at this. We just wanted to get it down as soon as possible with kids around and everything,” said Yazel.
Croy said, “He wasn’t going to remove the stucco but they were going to do the demo on it. So all in all with this, they’re letting him do it all. He’s going to drop the building to the ground. They’re going to make access once the building is to the ground into the basement area. They’re still going to remove all the asbestos off the pipes, getting rid of that like he has to.”
Since IDEM provided the waiver, the town also is saving money on the demolition.
“We had a price of $50,000 to remove the stucco and the building. Now that we can eliminate stucco removal off it, it’s actually going to cost the town $36,000. And Mentone Chamber donated $10,000 on Friday to help with the demo,” Croy said.
NIPSCO removed the electric wires from the pole in front of the building, which the town appreciated, Croy said. The gas and electric service was shut off to the building earlier this year.
Before demolishing the building, Jackson Services put straw bales and plywood on the roof of the building next door to absorb anything that may fall on it. That building houses Terri Snyder’s business, Terri’s This & That.
Snyder said with the building torn down, the town will have more parking and will look much nicer.
“It’s just been a danger, so it’ll be nice to have it cleaned up,” Snyder said. “You can hear the bricks falling on the roof. It’s been kind of scary, especially since the storm made it much worse.”
Jackson said they also got their water suppression ready to go to keep everything wetted down. The fire department provided a hose and hydrant.
“When you’re dealing with mold or even any kind of asbestos type of material, you need to keep it wet and that keeps things from being friable, even though this material that we’re tearing down isn’t friable, we just want to keep it wet to keep everything cautious,” Jackson said.
He said the machine he used to tear down the building is the only one in Indiana as far as reaching up high, up to 75 feet. It has different attachments that go along with it, like a sheer or bucket to cut concrete or steel. He used a grapple Saturday so he could grab things and move them out of the way.
“This is called a high-reach demolition machine and, like I said, this one is 75 feet. The biggest one is 300 feet so they actually have to have cameras mounted on the end of it to see how high they can go with it and see what you’re doing while you’re (demolishing),” Jackson said.
In a year, he said his company does about 40 building demolitions. The 45-year-old company, started by Jackson’s father, does a lot in South Bend and Mishawaka.
“We tear down a lot of houses and a lot of buildings. We like the factories because we have sheer attachments so we can recycle everything we demo. We recycle on most jobs; 90 percent of all materials is recycled and reused,” Jackson said.
By 11:30 a.m. Saturday, the top half of the building was gone and Jackson was taking a break. He said they got the building to a safe state. By the end of this week, he said machines will be brought in to haul the building to the County Line Landfill. In two weeks, all the work should be done.
When Surface had the building, Croy said the town kept on him to repair it but he never did. Once he handed it over to the town, Mentone has been in the process the last two years of getting enough funds raised to get it down.
“We didn’t even think it was going to happen this year. We thought we were going to have to push it off. Mother Nature was really kind to us,” Croy said.
Once the space is cleared of the building and debris, he said the plan for it is to make it a parking lot. That will help the United Methodist Church, Allen’s Country Market and neighboring businesses with parking.
“You hate to see it go down. It’s dated 1888. You hate to see a landmark like that come down, but when it’s the safety of the community, you gotta do what you gotta do,” Croy concluded.[[In-content Ad]]
Latest News
E-Editions
Demolition of the 126-year-old blue building at 123 E. Main St., previously owned by Richard Surface and once known as the Davison building, started at about 8:30 a.m. Saturday.
The town had plans to tear down the building eventually, ever since Surface deeded it to Mentone a couple years ago, but the storm caused pieces of the two-story building to fall off.
“This is kind of an emergency situation right now,” said Council President Tim Croy early Saturday. “Once the storm came through, the wind blowing through the other side of the building where the windows are out, it peeled the outer stucco, and then the outside brick wall started falling to the ground. Then as you can see, each day as it goes by more and more keep falling out each time.”
Croy said the Indiana Department of Environmental Management was going to require Mentone to put a plastic tent around it. Scaffolding would have been brought in to take the stucco off.
“In a way I guess I’m glad that didn’t happen because if you would have guys on there removing stucco, that wall probably would have came off on them and knocking the scaffolding down. Then you have the chance of hurting somebody or actually killing somebody,” he said.
Though some residents of Mentone were without power for about 19 hours, Croy said there was a silver lining to the storm. The town was able to get an emergency waiver Thursday from IDEM to demolish the building.
“We had to go clear through the head guy clear down in Indianapolis. He gave us the OK on it, getting it down just because of the safety factor,” Croy said.
Utilities Superintendent Josh Shepherd said Wednesday morning he contacted Doyle Houser, IDEM Northern Regional Office, and told him about the storm damage to the building.
“He made me send notification to Indianapolis. Then they’ll send back and we pay a $50 for a permit to tear it down,” Shepherd said. “It went really, really well. Working with IDEM went really well.”
Fire Chief Mike Yazel sent a letter to the town stating the building was unsafe and needed to come down. Shepherd sent a copy of that letter to IDEM, too.
“Obviously, it’s structurally no longer secure,” said Yazel. “It could fall off and into the highway and the business next door. We didn’t have much choice. A bit of it fell since the storm now.”
Windows have fallen out, the outer veneer has come off and water has gotten into the building, he said.
Dave Jackson, of Jackson Services Demolition & Excavating, Rochester, was contracted to do the demolition. The town had planned to use his business even before the storm sped up the process.
“Working with David Jackson also went really well,” Shepherd said.
“These guys are experienced at this. We just wanted to get it down as soon as possible with kids around and everything,” said Yazel.
Croy said, “He wasn’t going to remove the stucco but they were going to do the demo on it. So all in all with this, they’re letting him do it all. He’s going to drop the building to the ground. They’re going to make access once the building is to the ground into the basement area. They’re still going to remove all the asbestos off the pipes, getting rid of that like he has to.”
Since IDEM provided the waiver, the town also is saving money on the demolition.
“We had a price of $50,000 to remove the stucco and the building. Now that we can eliminate stucco removal off it, it’s actually going to cost the town $36,000. And Mentone Chamber donated $10,000 on Friday to help with the demo,” Croy said.
NIPSCO removed the electric wires from the pole in front of the building, which the town appreciated, Croy said. The gas and electric service was shut off to the building earlier this year.
Before demolishing the building, Jackson Services put straw bales and plywood on the roof of the building next door to absorb anything that may fall on it. That building houses Terri Snyder’s business, Terri’s This & That.
Snyder said with the building torn down, the town will have more parking and will look much nicer.
“It’s just been a danger, so it’ll be nice to have it cleaned up,” Snyder said. “You can hear the bricks falling on the roof. It’s been kind of scary, especially since the storm made it much worse.”
Jackson said they also got their water suppression ready to go to keep everything wetted down. The fire department provided a hose and hydrant.
“When you’re dealing with mold or even any kind of asbestos type of material, you need to keep it wet and that keeps things from being friable, even though this material that we’re tearing down isn’t friable, we just want to keep it wet to keep everything cautious,” Jackson said.
He said the machine he used to tear down the building is the only one in Indiana as far as reaching up high, up to 75 feet. It has different attachments that go along with it, like a sheer or bucket to cut concrete or steel. He used a grapple Saturday so he could grab things and move them out of the way.
“This is called a high-reach demolition machine and, like I said, this one is 75 feet. The biggest one is 300 feet so they actually have to have cameras mounted on the end of it to see how high they can go with it and see what you’re doing while you’re (demolishing),” Jackson said.
In a year, he said his company does about 40 building demolitions. The 45-year-old company, started by Jackson’s father, does a lot in South Bend and Mishawaka.
“We tear down a lot of houses and a lot of buildings. We like the factories because we have sheer attachments so we can recycle everything we demo. We recycle on most jobs; 90 percent of all materials is recycled and reused,” Jackson said.
By 11:30 a.m. Saturday, the top half of the building was gone and Jackson was taking a break. He said they got the building to a safe state. By the end of this week, he said machines will be brought in to haul the building to the County Line Landfill. In two weeks, all the work should be done.
When Surface had the building, Croy said the town kept on him to repair it but he never did. Once he handed it over to the town, Mentone has been in the process the last two years of getting enough funds raised to get it down.
“We didn’t even think it was going to happen this year. We thought we were going to have to push it off. Mother Nature was really kind to us,” Croy said.
Once the space is cleared of the building and debris, he said the plan for it is to make it a parking lot. That will help the United Methodist Church, Allen’s Country Market and neighboring businesses with parking.
“You hate to see it go down. It’s dated 1888. You hate to see a landmark like that come down, but when it’s the safety of the community, you gotta do what you gotta do,” Croy concluded.[[In-content Ad]]
Have a news tip? Email [email protected] or Call/Text 360-922-3092