Cambria Contracting in Everett, WA

Cambria Contracting's latest project is the demolition of a large industrial structure on the shores of Possession Sound.  This project is a true test of all of Cambria Contracting's skills as it involves every facet of the demolition process, including large scale demolition, removal of site structures, asset salvage and environmental remediation.  Of course, as North America's premier demolition expert, Cambria Contracting was both the easiest and best choice for the project.

The first indication that the job site was not going to be a standard demolition is that part of the structure is attached to the sound itself.  This means there is an aquatic component to the demolition but it is nothing too great for Cambria Contracting to handle.  Barges were brought into buoy cranes and other large demolition equipment needed for this part.  The second part of this aquatic element is to ensure that what is demolished does not make its way out into the sea.  This is done by slowly building a dam between the sound and the water Cambria Contracting has to work in.  Then once the work has been done, before the dam can be taken down and a normal coast returned, that water has to be drained from this reservoir and taken to appropriate disposal. 

Also, an extreme hazard presented itself early in this project, in the form of a water spout.  For those unaware of what a water spout is, more or less imagine a tornado onto of a body of water.  While this was a magnificent sight to behold, it caused quite a bit of stress as it chose to tip toe near the shoreline before turning out towards the deeper ocean waters for good. 

This project is likely to take several months to finish and the customary EPA testing afterwards could push it to over a year.  However, when these large buildings have to come down, there is no one better to trust than the professionals at Cambria Contracting, Inc.

Cambria Contracting Recycling & Reclamation

Cambria Contracting is wholly aware and committed to the significant benefits recycling and reclamation can provide to the environment, our clientele, and the communities our project sites are found within.  These processes work to lower costs, keep watersheds safe, and keep precious materials in use.  Cambria Contracting makes it a point that their staff receives annual training about the latest developments in reusable waste.  It is this up to date knowledge that allows our engineers to consider items for recycling that wouldn't be caught by other organizations.

There are many items which can be re-used and many of them traditionally come to mind when the topic of recycling is breached.  Items from concrete, to roofing shingles, to different types of plastic all typically have a good re-sell value on the scrap market.  Cambria Contracting is affiliated with several firms who deal solely with these issues and can count on these relationships to expedite the reclamation process and allow for fluid transfers to keep projects on time.  Yet another reason that Cambria Contracting is the most preferred demolition firm in North America.

Concrete can be used as a base level material for landfills, along with most glass.  This provides a flat bed that ensures no greases, liquids or other potentially dangerous fluids can seep into the water table.  Roofing shingles and other tar based waste can be recycled into new forms of asphalt ready to be turned into the new highways of the country.

These are just a few of the items that Cambria Contracting incorporates into its asset salvage programs.  But more and more other businesses are popping up and taking the obscure or small and finding new uses for them.  It is this drive to staying on the front lines of salvage, that allows Cambria to put forth lower bids to their clients.  Just another reason to choose Cambria Contracting.

Cambria Contracting: Onward to Onondaga

Most of these posts regarding Cambria Contracting center around the complete dismantlement of a facility and the corresponding remediation to keep it clean.  While Cambria certainly excels at these all encompassing types of projects, today we're going to focus on the finesse side of the demolition industry.  We're going to show you how Cambria Contracting can also perform tasks with the precision of a surgeon.  Today we go inside Cambria Contracting's work at the Onondaga Cogeneration Plant!
First, let's discuss what a cogeneration plant is, or at least what it is used for.  As one may derive from the name a cogeneration plant creates (generates!) two (co!) types of energies for use at a sprawling industrial complexes or to even power and heat small villages and hamlets.  These facilities incorporate massive boilers to help the process move along.  It is one of the earliest forms of power generation and electric installations, prior to the creation of centralized power for cities and the like.

Cambria Contracting was tasked with removing two operational boilers and the accompanying smokestack.  The rest of the facility was to remain in tact thus making this a delicate operation.  Not only that but all of the piping involved with these boilers had to be dismantled for salvage to help allay the bottom line cost.  Difficult as it was Cambria Contracting also faced the task of removing two feul tanks used to run the boilers.

Those items had to be done in a manner that there would be no damage to the structures housing the untis.  Add to that the total environmental remediation associated wit hte standard removal of cogeneration boilers and this wasgoing to be no easy task.

CambriaContracting  first set about dismantling the boilers.  Doing so took careful cutting and a strategy to define the pieces it would be disassembled into.  By doing this Cambria the process manageable.  Once the boilers were removed it came time to take down the smokestack.  Using controlled explosives Cambria Contracting took down the smokestack with no injuries or problems, a true success.  From there it was clean sailing in removing the various pipes that made up the system it runs on.  The only trick to that removal was to ensure that the pipes were reusable as per the owner's instructions.  Using careful torch techniques, these pipes were removed safel and in fact were re-used not long after that.

The environmental remediation that followed is a Cambria Contracting specialty.  There was hazardous waste, mercury switches, oils, and eve refridgerants.  In order to make sure this was dealt with properly, Cambria Contracting had to seal off the area and use DEC techniques to complete the job.  It was no surprise the Cambria did this successfully and on time as well.

Once again Cambria continues to get the job done, no matter where it takes place or how delicate a mission it is.

Cambria Contracting Destroys Vesuvius

Cambria Contracting took on Vesuvius, and they won!

No not the mountain in Italy, but the Mineral Procession Mega-Company. In Buffalo, NY there once resides a 145,000 square foot carbon plant. The decommissioning and demolition of which, was not set to be a quick process. Knowing that they required the very best in the industry, Cambria Contracting was the obvious choice.

The word's Carbon Plant do not really call to mind the extreme hazards that were present in this facility. I mean I am made of Carbon, and we use carbon dating on fossils, and Carbon really never gets in trouble unless two of those no-good oxygens are around (CO2 for those still reading). Carbon Plants are foundries used to create dies for various iron castings. Usually they involve reactors which must be clear of any and all extemporaneous gases.

The Vesuvius project which Cambria Contracting took on was no small task. As with most of the undertakings listed on this blog, this project involved sophisticated remediation as well as delicate removal and salvage of series of industrial equipment.
The first step was to dismantle and remove several of the blast kilns that had been used to create the castings. There was also several tons of milling machinery left in the facility as well. While this did not require the intricate dismantling that the blast kilns did, they still retained significant salvage value. As such Cambria Contracting was careful to ensure their removal was thorough and safe. By being able to safely dismantle and salvage, if not outright re-use, was able to save Vesuvius over $100,000. The intricacies of these steps and the success of the process in general are at the very core of what makes Cambria Contracting so successful. By having the training, experience, and knowledge to successfully remove large caliber industrial furnaces and equipment, Cambria Contracting proves time and again why it is the continent's best demolition firm.

Once, the salvage portion of the demolition was out of the way, the next step was to begin a process of asbestos abatement. As outlined in previous posts, this process is fairly tedious and begins by sealing off the entire afflicted area. With a facility that encompasses 145,000 square feet this is no easy task. Cambria Contracting handles it with ease, however, and from there was able to begin removing the dangerous material. Once again demonstrating Cambria Contracting's superior expertise.
From this point forward it was relatively simple to finish the demolition as the rest of the waste Cambria Contracting dealt with is labeled as universal waste. This includes much more traditional waste such as ballasts, light bulbs, instrument panels and even mercury switches if you can believe it.
Cambria Contracting had no trouble handling this mountain of a task and successfully did so. They remain the finest Industrial Demolition Contractor in North America.

Cambria Contracting Saves Clients Money

Cambria Contracting is one of North America's largest industrial demolition companies, but one of the real areas of expertise they possess is the ability to salvage and profit from the items which comprise their demolitions.  Not only is this aspect a large source of joy for site owners and environmentalists alike.  With the experience and knowledge that Cambria Contracting possesses, the list of what can be salvaged, scrapped, resold, or re-used is already very long and continuously growing.  Even if a company shows no interest in these measures, Cambria Contracting still takes all appropriate steps to encourage items to be renewed and serve purposes anew.

Most of the salvage that Cambria Contracting comes across is metal.  Most of it can easily be cleaned and re-sold on the market as simple scrap.  Sometimes it requires decontamination efforts but Cambria Contracting is more than happy to take this step as it usually is required by the DEC in general, but also allows for the material in question to be re-used.  Often times in industrial cases, many of the metal components of an old plant, if extracted correctly, can be re-sold and incorporated to new plants throughout the world.  Cambria Contracting see this re-use as one of the many duties it is responsible for to make sure full value is gained from any and all materials or machines.  

In fact, there are many things most contractors do not realize can and are recycled.  Again, this is where Cambria Contracting  again displays how important it is to remain on the forefront of industry knowledge.  Roofing shingles can now be made into asphalt.  Plastics of all densities are re-used to make tough, pallets for industrial use.  Metals are scrapped to be re-used again, unless they are good-to-go components to be re-used in another facility.  

This is easily one of Cambria Contracting's favorite parts of a demolition.  It cuts owner's costs, keeps landfills from filling up and in some cases allows other construction projects to come in under budget by using a pre-owned item.  Our commitment to the environment helps make the difference.  It is just one of the many reasons Cambria Contracting has excelled as North America's premier demolition company.

Cambria Contracting and the Electric Operations Center

On its way to becoming North America's premiere demolition contractor, Cambria Contracting has taken many demolition projects and made them impressive successes. As part of our ongoing blog series giving in-depth perspective to Cambria Contracting's past projects we invite you to come with us as we relive the great memories we have of the Rochester Gas and Electric Operations Center.

A sprawling 250,000 square foot, multi-story concrete and steel operation center, this particular project had it all. For starter's the building was filled with asbestos products, a Cambria Contracting specialty. There was asbestos in the pipes, caulking, mastic, floor tile, the roofing and even the vessel coverings. Normally, that laundry list of asbestos contaminant would leave lesser companies heading for the hills. However, the list for Cambria Contracting was just beginning.

Adding on to the miles of asbestos abatement needed, the plant had also compromised the materials of the structure as well as some of the surrounding soils. This PCB remediation was not limited to just soil and concrete alone, but transformers, oils, instrumentation controls, mercury switches, universal waste lights, bulbs, and ballast tanks as well. This process was time consuming and certainly required the expertise of Cambria Contracting, but it was not anything beyond the scope of possibilities.

After all of the hazardous had been disposed of properly, Cambria Contracting still had the monumental task of actually taking down the structure. This took months and required almost all of the industrial equipment Cambria Contracting owns. However, at the end of the project the DEC came in and gave Cambria Contracting the ok, and the Rochest Gas and Electric Operations Center was no more.

Decommissioning with Cambria Contracting

The social collective typifies demolition as a few sledgehammers and an endgame of large scale implosions. While many Demolition Experts including Cambria Contracting wish these projects were to simple, the reality is that there are significant protocols that must be met before even beginning to think about moving forward towards the actual process of demolition. These processes are collectively known as decommissioning and they vary depending on the industry involved. One thing is for sure the process of nuclear, industrial or even a ship is necessary to ensure the overall public health.

As one of North America's largest demolition firms, Cambria Contracting is fully capable, equipped, and experienced enough to fulfill the DEC demands on any industrial decommissioning. Decommissioning activities are done to make the facility safe for the surrounding community, environment and the workers themselves inside the structure. Basic decommissioning plans can call for decontamination, dismantling and subsequent waste management. 

Cambria Contracting recognizes how important a proper decommissioning is. When done correctly it can clear up significant liabilities for the administration of the facility. Decommissioning is in fact the process by which a facility can successfully leave the classification it held during it's lifetime, thus paving the way for larger, faster demolition procedures to begin. Using data driven results Cambria Contracting is able to make this an cost efficient process. 

Further proof of the value of a well-done decommissioning firm, like Cambria, is that it can lead to significant savings in salvageable materials. By salvaging previously thought of contaminants and finding an applicable home for them, typically a paying one.

Decommissioning is a very important phase of demolition, and no one works harder to provide returns for a site's administrators than Cambria Contracting.