Out with the old, up with the new: Demolition of old Eagle Valley Elementary School begins as new building wraps up
A trackhoe bucket with thumb grabs a large section of roofing material that came off of the old Eagle Valley Elemenatary School building during demolition Monday in Eagle.
EAGLE — Walls that took weeks to build came down in moments as demolition began on Eagle Valley Elementary School.
As they did, memories flooded in and flooded out, as memories do, to make room for new memories in a new building a few dozen yards away.
Out with the old
Demolition started early Monday morning, July 16. It’ll take about a week and a half to bring it down and haul it away, said David Hanen, superintendent with Haselden Construction, the general contractor overseeing all of Eagle County Schools’ current bond projects.
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Knocking it down is relatively uncomplicated. The giant yellow Cat from 360 Civil, a Gypsum firm, is ripping off roofs and pulling down walls. The rubble piles up close by, and when the piles get big enough, they load everything onto trucks and haul it away to be recycled.
“We’re recycling as much as we can,” Hanen said.
Heavy machinery rips into the old Eagle Valley Elementary School Building, built in 1973, during demolition Monday in Eagle.
The metal and wood, of course, as well as the concrete and asphalt, and anything else that can be reused.
Among other things, recycled concrete is good for dust control on roads. Recycled asphalt is good for anything asphalt is good for.
But you have to do it correctly.
It’s called Methods of Procedure, or MOPs, and that’s where they make sure Holy Cross Energy has
all of the electricity turned off, the town of Eagle has the water turned off and all the hazard stuff has been neutralized.
The doors were spray painted with big black numbers, indicating the day on which everything behind those doors containing asbestos had been mitigated. The building was constructed in 1973, when asbestos was thought to be safe, more or less. It turned out to be less safe, and crews had to deal with it all before demolition could begin.
Even after all of that, workers took one last look around Monday morning to make sure no one suffering from a bout of nostalgia was wandering the halls.
A brick wall on the west end of the E.V.E.S. building is brought down during demo Monday in Eagle.
There’s red tape around the entire building and people at every entrance to keep nostalgia seekers out of the building, so it doesn’t come down around them.
The Haselden and 360 Civil crews did this exact thing a few weeks ago when they leveled the administration building next door.
When this building is gone, acres of green grass will cover the site where the school used to be.
Tiffany Dougherty, Eagle Valley Elementary School principal, was on hand Monday as demolition began on the old building, built in 1973
In with the new
Adjacent to the demolition site of the old Eagle Valley Elementary School, there are about 65 tradesmen on site daily constructing the new Eagle Valley Elementary School, with as many as 120 tradesmen on site during peak times. The new building will include:
• 75,000 square feet of building area
• 292 tons of steel
• 1,805 linear feet of wood beams
• 18,151 square feet of sidewalks
• 1 community garden
• 63 new trees
• 185,000 square feet of native seeded area
• 60,000 square feet of turf grass
• 20,346 square feet for play equipment area, including 2 bear caves, 2 log jams, rock and boulder structures.
Staff Writer Randy Wyrick can be reached at 970-748-2935 and rwyrick@vaildaily.com.
