Structural propping is holding up the part of a building that is staying while the part that is going gets demolished. Props, needles, strongbacks and temporary steel, designed by an engineer and installed in a sequence that never leaves anything unsupported.
It is the work that makes half house demolition, partial demolition and basement excavation possible. It is also the work most people forget to price until the engineer asks for it.
We do a lot of it, because we do a lot of half house demolitions. Sydney, Brisbane and South East Queensland, and on jobs along the East Coast.
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When you need propping
Half house demolition. You are taking the back half off and keeping the front. Everything the removed half was holding up, and everything that was bracing it, now needs another way to stand.
Party walls and terraces. Demolish one of a row and the neighbours on both sides are relying on a wall that has just lost its bracing. This is the one that goes wrong publicly.
Basement and boundary excavation. Dig next to an existing footing and it needs support before you dig, not after. This usually runs alongside underpinning.
Removing a structural wall or a column. Internal strip outs and fitouts where a wall is coming out and the load has to go somewhere while the new beam goes in.
Heritage facades. Keeping a facade while everything behind it comes down. Specialist temporary works and normally engineered as its own design.
It is engineered work, not a pile of acrows
Propping is temporary works, and temporary works get designed. A structural engineer specifies what goes where, what it carries, and in what order it goes in and comes out. We install to that design and we do not improvise on site.
If you do not have a design yet, we will tell you that before we quote, and we can point you at engineers we work with regularly. What we will not do is guess at it, because the failure mode is a collapse.
Where it matters we will also ask for the props to be inspected and signed off before demolition starts. That signature is what lets everyone sleep.
What we install
Adjustable steel props and acrow props for straightforward vertical support in domestic and light commercial work.
Needles and strongbacks where a wall has to be picked up and carried across an opening.
Structural steel and universal beams where the load or the span needs real capacity.
Raking and flying shores where a wall needs lateral restraint rather than vertical support, which is most party wall work.
Scaffold based temporary works where the design calls for it and a licensed scaffolder is engaged alongside us.
The sequence is the job
Propping goes in before anything is removed. Not partway through, not on the same day, before. Then demolition works in the order the temporary works design allows, and the props stay until the permanent structure is in and has gained strength.
Coming out matters just as much. Props are struck in a specified order once the new beam, slab or footing is doing its job. We have seen more near misses on the strike than on the install.
On a half house demolition we will normally prop, demolish, then stay on site through the detailed excavation and the new footings, so there is one contractor responsible for the temporary support the whole way through rather than a handover halfway.
Frequently asked
Can you design the propping as well? We install to an engineer's design. We can bring the engineer in, and on repeat house work that is usually the fastest way.
How long can props stay in? As long as the design says, and they get inspected while they are in. Long duration propping is normal on bigger jobs.
Do you do the demolition as well? Almost always. Propping and demolition by the same crew removes the argument about who is responsible for the building standing up.
What about the neighbours? On party wall and boundary work there is usually a dilapidation report and sometimes a formal notice. We will tell you what is needed and we work to it.
Send us the plans and the engineer's details
The fastest way to get a price is the demolition plan, the temporary works design if you have one, and a couple of photos of the building. If you do not have a design yet, ring us anyway and we will tell you what you are going to need.
Sydney 02 7908 4944. Brisbane and South East Queensland 07 2145 6581.
Half house demolition by city
We have written a page for each of the areas we cover most, with the local number and the housing stock we see there. Half house demolition and structural propping in Sydney, Wollongong, Newcastle, Brisbane, Gold Coast and Sunshine Coast.
Perfect Stripout & Demolition acknowledges the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people as Traditional Custodians of the country on which we live and work. We pay our respects to the Traditional Custodians and Elders past, present and future, and honour their connection to the land and ongoing contribution to society.