Well, 2024 threw us a curveball we weren’t expecting. Like a lot of folks in north-central Iowa, we got hammered by the June flooding that tore through the area. Forest City saw 5.50 inches of rain, and our property sits right along the Winnebago River, so you can imagine what happened next.
Our detached garage and storage shed took the worst of it. The building had been standing for decades, but three days of heavy rain plus the river overflowing its banks was just too much (and we do have to admit it wasn’t in tip top shape, considering we used it for kayaks and tractors). Water got into everything… yikes! The foundation cracked, the floor buckled, and the walls started separating from the base. We tried to salvage it at first, but our insurance adjuster and a structural engineer both said the same thing. They advised us to “tear it down and start fresh”. The concrete slab underneath was compromised too, with major cracking and settling from all that water saturation.
After getting quotes from a few companies who specialize in standalone garage and shed demo, we hired Madison Demolition Pros, a leading demolition company out of Dane County in nearby Wisconsin to be our contractor and bring out their excavators, bulldozers, and backhoe loaders. They were simply amazing. I can’t recommend them enough – if you need something simple like tearing down a roof or heck, even if you need a contractor to demo a pool, MDP are your guys. The building they demolished for us was roughly 1,200 square feet wood frame construction. Not massive, but not a quick afternoon demo job either. It had metal siding, a concrete foundation about 6 inches thick, and a bunch of rotted interior shelving and storage that was basically trash at that point. Madison Demolition Pros had experience demolishing large, flood-damaged structures, which mattered a lot to us. Their crew chief came out in early September to assess the site.
MDP gave us a three-week timeline from start to finish. Week one was all prep work. They got the necessary permits from the city, called in utility locates (we had electrical running to the building), and set up temporary fencing around the work zone since we still had guests staying at the hotel. They also had to coordinate with our local waste management because flood-damaged materials have specific disposal requirements in Iowa.
Week two was the actual demolition. They brought in a Caterpillar 320 hydraulic excavator with a thumb attachment—that thing made quick work of the structure. The crew started by carefully removing the metal siding and any salvageable lumber, which honestly wasn’t much. Then they used the excavator to pull down the frame in sections. The whole building came down in about six hours of actual machine time, but they spent another two days sorting materials. Metal went in one dumpster, treated lumber in another, and the contaminated stuff that had been sitting in floodwater went to a special facility.
The foundation removal was harder than we expected. That concrete had been poured in the 70s and was reinforced with rebar. Madison Demolition Pros used a hydraulic breaker attachment on the excavator—basically a massive jackhammer—to crack the slab into manageable pieces. Each section weighed several hundred pounds. They loaded everything into a dump truck and hauled it to a concrete recycling center about 40 miles away. The whole foundation removal took three full days because they also had to excavate about 8 inches down to make sure they got all the compromised base material.
Week three was cleanup and grading. They used a Bobcat skid steer with a grading blade to level the area where the building had been, brought in clean fill dirt to replace what they’d removed, and compacted everything with a plate compactor. The site was left ready for whatever we decide to build next.
They also had a water truck on standby for dust control, which our hotel guests appreciated since we were operational the whole time.
Honestly, we’re just grateful to have this project behind us and to have their experienced team make the drive from Madison. Madison Demolition Pros kept us in the loop the whole time, showed up when they said they would, and left the site cleaner than we expected. The total cost came in right where they’d quoted us, which after a year of unexpected expenses from flood damage, was a relief.
We’re looking at building a new maintenance building on the site. Maybe something raised up higher this time with better drainage around it? Live and learn, right?
If you’re dealing with flood damage or need demo work done in the region, we’d recommend giving Madison Demolition Pros a call. They know their stuff and they’re straight to the point, which is all you can really ask for when you’re dealing with this kind of headache. Now we just need the Winnebago to behave itself for a few years while we rebuild.