You can demolish a semi-detached house, as these homes are built separately. When you demolish or detach a semi-detached house, it will not affect the other home.
It is advised that anyone looking to separate or demolish a home seek advice from the city regarding permits. Additionally, the assistance and advice of demolishers, architects, structural engineers and real estate lawyers may be required.
There are many reasons why someone may want to demolish a semi-detached home, but regardless of these reasons – the homeowner will need to answer to the city. A number of factors need to be considered prior to starting the demolition:
- The age of the property
- The structural well-being of the property
- The requirement to insulate the neighbors exterior wall
- The need to cover exposed foundation
- Additional work to restore the neighbors roofing, walls and foundation
You’ll need to speak with the neighbors and make sure they are comfortable with you demolishing your half of the home. Although this isn’t common practice, it has happened in the past.
Additional consideration will need to be made into offering the neighbors with financial compensation. This is where legal advice and lawyers are needed. It can be an expensive process to demolish a semi-detached house, which can make the re-building an even more expensive project.
Even though you can turn a semi-detached house into a detached home, would you consider it? You may miss out on some potential benefits such as heating. In a property that is attached, home owners have experience lower heating costs due to the shared wall.
This also applies to demolishing half a duplex, as those properties tend to be semi-detached. A duplex can either be side by side or one on top of another. For example, duplexes are very common in Montreal, but rarely found in Toronto.
In a city like Toronto, you’ll have a considerable amount of stress going through the different city offices to allow you to demolish a semi. Additionally, new zoning laws can take affect and you may not be allowed to build certain types of properties. Even though a proposed idea may be in line with the character of the neighborhood – there are multiple governing bodies that will need to green light your demolition.
On average, it will cost between $15,000 and $40,000 to demolish a semi-detached house.
The cheapest way to demolish a house will be to start shopping around with different demolition companies. However, this should only be done once all the legal and feasibility work have been completed and signed on.
Six Steps to Safely Demolishing a Home
There are professionals who can take care of your house demolition. In general there are 6 important steps to consider when demolishing a home:
- A home inspection to ensure it is safe to demolish
- Consider the impact of the demolition to neighbors
- Consider the method of demolition to be used
- Filing and getting the permits needed
- Disconnecting service to the home and removing appliances
- Demolition and clean up