Demolition Contractor in Laurinburg, NC

House demolition in Laurinburg's older neighborhoods

The railroad reached Laurinburg in 1861, and the first textile mill was organized just east of town in 1899. That mill area later became the separate town of East Laurinburg, made up almost entirely of mill villages. Nearly a quarter of the city's homes today were built before 1960. Under 5 percent went up in 2010 or later.

Some of those older houses reach the point where repair stops making sense. The city's code enforcement office handles substandard housing and unsafe buildings under the city code. A condemned house or a fire-damaged one is the kind of building we take down. A detached garage or a shed out back can come down in the same job.

The City of Laurinburg runs its own electric system, and it supplies water and sewer service in town. Some addresses inside the city limits buy power from another company instead. The disconnect request goes to whichever utility sends the bill, before any machine starts.

Who issues a demolition permit in Laurinburg?

Laurinburg is the Scotland County seat, and the county's Inspections Department enforces the state building code in the city. The city's development ordinance says no building comes down without two permits. One is a building permit from the county building inspector. The other is a zoning permit from the city zoning officer.

The county's demolition permit form adds a state step. It says demolition may not start before the state is contacted for an asbestos inspection. That inspection is the owner's step before the teardown, and any asbestos removal goes to a separate company.

State law calls for an NC 811 ticket at least three full working days before digging or demolition. Inside the city, Public Works also asks for a call before digging near its own lines. Those steps set the start date, and the teardown is scheduled around them.

Clearing a Laurinburg lot: the tree rule and the flood maps

Laurinburg has been named a Tree City USA for more than 30 years, and its ordinance protects big trees. Inside the city's jurisdiction, a tree 12 inches or more in diameter, measured 4.5 feet up, is a protected tree. Taking one down needs a removal permit from the city's planning office first. Smaller trees can be cut without that permit, unless they were planted as replacements.

That rule comes first on any lot clearing job inside the city. Leith Creek and Gum Swamp Creek both cross the city limits. FEMA's flood maps show detailed flood zones along the creeks in town. On a lot inside a mapped flood zone, the city requires a floodplain development permit before grading or filling.

Much of the town sits on sandy, well-drained soils such as Noboco and Norfolk loamy sand. Low, flat spots carry McColl and Coxville loams, which drain poorly, and McColl is mapped as ponded. That wet ground can push back a start date after heavy rain. The city's ordinance also says any project over one acre must meet the state's sedimentation and erosion control rules.

Older commercial buildings and sites in Laurinburg

The core of downtown Laurinburg is on the National Register as the Laurinburg Commercial Historic District, listed in 2003. Its one- and two-story brick commercial buildings along Main Street date from the 1890s to the early 1950s. Before any teardown downtown, the city planning office can say what applies to that building.

Beyond downtown, the city has shopping centers and industrial sites in its outlying areas. The city also won an EPA brownfield assessment grant to study sites around town for reuse. When a reuse plan calls for an old building to come down, that is commercial demolition. The slab and the footings under it come out as concrete removal work.