Demolition Contractor in Easton, CT

Teardowns in Easton: late-1960s houses on three-acre lots

About 7,800 people live in Easton, across about 28.6 square miles of Fairfield County. About half of the town's property is owned by the area's main water supplier. Rough hills along the Aspetuck River made the area slow to develop, and Easton only split from Weston in 1845.

By the same assessor records, the typical Easton house has about 2,800 square feet of living space. About six in ten were built before 1978, and about 425 date from before 1940. Close to 60 percent of the house lots run three acres or more.

A full house demolition here means the house comes down and the foundation is dug out. Under state law, the open cellar hole is then filled to grade and the debris is removed. A detached garage, an old barn or a shed can come down at the same time. That is garage, barn and shed demolition, and the lot is left flat when we finish.

How does a demolition permit work in Easton?

Connecticut law says no building or structure comes down without a demolition permit. In Easton, the application goes to the Building Department. Before the permit issues, every utility with a service connection must sign off that its service is severed. Owners of the adjoining properties get notice by registered or certified mail before the work begins.

Easton also has a demolition delay ordinance, Chapter 254 of the town code. It allows a waiting period of up to 90 days for buildings the town lists as historically sensitive or significant. The wait starts only if the building is on the Index to Historic Homes in Easton. Buildings not on that list are exempt from the chapter.

Listed buildings are to be noted on the assessor's property cards. The town's Historic Preservation Review Commission has up to 21 calendar days to decide whether the building still has historic value. If not, the application moves ahead with no further delay. If it does, the commission works with the owner on other options for the rest of the 90 days.

During the delay, the owner keeps the building secure, and taking off windows, doors or roofing is not allowed. The Building Department can confirm whether your building is on the index. Ten or more days before work starts, a demolition notification also goes to the state Commissioner of Public Health. We point you to the right office for each step and set the start date once the paperwork clears.

Land clearing near Easton's reservoirs, rivers and brooks

Three reservoirs sit inside Easton's town line: Hemlock Reservoir, Aspetuck Reservoir and Easton Reservoir. The Aspetuck River and the Mill River both run through town. Brooks such as Canoe Brook, Gilbert Brook and Tatetuck Brook are in town too.

In Easton, the Conservation Commission/Inland Wetlands Agency acts as the town's wetlands agency. It reviews applications for regulated activities and makes site visits. It can also hold a public hearing before it approves or denies a permit. Before clearing or digging near a wetland, a brook or a pond, check with the agency.

Connecticut law defines wetlands by soil: poorly drained, very poorly drained, alluvial or floodplain soils. Rivers, brooks, lakes and ponds all count as watercourses. Opening a view to a pond is land clearing near water, and so is brush clearing to cut a path down to a brook.

Excavation on Easton's hills: glacial till and shallow ledge

Named hills inside the town line include Sport Hill, Staples Hill, Flirt Hill and Powells Hill. Charlton, a common deep upland soil in Fairfield County, formed in glacial till. In the Hollis soils, another common county soil, hard bedrock sits about 10 to 20 inches down. Ledge that close to the surface can change the plan for any excavation.

For a new house, the lot gets cleared first and stump removal takes each stump out by the roots. Then a gravel driveway is cut in, which matters when the house sits well back from the road. Next comes the foundation excavation, backfilled once the foundation walls go up. A Call Before You Dig request goes in before any machine breaks ground.

We come over from Monroe, about 9 miles down Route 59, which crosses the Mill River in Easton. The town borders Monroe, Trumbull, Fairfield, Weston, Redding and Newtown. We also work in Trumbull and Weston, and across the rest of Fairfield County.