Wrecking ball


A heavy steel ball, usually hung from a crane, used for demolishing large buildings.

Modern wrecking balls have gotten a slight face lift, with a metal sphere changed into a pear shape with a portion of the top cut. This shape allows a ball to be pulled easily back through a roof or concrete slab after it has broken through. Wrecking balls range from about 1,000 lb to 12,000 lb. The most common are in the 3,000–5,000 lb range.

Often used by demolition contractors.

The ball is made from forged steel, which means the steel is not cast into a mold in a molten state. It is formed under very high pressure while the steel is red hot (soft but not molten) to compress and to strengthen it.

Demolition is the opposite of construction: the tearing down of buildings and other structures. It contrasts with deconstruction, which is the taking down of a building while carefully preserving valuable elements for re-use.

Wrecking balls are especially effective against masonry, but are less easily controlled and often less efficient than other methods. Newer methods may use rotational hydraulic shears and silenced rock-breakers attached to excavators to cut or break through wood, steel, and concrete. The use of shears is especially common when flame cutting would be dangerous.

Large buildings, tall chimneys, and increasingly some smaller structures may be destroyed by building implosion using explosives.

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