demolition

thumb|House demolition in Victoria, Australia thumb|right|Demolition of a house in Greenville, North Carolina, USA thumb|A partially demolished house in Qormi, [[Malta]] thumb|right|Demolition of the cooling towers of the [[Athlone Power Station in Athlone, Cape Town, South Africa]] thumb|right|A house under demolition in Argos, Peloponnese|Argos, Greece. Demolition (also known as razing and wrecking) is the science and engineering in safely and efficiently tearing down buildings and other artificial structures. Demolition contrasts with deconstruction, which involves taking a building apart while carefully preserving valuable elements for reuse purposes.

For small buildings, such as houses, that are only two or three stories high, demolition is a rather simple process. The building is pulled down either manually or mechanically using large hydraulic equipment: elevated work platforms, cranes, excavators or bulldozers. Larger buildings may require the use of a wrecking ball, a heavy weight on a cable that is swung by a crane into the side of the buildings. 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 rockbreakers 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.