Destroying existing buildings

[quietscribe]

Does anyone know any decent ways of destroying existing buildings if you would rather build something there yourself?

So far I've been able to 'tear apart' pre-existing furniture, but it is a bit clunky in how close you have to be. I've destroyed shelves with an axe or sword and had the contents on those shelves just hang there in mid-air. So I am a bit worried if I take the time to destroy the foundations of a building, the rest will just hang there defying gravity.

I suspect that you can use explosives to destroy some of it, but what if you end up missing bits, like a piece of roof. It will forever just hang there in the sky. I am just really hoping there is some consistent way you can tear down buildings that already exist in the world (not player-made), so if anyone has advice, that would be appreciated.

[vermillionmandrake]

get the crafting table and pick axe and wood axe. makes cutting stuff down a lot easier. Also get the rake when it's available as that lets you flatten terrain.

[gadfly6363]

You might be able to do it the way I gather materials; with a construction hammer. Choose the large block size and start deleting. As long as your flame altar is there, it won't respawn, and it's way faster than bashing things apart, plus you get to keep the mats for your own build. If you miss a bit, just use a scaffold to fetch it.

[DeLindsay]

Originally posted by gadfly6363:

You might be able to do it the way I gather materials; with a construction hammer. Choose the large block size and start deleting. As long as your flame altar is there, it won't respawn, and it's way faster than bashing things apart, plus you get to keep the mats for your own build. If you miss a bit, just use a scaffold to fetch it.

This is the way, you "salvage" the buildings and gain their Building Block as your reward.

[quietscribe]

Putting a flame altar and using the hammer in build mode doesn't seem to work to dismantle buildings I have not created. I was trying to dismantle buildings in Harvest Homestead, and although I can bomb some walls etc down, I cannot hit them with a weapon like an axe, or salvage them like I can when with my own buildings, even though I am right next to the altar.

[Asheira]

Originally posted by quietscribe:

Putting a flame altar and using the hammer in build mode doesn't seem to work to dismantle buildings I have not created. I was trying to dismantle buildings in Harvest Homestead, and although I can bomb some walls etc down, I cannot hit them with a weapon like an axe, or salvage them like I can when with my own buildings, even though I am right next to the altar.

Hmm yes, the only consistent way to dismantle "pre-fab" buildings is piece by piece with the (1x1) small cube on the 1st tab bar of the building menu.
right-mouse removing small chunks.
That should add the recipe as well.
Some "pre-fab" blocks can't seem to be dismantled at all though.

[DeLindsay]

#1 or #4 for buildings, under the 1m setting. #4 gets you a little bit larger size.

[JStrack]

The way i remove large prefabs is the place down a large block of your own over the prefab then remove that block, this will remove the prefab with it giving you all the building blocks from the removed area.

[quietscribe]

Oh! Good tip there JStrack. I'll try that later!

[Comicaldan]

Anyone know how to remove a flame autar?

[quietscribe]

If you go into the altar itself, there is a button that says 'extinguish the flame'. If you click that, and confirm, it will destroy itself after about 30 seconds