Why don’t more old abandoned houses in calgary fail and topple over as they seem to in other jurisdictions? The main reason I think is the foundation integrity. The craftsmanship and quality of the old concrete is often amazing, in fact it can be perfect after 50,60,70 years or more. Being a deep frost region which you’d think would fracture the walls (doesn’t seem to though), also featuring a lot of glacial till soil that drains well, the thick and extremely hard concrete seems to last indefinitely. Unfortunately the concrete may be in good shape, but it is always in the wrong location on the lot, too small, and just overall a problem to get rid of. A good example is the Inglewood basement demolition project. Concrete is in perfect condition indistinguishable from the day it was mixed and poured which is really remarkable.
This is a golden oldie, but its life cycle is over as of today.