Houses are built to last, at least most are, for a few years.
But what happens when someone decides that a home should be replaced, and the property it’s upon should be used for another building? Usually, homes in that situation are demolished, and pieces of the building finds their way to a landfill. Much of that material is reusable, at least until it is torn apart by a bulldozer.
A New York Times article, This Old Recyclable House, explores the topic of deconstruction of homes, where the materials that make up a house are salvaged so that they can be reused.
The article follows the efforts of the President of the Building Materials Reuse Association, Brad Guy, and his efforts to train a crew on how to deconstruct houses for a pilot project in Cleveland. The deconstruction industry is in its infancy, and Brad Guy is one of its biggest proponents.
Guy presents some great arguments for the growth of the deconstruction industry. According to him, approximately 300 homes were deconstructed last year. The article tells us that the EPA estimates about a quarter of a million homes are demolished each year. Yet the local reuse of building materials from a deconstructed home may end up ultimately costing less than demolition, and also create jobs.
It would be interesting to see more of the things we use everyday constructed so that their parts could be reused, no matter how “permanent” they were intended to be at the time of construction. Perhaps the word “deconstruction” should be wider used when it comes to industry.
Some deconstruction links:
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