Getting New Life from Hold Homes

Jackie and John Ryan were looking for a home in McLean, Virginia, where they could raise their children while living close to Washington, D.C. It was Mrs. Ryan’s dream, a former construction loan specialist, to build a home of her own. But in Northern Virginia few land plots remained available for new development and they couldn’t afford the larger homes in the area. Like many others, the Ryans decided to purchase a small 50 year old bungalow in a child-friendly neighborhood,and then tear it down to construct one to their own specifications including more space for their children. This one was off Balls Hill in McLean. But rather than demolishing the home, they were introduced to a new option, known as "deconstruction."

In the process of purchasing the home, the Ryans grew to appreciate the house’s solid construction and became friends with the previous owner, the original resident of the home, whose husband had done a lot of work in redesigning the basement.

“We felt guilty about bulldozing a very good house,” said Mrs. Ryan. Instead, after reading an article about the Habitat for Humanity Superstore, which sells used housing products at discount prices, and after making some inquiries, they were referred to Paul Hughes of Deconstruction Services, LLC., which had recently obtained a license to do home deconstruction.

From Hughes they learned how they would be able to save the materials of the home while clearing the land to build their dream.

It is a common scenario in the Northern Virginia area, as day-by-day, homes are demolished, wiped away, to create a blank slate on which to start anew. The traditional process is simple; bulldozers level the structure in a violent process that takes a matter of minutes and then over the next several days the material is gathered, tossed in large dumpsters, and taken away to be deposited in commercial landfills.

Hughes sees some problems with this process. For 20 years he has worked with environmental policy, and since 1997 he has worked as an environmental consultant. But as he worked to promote environmental policy, he felt frustrated that he wasn’t doing more.

That frustration finally materialized into direct action when he founded his Deconstruction Services, the first deconstruction business in Northern Virginia.

Home deconstruction is a relatively new alternative to traditional demolition, practiced commercially in the U.S. for around 10 years. Unlike demolition, deconstruction involves taking a home apart piece by piece in reverse order from how it was built, first the major appliances, then counters and shelving, then the flooring and fixtures, followed by the drywall and ceilings, and finally the frame. All that’s left is the cinderblock and brick that make up the husk of the home, which is then knocked down. If shown in reverse, the process would appear as a home construction.

After all the material is removed from the home it is bundled and donated to Habitat for Humanity to be sold in their resale superstore and becomes a tax write-off for the new homeowners.

Jim Primdahl, an experienced carpenter who was part of developing the deconstruction business in Oregon, has been integral in helping Hughes start his business. Primdahl described deconstruction in terms of thermodynamics.

He said that when homes are built energy is put into creating the materials. By saving those materials, whether it’s in reusing hardwood flooring and wooden studs, or crushing the bricks and cinderblock to make foundation base, they are transferring that energy into the new construction.

He said that deconstruction provides benefits for the environment, homeowner’s pocketbooks, and the surrounding neighborhood. Standing under the exposed rafters of the Ryans’ quickly-disappearing home he talked about environmental responsibility. “There’s an acre and a half of trees in just this one home,” he said.

As everything from doors to appliances are stripped from the home and donated. A huge amount of material otherwise deposited in landfills is diverted into future buildings. “We are planning to divert 80% of what normally would be dumped,” said Hughes.

He said that local demolition landfills are quickly filling up and have a life expectancy of five to seven years. “They’re going to go from landfills to landfulls,” he said.

Both Primhdahl and Hughes highlighted the negative environmental impact of the material deposited in landfills. When homes are bulldozed the time isn’t taken to drain oil tanks or to remove the mercury from the thermostats. Instead, these materials get dumped in the demolition landfills, which unlike standard landfills, aren’t lined.

Primdahl said that although each thermostat has just a small amount of mercury, the quantities add up, and can be an environmental threat if they leach into the soil and water.

“Anybody looking to demolish a home should look at deconstruction as an option,” he said.

Environmental sensitivity doesn’t necessarily come as a cost for the homeowner. In traditional demolition one of the major costs involves paying for the hauling and dumping of the material. These trip fees are $550 for each trip and as landfills continue to fill up Hughes expects those prices to rise.

The Ryan’s home, Hughes estimated, would take around eight trips costing $4,400. Instead, with the help of deconstruction, the refuse material from the deconstruction will constitute just a load and a half. Combined with the tax-deductible donations of housing material Hughes said deconstruction is no more expensive than demolition and can even cost less depending on the materials in the house. Primdahl described one home that he worked on which amassed $120,000 in tax deductions.

He said that one of the most sought after used materials are the hardwood floors. He said that older floors have a richer color than new floors which makes them appealing even in new home construction. With the help of a de-nailing gun, a tool that expels the nail from the wood using air pressure, they are able to take up the flooring and remove the nails quickly and without damaging the wood, which creates a greater benefit for the owners.

“For us it was a wash, so why not be environmentally responsible,” said Mrs. Ryan.. Unlike demolition, deconstruction also has less impact on a site and a neighborhood. When a home is demolished dust is thrown up in the air, which then drifts over neighboring homes and cars, a lot of noise is created and the ground around the home is torn up and muddied in the process.

“There’s something subtly painful about watching the bulldozing of a home,” said Hughes.

By comparison, deconstruction is much more subtle. Driving by the deconstruction site, the only indicator of the process is the white vans parked in the driveway and the missing front door. When the brick and cinder block husk is finally knocked down very little dust is created and the material is quickly removed. The land around the area is left largely undisturbed.

Primdahl said that one Oregon contractor who was planning to build a new home on a deconstructed plot was impressed by the lack of negative impact to the land and described the site as pristine. The Ryans plan to take advantage of the lack of disturbance by saving the azalea bushes planted in front of the house. Henry Johnson, one of the Ryans’ new neighbors, and a 50 year resident of the neighborhood, has been very interested in the process since it started. When he first moved into the area he had actually bid to buy the very home the Ryans are now deconstructing, before he built a similar home two doors down.

Among the large two and three story luxury homes on his side of the street, Johnson’s home now stands alone as the only original home from when the neighborhood was developed. He has watched as the homes surrounding him have been bulldozed to make way for new development, and has saved bricks from each of the homes as a way to remember them.

For Johnson, deconstruction is the best way to redevelop the area. “I like the idea of taking it down” rather than demolishing it, Johnson said. “Saving the materials is the best part, otherwise all that’s wasted.” One drawback, Hughes admitted, is that deconstruction takes longer than demolition. A home deconstruction lasts about three weeks while a demolition crew will clear a lot in three or four days.

Mrs. Ryan said that she wasn’t concerned by the extra time. “The whole process takes a long time. It isn’t a problem as long as you plan for it,” she said.

Hughes said with less time, they can still do a “quick skim” to remove at least some material before a home is demolished.

Last week in the City of Falls Church, at the home of Alan and Ana Marie Misenheimer, Hughes’ deconstruction company removed the appliances, flooring, cabinets, and carpeting for donation to charity before the house was demolished.

While the work was able to remove a lot of material, Mr. Misenheimer regretted that they were not able to do more. Hughes was only able to get his final license approval for the business a short time before the home was scheduled to be demolished and there was only a small window in which to deconstruct the home.

“We felt very fortunate we were able to fit it into the time window at all,” he said.

It wasn’t originally the Misenheimers’ goal to build a new home, they expected to move into one already built in Falls Church and add a second story to create more space for their children. But after finding a home in Falls Church they discovered that it was more affordable to demolish the old home and build new.

Like the Ryans’, they didn’t like the idea of destroying the home. “It occurred to us pretty early on that it would be a shame to demolish it,” said Mr. Misenheimer. “It just seemed wasteful.” He said that deconstruction makes sense for Northern Virginia. “It is exactly what is so screamingly logical for our area with all the infill development going on.”

The increased need for infill development has given Hughes hope that more people will be looking to deconstruction when they redevelop land, though there were some initial questions when he started the business. When he first applied for the license to do deconstruction he wasn’t sure whether he would be able to find workers willing to work for him. Deconstruction requires more skilled labor than demolition, and the process is more painstaking.

But he found that workers were drawn to working with him for those exact reasons. Taking a break from his work at the Ryans’ home Justin Riemann, talked about what interests him about deconstruction. In the past he had worked building decks and home additions and he didn’t like the idea of demolition. But deconstruction appealed to him because it isn’t destructive. “It’s just like building a house, except you’re taking it apart,” he said.

Rayford Bush, an experienced carpenter echoed Riemann’s thought. “It takes skill, it’s not just demolishing a place. In that case you just get some laborers to do the work,” he said.

Hughes said that the extra attention that goes into taking apart a home and saving the material is the least that should be done for homes that have meant so much for the former occupants. While working at the Ryan home, former resident of the home Robert Hall approached him to ask for a brick as a keepsake. He had spent his life in the home and just wanted a piece of it to hold onto.

Hughes understood that feeling and said he is happy knowing that he is doing more than saving a brick from an old house, he is making sure that old homes can continue to live on in other people’s homes and lives.