Karl Schmidt Architecture: Demolition? De-construction? Salvage?

You've probably seen it recently. An older worn out home in your neighborhood is suddenly sold and one day a big dumpster shows up with a gigantic excavator not far behind. In a day the entire house is gone. Certainly convenient, but not the most environmental thing to do. Especially when there are other options out there. Here are a list of the options beyond traditional demolition.

Guys from SecondUse picking up items
to be sold at their showroom in the SoDo area

Moving a house
Green Demolition
Deconstruction (Full or Partial)
Salvage

I'd like to focus on the idea of Deconstruction. Deconstruction is the process of removing an entire building with the intent of salvaging as much as possible. (See Diary of a Remodel #1). More and more companies the focused on traditional demolition are now getting into deconstruction as a more environmentally friendly practice. It takes longer since a crew is surgically removing items from the house piece by piece, but if there is enough to salvage, it can be a money saver and help you score points on your LEED or Built-Green checklists. Even if you are not taking down and entire house there might be items that you can remove that can be re-used and re-cycled resulting in lower dump fees, cash in your pocket, or a tax write-off. Below are a few links to companies in the Seattle area that specialize in doing this. They will even pick it up for free!