Demo Day!

When we bought the house and lot, we knew there would be some waste involved before getting to building a sustainable home.  After doing some reading, I discovered that in Canada it is estimated that 1/3 of our solid waste in landfills is from construction, demolition and renovation activities (Government construction tips).  The concept of home "deconstruction" is becoming more popular, and in places like BC, there are companies you can hire to do this for you start to finish.  Deconstruction is basically going through your house with a fine tooth comb and taking out every single item that can be re-used or recycled.  I read through this 93 page guide by the “Deconstruction Institute” in Florida and found it helpful for what is and isn’t possible to re-use.  I also found a great example of a person who did this here.  Essentially, you will find that there are all sorts of ways to decrease the amount of waste going to the dump- some of these are quite time-consuming projects (such as hardwood removal), and others are easy (appliance removal).  Braden and I were able to do most of the easy projects, but few of the more difficult ones due to the home's age and cost.

Reduce and Reuse

Braden and I were thrilled when we saw this old home on a huge lot.  The good part was the house was only 600 sq ft. This meant reduced material going to the dump in general compared to larger homes.  The bad part was that the home was built in 1920 and so much of the material had been extensively used and so were not salvageable.  If you buy a house that isn’t that old or is in good condition overall, it is feasible to sell the home and have it moved.  The huge advantage with that option is that nothing goes to waste, you save money by not having a demo fee and you may even make a little bit off the sale of the home.  The problem is that our home was in no structural condition to be moved.  I called places to see if they did deconstruction prior to demolition but this was not something any companies had heard of in Saskatoon.  Luckily, we have the Habitat for Humanity Re-Store.  They essentially have a deconstruction team!  The Re-Store came through our house and highlighted all the items they can take for re-use.  Things I thought wouldn’t be possible to take took, such as our 100 year old windows which sell at their store for people doing art projects.  Old air vents with fancy designs are hot ticket items for character homes too.  All appliances, light fixtures, coat racks, bathtubs, fences, counter tops, sinks, etc are potential items the Re-Store can take.  When their crew came, we ended up filling their truck full with items that will go straight to the Re-Store for sale and we get a tax receipt!  This was a perfect, no hassle solution which not only re-uses materials but helps out creating more affordable housing.

Recycle

Once the contents of the home have been removed for re-use, you’re left essentially with walls, baseboards, flooring, foundation and the mechanical/electrical parts of the home.  The bare bones of our home were really on their last legs and we found there was not much from here we could recycle.  So we asked a two questions: 1.  Could the item be salvaged without destroying it?  2.  Is there a demand for our salvaged item? Our hardwood floors were thin, short strips that were less than ½” thick and not candidates for salvage.  If you have hardwood flooring that is at least ½” thick and boards longer than 6’, this can be considered for re-use and there is demand for these.  After talking with the demolition crew we had coming in, we decided that given the poor structural integrity of the home, it would require essentially removing the roof and working top down to recover any good lumber from the home (which it turned out there was VERY little of).  We decided this was just not a feasible option for us but may be an option for others.  We opted not to attempt recycling shingles as we were not going to use shingles in our new home and the cost to remove them was prohibitive especially considering we didn’t know their age.  So you're probably wondering what is easily recycled?  Baseboards, copper pipes and all of the concrete in the home can be sent for recycling.  The Re-Store does not take care of these types of items, as they are quite time consuming to remove- so you have to do it yourself!

So what were the final numbers?

1 x cube van was filled with materials for re-use (fencing, appliances, fixtures, doors, windows, etc)

⅔ of the house that was demolished by weight was recycled (largely concrete)

⅓ of the house by weight was sent to the dump (plaster, knob/tube electrical, wooden structure, roof)

2 x 14’ trucks filled with old trees were sent for composting