Reusing home materials

This article appeared on the front page of the Berkshire Eagle on Wednesday, January 30, 2008.
by Ellen G. Lahr, Berkshire Eagle Staff

LENOX - When Scott and Ellen Hand began making plans to take down one house to make way for another, the last thing they wanted was a wrecking ball.

The house slated for removal was 40-year-old, 2,000-square-foot ranch house in good condition, of solid construction and good workmanship. The Hands, who try to lead an environmentally gentle lifestyle, are planning to build a new eco-friendly, self-sufficient home that will operate "off the grid."

"I just couldn't see dumping a house into a landfill," said Ellen Hand, in a phone interview from her other home in Toronto. "It didn't go along with our plans to build a sustainable house."

Like a growing number of people for whom recycling means more than just plastic and paper, the Hands found ReStore in Springfield, a nonprofit home improvement center affiliated with the Center for Ecological Technology in Pittsfield and Northampton, which specializes in salvaged house construction materials.

ReStore in recent years has developed a new twist: For a fee 10 to 20 percent higher than the cost of demolition, ReStore would carefully dismantle the house and transport its parts to Springfield.

The Hands received a sizable tax deduction for the value of plumbing, flooring, cabinetry, insulation, working, stair railings, floorboards, lighting fixtures, doorknobs, beams, joists, molding, wiring and other materials.

In the end, their house was "preserved" in all its various parts, and someone needing affordable home improvement supplies would benefit. The house was "unbuilt" late last year.

"I couldn't be more of a believer," said Ellen Hand. "I think everyone should have to do this. We waste an incredible amount of stuff, and our resources can't take it."

The Hands declined to provide the financial details of their deconstruction and tax-deduction.

However, John Majercak, director of ReStore, said deconstruction costs typically range from $7 to $12 per square foot, depending on the condition of a house and the value of its parts, he said. A homeowner's tax deduction can be as much as $20,000 to $30,000, he said.

A big job last year in Cohasset involved removal of 6,000-square-foot waterfront house, which cost around $60,000.

ReStore opened in 2001 as a nonprofit retail business operated by the Center for Ecological Technology.

There were about a dozen such stores when CET was developing business plans for ReStore, and now there are about 200 such nonprofits, said Majercak.

"It's really exploded," he said.

The Building Materials Reuse Association, based in Pennsylvania, reports that 1,000 homes a year are disassembled for reuse or resale by organizations like ReStore.

The New York Times reported recently that the most recent government data counted about 250,000 house tear-downs each year, resulting in nearly 20 million tons of waste, while the reuse organization contends 85 percent of most houses can be recycled, if properly taken apart.

ReStore started out gradually, taking donations from contractors, homeowners and retail stores, and others. A ReStore truck still makes periodic "pickup" trips around Western Massachusetts for smaller donations from homeowners, at no charge.

The "deconstruction" business took hold in 2004, and is picking up momentum.

Of last year's $550,000 in revenues, ReStore brought in $150,000 from deconstruction projects and related work, including four houses, said Majercak.

ReStore now has trained licensed subcontractors and site managers for such projects.

The Hands' contractor, Dan Supranowicz, of Pittsfield, found out about ReStore through someone he knows at Habitat for Humanity.

"This is one of the best projects I've been involved in," said Supranowicz, who has since contacted some building inspectors and others who provide permits for demolition work to spread the word about ReStore. "It's a great alternative to putting it into a dumpster."

He said ReStore first visited the Cliffwood Street house to check out its recycling potential and figure out a price. The younger age of the house meant there was no asbestos or messy plaster and lathe, which are costlier to remove.

"Everything was 90 percent recycled," said Supranowicz. "In this case, we had a buyer for the insulation right away, and it went straight to a job site."

The only drawbacks to deconstruction, he said, are time and money. Deconstruction can take a month or six weeks, whereas a wrecking ball can take a day. And some people might not like the extra cost, even though a tax deduction follows.

The growth in business at ReStore in Springfield has sent the operation into a growth plan: ReStore is working to raise $800,000 for an expansion to bigger quarters. The 8,000-square-foot facility is now too small to keep up with donations.

"ReStore works very well, because our mission and our revenue-generating activities are essentially the same thing," said Majercak. "We help people afford home improvement, and we're keeping stuff out of a landfill."