California nonprofit eyes Central Valley homes for deconstruction

By Alex Breitler, The Record, Stockton, Calif.

Aug. 02--The wrecking ball is fast, cheap and easy. But picking apart an old structure piece by piece might be better for the planet.

An Oakland-based nonprofit organization that carefully deconstructs houses -- as opposed to demolishing them -- is expanding operations into the Central Valley, including Stockton.

The goal is to keep demolition debris out of landfills while making all the components of a home -- from toilets to tile -- available at discount prices in a Sacramento warehouse.

In 2009, The Reuse People took down about 200 homes, mostly in urban areas such as the Bay Area, Los Angeles and San Diego, said President Ted Reiff. Anywhere from 75 to 80 percent of a home can be salvaged and reused, the organization says.

"Maybe you've been in the house, raised your kids in that house," Reiff said. "People just don't like to see their stuff thrown away. This way they know somewhere, somehow, somebody is going to reuse those materials they lovingly cared for over the last 20 years."

The Reuse People in the past six months has trained contractors in the Central Valley and Sierra Nevada to do deconstruction. One of those contractors, House Proz, is in Stockton.

Unlike some salvagers, The Reuse People will take just about everything.

It's kind of like watching a house being built in reverse. First they'll remove the cupboards. Then, the doors and windows. And then they'll strip off the drywall.

They've even been known to take a juniper bush or two.

The materials are stacked and shrink-wrapped and, in some cases, are for sale the next day at 15 percent to 50 percent of the retail price, said Kristin Williams, the organization's Central Valley manager.

"It's like a Goodwill for building materials," she said.

Deconstruction is a lot more expensive because it takes more time and labor.

Property owners who choose this route, however, can write off all the donated materials as a tax deduction. The components of the house are inventoried for tax purposes before the deconstruction.

Contact reporter Alex Breitler at (209) 546-8295 or abreitler@recordnet.com. Visit his blog at recordnet.com/breitlerblog.