The Process of Deconstructing Your Home
The Process of Deconstructing Your Home
If you are thinking about deconstructing a house for building materials, there are several things to consider before making the decision. Take an assessment of your home: when was it built? Houses built after 1950 tend to be less suited to deconstruction due to the quality of materials. Your home should have no fire or water damage, or structural issues that would affect the workers’ safety. It will also ideally have a level driveway or yard to house the deconstruction equipment. The best situation is that the house does not have any hazardous materials, such as asbestos, but it is possible to safely dispose of such, although it will add on to the budget and timeline.
Find a Deconstruction Company
Provided your house fits the above description, you can begin deconstructing a home for building materials. The first step is to find a reputable deconstruction company. There are a number of companies, contractors, and organizations that perform this service.
Once you’ve contacted a deconstruction company, they will send an appraiser to your house for a no-obligation consultation. The appraiser will inspect your property and give you a quote for the potential donation to be used when comparing cost to benefit.
If you decide to go forward with deconstruction, your contractors will then help you choose a business or charity to which you can donate the used materials. This could be a non-for-profit salvage warehouse, commercial salvage, or a reclamation yard.
Two Categories of Deconstruction
The building components your deconstruction team will look for two categories, recyclable and resellable. Examples of recyclable materials include, concrete, asphalt, drywall and metal. Examples of resellable materials include doors, flooring, cabinets, windows, appliances, sinks, bathtubs, metal, brick, lumber, countertops, and light fixtures.
The first component to be removed from the house when deconstructing a home for building materials is everything that is easily and quickly removed. This is called soft-stripping, or non-structural deconstruction. These resellable items will account for a large amount of the material contractors market from a house.
After everything resellable is taken out, the structural pieces of the building are addressed. Contractors usually work top-down, starting with the roof and finishing with the foundation.
Deconstruction companies will store the building components in a water-safe and physically secure location. Sometimes resellable materials will be refinished or cleaned to increase resale value. From there, the contractor will take the deconstruction materials to the charities or businesses of your choice.
If you would like to learn more about the deconstruction process, contact Green Donation Consultants at (800) 870-3965. Reach out to our team to schedule an appraisal and assistance in navigating the process to get significant tax benefits.