Builders with a Conscience: Deconstruction: The green alternative to demolition

Deconstruction is an important component of sustainable building that is often overlooked. As is the case with a lot of green building techniques, deconstruction simply makes sense. Why demolish something and send all the waste to a landfill, when you could deconstruct the same structure and re-use, recycle, or donate a majority of the materials?

Do what is right

Obviously, deconstruction is more labor intensive than demolition because rather than taking a sledge hammer or wrecking ball to a structure, we are dismantling the building in a systematic way in order to salvage the materials. In my mind, demolition seems like a major way to cut corners, that somewhere along the way became the norm. At Jovick Construction we refuse to demo anything that has the potential of being deconstructed because we are highly committed to reducing waste.

They just don’t make ‘em like they used to

Shed Before

Five years ago, Dan deconstructed an old shed that needed to be removed anyways. One of the coolest things about that small project was the lumber that he salvaged. Some of the cedar planks were 20 inches wide; something you cannot find in lumber yards today!

Shed After

Sustainable Remodeling

These days, many people are choosing to remodel their homes. Deconstruction can be used in all sorts of remodeling situations such as dismantling a bathroom or kitchen down to the studs, or taking apart an entire structure from roof to foundation.


Garage during deconstruction

A few summers back we deconstructed a garage and built a guest cottage in its’ place. We were able to salvage a lot of the materials for re-use and almost everything else was recycled.