There are many opportunities to reclaim and reuse building
materials. In 1996, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)
estimated that the equivalent of 250,000 single-family homes are
disposed of each year. This represents an estimated 1 billion-plus
board feet (2.4 million cubic meters) of available salvageable
structural lumber, or about 3 percent of our annual softwood timber
harvest.
Reusing this lumber could save 4,250,000 trees on 150,000 acres
(61,000 hectares) of timberland every year. The amount of
recoverable materials is even greater if you add nonstructural
building products, such as the millions of windows, doors, and
fixtures and the thousands of miles of trim work, siding, and flooring
available.
Not only does unbuilding (and the reuse of building materials) save
resources but it can also yield higher-quality materials than are
available today. Much of the salvaged lumber available through
deconstruction is from the decades of old-growth harvesting — so
the wood is higher in density and has fewer defects — which
represents a resource largely unavailable today.
In old factories, silos, and water tanks you can find high-quality heart
