“It’s good for the environment, and we believe it’s the right thing to do,” said Teicher, a principal with local construction company Build Within Reach.
Like Teicher, a growing number of builders, architects and homeowners are looking for ways to recycle building materials, even though it is generally easier and faster to just haul everything to a landfill.
The environmental benefits are obvious, since millions of tons of construction debris are dumped every year. But saving these old building elements can also make economic sense, because they can be resold, donated or reused to save the cost of buying new items.
To dismantle the house, Teicher hired a crew from a Baltimore non- profit, Humanim. Chris Posko, an operations manager for Humanim, said that 80 to 85 percent of a home can typically be saved.
“There’s value in everything,” Posko said. “To be able to get over 1,000 square feet of heart pine flooring [from the Englewood house] is beautiful.”
