1656 Westwood

Like many homes deconstructed by Building Value, 1656 Westwood had no previous official tenent before it was taken down, but remnent of squaters remain in the form of empty bottles and abandoned toys.  Now 2x4's are nailed to each doorway, a precauationary action taken to make sure potentional trespassers on the deconstruction site don't falls through the excuvated floor boards at night.

 

The deconstruction of this building was similar to the hundreds of other houses deconstructed by Buliding Value and there team members.

 

The general process: (as explained by Chris Grovan, safety supervisor at 1656 Westwood):

-[We] start with first floor on front of house, remove, go up to second floor, remove that, go up to roof. That way they can knock stuff straight down into the basement, so when the house gets demoed everything is easier/contained in the house. “Keeps it cleaner for us”.

 

Items Salvaged on a Typical Site: 

-baseboards, trim, wood flooring, rafters, reusable wood, floor joists.

 

Benefits of Salvaging: 

-Little to nothing goes to waste, unlike demolition products where all parts of the building are thrown away 

- Tax write off 

- Unique pieces of buildings such as stain glass windows and hand carved banisters can be saved are resold 

 

At this location a banister was saved and re-salvaged by the local Art Works.