Deconstruction & Salvage in Seattle, WA

Deconstruction and salvage means removing a building in roughly the reverse order it was built, so its materials come out whole. Fixtures, cabinets, doors, windows and hardware come out first, then trim, flooring, siding, roofing and finally the framing. It suits Seattle well. With nearly 23 percent of the city's homes built in 1939 or earlier, per Point2Homes' Census summary, many teardowns contain old-growth fir framing, hardwood floors and solid doors that people want, and the city expects demolition debris to be recovered.

Where Seattle's rules come in

SDCI requires a salvage assessment for every project that includes demolition, so every owner is asked what in the building could be reused. For projects over 750 square feet, a waste diversion report goes to Seattle Public Utilities within 60 days of final inspection, listing each material, how much there was, who hauled it and where it went for reuse, recycling or disposal. SDCI also notes that if you want to deconstruct rather than demolish, you may be able to get a deconstruction permit before the building permit is issued, and its housing demolition rules list residential deconstruction under Director's Rule 4-2009 as one of the ways a house can qualify for removal.

Full deconstruction or salvage-first demolition?

There are two ways to do this, and the right one depends on the building and your budget.

• Full deconstruction. The building is taken apart piece by piece. It takes longer and costs more in labor, but recovers the most material.
• Salvage, then demolish. The valuable, easy-to-remove items come out first, then the rest of the structure is taken down by machine and sorted. This is faster and still keeps a good share out of the landfill.

Fixr's national figures show the trade-off: $7,500 to $15,000 for mechanical demolition of a 1,500-square-foot house, against $10,000 to $50,000 to deconstruct the same house.

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What is usually worth saving

• Dimensional lumber and beams, especially old-growth fir
• Hardwood flooring that can be pulled without splitting
• Solid wood doors, trim and built-in cabinets
• Windows, light fixtures, sinks, tubs and hardware
• Brick from chimneys, cleaned for reuse

Material must be tested before it is salvaged. Painted wood in a pre-1978 house may carry lead paint, and the asbestos survey required by the Puget Sound Clean Air Agency identifies materials that cannot be reused.

The paper trail

Deconstruction makes the diversion report easier because the materials are separated from the start. We keep the hauler tickets, weights and destinations with the job file and hand them over at the end, so the report to Seattle Public Utilities reflects what actually happened.