Published Thursday, October 16, 2008 1:54 PM
Updated Thursday, October 16, 2008 4:25 PM

Michael Tannebaum
The exterior of the Summerville home during deconstruction process.

Michael Tannebaum
Rebecca O’Brien, with the Sustainable Warehouse, hard at work deconstructing the old home.

Bringing down the house

It is made possible through the Sustainable Warehouse, a non-profit organization in the Lowcountry, that salvages reusable material and makes it available to the public.

Dottie Baker, the property’s owner, originally hoped to renovate the house, which is located about a half-mile from downtown Summerville, for her new pediatric dentistry. While she liked the charm and character of the house, she could not feasibly and financially make it happen.

“When I realized that (the house) would be unsuitable, I knew the next best thing would be to have it deconstructed instead of demolished,” said Baker.

The deconstruction of the house has been an extremely meticulous process. With wood, bricks and even a bathtub strewn across the yard, the crew is removing every last inch of the home. According to Rebecca O’Brien, Executive Director of Sustainable Warehouse, the most challenging part of the deconstruction is sorting all of the material.

O’Brien said she is shocked by the amount of material the house has yielded. Because this is the first full house that Sustainable Warehouse has deconstructed, O’Brien admittedly may have underestimated the amount of material the house would produce.

“It’s as if you find out that you’re pregnant and begin to prepare to have one baby, but then you find out you’re actually having 2,000 babies,” said O’Brien. “I didn’t realize how much material I would have coming out of the house.”

The house has produced enough siding for another house, according to O’Brien, who notes that some of the house’s material will be stored and other bits and pieces will be sold.

“We started taking the house down about three weeks ago; however the rain has definitely slowed the process,” said O’Brien. “We are in the homestretch though and I expect that we will be done by the weekend.”

O’Brien hopes that, in the future, people who need to tear down a house will follow Baker’s lead.

“I want people to see the alternative to demolishing their house and to take a better look at their materials,” said O’Brien. “It’s important that people think about reuse before waste.”

For information on how to help keep as much reusable building materials out of the landfill as possible or to buy and donate reusable materials, visit www.sustainablewarehouse.org or call 843-532-9351.