Comments on: The Slowest Demo in Town: Karen Lantz Pulls a House Apart

By: michael

michael — Tue, 31 Jul 2012 16:52:51 +0000

Great job cant wait to see the new one finished

By: atelinno (Luis A)

atelinno (Luis A) — Mon, 28 Dec 2009 22:17:21 +0000

Great Job Karen!

By: Barbara J. Amelio

Barbara J. Amelio — Fri, 18 Dec 2009 19:44:29 +0000

Great Job Karen

By: Bob Russell

Bob Russell — Wed, 16 Dec 2009 17:13:22 +0000

We have been watching the progress on your deconstruction and are very impressed with the effort that has been made to keep the site extremely clean and neat. I’m sure that the neighbors on both sides have appreciated your efforts. I hope that though the press being generated by this project, that more developers and builders will look into this method, and I understand that the tax breaks can be substantial.
My last comment regards landfills. This is an extremely important practice which will help our landfills last longer. The less we throw away the slower the landfills fill up and this saves money for the city.
Congratulations on a job well done!

By: ScoBu

ScoBu — Fri, 09 Oct 2009 02:11:07 +0000

Slowest demo in town…are you using Andy’s dental tools? I got a sawzall you could use.

By: T. Keefe

T. Keefe — Thu, 08 Oct 2009 23:56:27 +0000

Kudos to the architect, this is an excellent idea. Why not evaluate worth from a moral standard and not just dollar signs? If a person has the means to deconstruct a house to reuse the materials then they should do it. If it ends up being economical, then all the better. What other endeavors do we run cost analyses on? Vacations, raising children, expensive hobbies?

Humans want and seem to need to build things. Respecting the material should be the price we pay, not something we are paid to do.

By: Winston

Winston — Thu, 08 Oct 2009 03:59:55 +0000

Al- Habitat does deconstruct with volunteers as well as build. They maintain a warehouse of used building materials that they sell as well as use to build.
As to RWB’s question..It depends…I wish I could give a better answer than that, but I work with several builders in different areas of town. None of them use this method all the time. It depends on the type and age of the home and their time frame as well. Also, if you have pre-sold the homes and if so , the clients wishes and time table. Most do a combination of deconstruction for a week or two and then level the shell and start building, but as I said It depends on each properties unique situation.

By: Keith Koski

Keith Koski — Wed, 07 Oct 2009 23:59:23 +0000

Karen,

We had a computer breakdown this morning or I would have commented earlier. We haven’t met yet in person but I am well acquainted with the high quality material you have diverted from the landfill and sent to the Building Materials Reuse Warehouse. The preliminary weight count for this house is 7 tons. It is great to see where the beautiful brick, windows, cedar shake, and other materials came from. Today, Rick Lowe, founder of Project Row Houses and Row House C.D.C. came by the warehouse. He is coming back tomorrow for some of this material. I think he’s going to be able to use many of the windows. It will be interesting to see where they end up. We can’t thank you enough.

By: sanchO

sanchO — Wed, 07 Oct 2009 22:58:31 +0000

great job karen!

By: GRGarcia

GRGarcia — Wed, 07 Oct 2009 22:19:03 +0000

As a builder who has experience using both methods although not to the degree of this project, I can tell you that (when the builder controls the detailed process of deconstruction “By Parts”) there is real money to be made as well as unquantifiable good will from this process. Since the green movement does not pay the bills we are motivated by the green dollar. Having said that. Any builder or developer, who knows his business, knows the value of all materials leaving and arriving a project. As for the speed of this project I cannot and will not comment, but my projects have not run long due to our resources.

It is time to applaud projects that blaze new trails (means and methods) with real impact to both the bottom line and the end product. Those who wait to see if it can be done usally catch the wave too late and miss the opportunity to make a difference and a profit.

It is unrealistic to think that all existing buildings meet todays needs, have been maintained, or address current and future density issues. In order to keep inner cities from into crime infested undersirable areas, it makes more sense to keep the tax base at higher levels which in turn fund social programs for those who need it.

Keep posting your progress. I look foward to seeing the finished project.

By: movocelot

movocelot — Wed, 07 Oct 2009 20:26:11 +0000

Al’s idea is awesome! Put jobless folks to work too; shades of FDR.

By: Al

Al — Wed, 07 Oct 2009 19:05:10 +0000

Shouldn’t some talented person be able to organize something along the lines of a “reverse” Habitat for Humanity organization, where groups of volunteers deconstruct, rather than construct, homes like this?

The “warm and fuzzy” index for a project like this should be pretty high, and would appeal to the hardcore, motivated volunteer community.