Deconstruction (building)

In the context of physical construction, deconstruction is the selective dismantlement of building components, specifically for re-use, repurposing, recycling, and waste management. It differs from demolition where a site is cleared of its building by the most expedient means. Deconstruction has also been defined as “construction in reverse”. Deconstruction requires a substantially higher degree of hands-on labor than does traditional demolition, but as such provides a viable platform for unskilled or unemployed workers to receive job skills training. The process of dismantling structures is an ancient activity that has been revived by the growing field of sustainable, green method of building. Buildings, like everything, have a life-cycle. Deconstruction focuses on giving the materials within a building a new life once the building as a whole can no longer continue. In the context of physical construction, deconstruction is the selective dismantlement of building components, specifically for re-use, repurposing, recycling, and waste management. It differs from demolition where a site is cleared of its building by the most expedient means. Deconstruction has also been defined as “construction in reverse”. Deconstruction requires a substantially higher degree of hands-on labor than does traditional demolition, but as such provides a viable platform for unskilled or unemployed workers to receive job skills training. The process of dismantling structures is an ancient activity that has been revived by the growing field of sustainable, green method of building. Buildings, like everything, have a life-cycle. Deconstruction focuses on giving the materials within a building a new life once the building as a whole can no longer continue. When buildings reach the end of their useful life, they are typically demolished and hauled to landfills. Building implosions or ‘wrecking-ball’ style demolitions are relatively inexpensive and offer a quick method of clearing sites for new structures. On the other hand, these methods create substantial amounts of waste. Components within old buildings may still be valuable, sometimes more valuable than at the time the building was constructed. Deconstruction is a method of harvesting what is commonly considered “waste” and reclaiming it into useful building material. Deconstruction has strong ties to environmental sustainability. In addition to giving materials a new life cycle, deconstructing buildings helps to lower the need for virgin resources. This in turn leads to energy and emissions reductions from the refining and manufacture of new materials, especially when considering that an estimated 40% of Global material flows can be attributed to construction, maintenance, and renovation of structures. As deconstruction is often done on a local level, many times on-site, energy and emissions are also saved in the transportation of materials. Deconstruction can potentially support communities by providing local jobs and renovated structures. Deconstruction creates 6-8 Jobs, for every 1 created by traditional demolition. In addition, solid waste from conventional demolition is diverted from landfills. This is a major benefit because construction and demolition waste accounts for approximately 20% - 40% of the solid waste stream. 90% of this construction and demolition waste stream is generated during the process of demolition. In 2015 548 million tons of Construction and demolition waste were created in the United States alone. Deconstruction allows for substantially higher levels of material reuse and recycling than does conventional processes of demolition. Up to 25% of material in a traditional residential structure can be readily reused, while up to 70% of material can be recycled. In Canada, the CO2 Neutral Alliance has created a website with resources for regulators and municipalities, developers and contractors, business owners and operators, and individuals and households. Benefits for municipalities include: Improving the local environment and overall sustainability of your community For every three square feet of deconstruction, enough lumber can be salvaged to build one square foot of new construction. At this rate, if deconstruction replaced residential demolition, the United States could generate enough recovered wood to construct 120,000 new affordable homes each year. The deconstruction of a typical 2,000-square-foot (190 m2) wood frame home can yield 6,000 board feet of reusable lumber. Every year the United States buries about 33 million tons of wood-related construction and demolition debris in landfills. As anaerobic microorganisms decompose this wood, it will release about five million tons of carbon equivalent in the form of methane gas. Deconstruction is commonly separated into two categories; structural and non-structural. Non-structural deconstruction, also known as “soft-stripping”, consists of reclaiming non-structural components, appliances, doors, windows, and finish materials. The reuse of these types of materials is commonplace and considered to be a mature market in many locales. Structural deconstruction involves dismantling the structural components of a building. Traditionally this had only been performed to reclaim expensive or rare materials such as used brick, dimension stone, and extinct wood. In antiquity, it was common to raze stone buildings and reuse the stone; it was also common to steal stones from a building that was not being totally demolished: this is the literal meaning of the word dilapidated. Used brick and dimension limestone in particular have a long tradition of reuse due to their durability and color changes over time. Recently, the rise of environmental awareness and sustainable building has made a much wider range of materials worthy of structural deconstruction. Low-end, commonplace materials such as dimensional lumber have become part of this newly emerging market. The United States military has utilized structural deconstruction in many of its bases. The construction methods of barracks, among other base structures, are usually relatively simple. They typically contained large amounts of lumber and used minimal adhesives and finish-work. In addition, the buildings are often identical, making the process of deconstructing multiple buildings much easier. Many barracks were built during the era prior to WWII, and have aged to the point where they now need to be torn down. Deconstruction was deemed very practical due to the abundance of labor the military has access to and the value of the materials themselves.