Here's another great tip from BobVila.com. Deconstruction is the new demolition. Instead of gutting a project and sending the whole shebang to a landfill, more and more contractors and homeowners are getting savvy about recycling building materials. Deconstruction contractors can help homeowners auction off or donate the waste materials they don t want. Those old kitchen cabinets can be a tax deduction instead of a dumpster filler. And, on the other end, they can really help cut purchasing costs for new materials. Charities like Habitat for Humanity benefit from a lot of building material donations this way, and deconstruction has prevented thousands of tons of materials from entering landfills nationwide. The EPA and the Green Building Council support this reuse effort. They also encourage using materials that were manufactured by recycling other products. You can get composite decking made from plastic bags; insulation made of old blue jeans; and countertops made of recycled aluminum, glass, paper or hemp. There are cabinets made partly from wheat by-products, carpet from recycled nylon and mulch from recycled tires. Re-used and recycled materials are chic. Even broken tile can make a statement in a rubble tile counter or tabletop. So, check your local salvage yard or deconstruction contractor before you go shopping. With a little inspiration, materials that are secondhand can give you the upper hand on your next project! Find out more at BobVila.com: The ultimate home improvement web site! BobVila.com 2008

Bob talks with homeowner Howard Brickman about the footprint of the new addition. The new space is 36 feet deep by 42 feet, five inches. There is a master bedroom and bath, a living area, and a meal preparation space. The addition is designed to act as a new apartment suite for Brickman's mother-in-law. She is very fit and active, so the addition will give her a measure of privacy and independence. The great room will feature a fireplace, relaxing and dining space. The kitchen will go against the staircase. The white walls are actually insulated polystyrene forms that were set in place to hold the concrete. The entire addition was built using a total of 84 yards of concrete. By way of comparison, a standard pour for a typical basement wall-and-slab toundation uses 64 yards of concrete. Using the insulated concrete forms, allowed Brickman to get a basement floor, foundation, and walls, the second floor deck, and upper-story walls to the rafters. The whole process was done very quickly using the inculated concrete form (ICF) method. An insulating and waterproof fabric fabric barrier was used under the slab to prevent moisture from coming up through the foundation. The new technologies used in constructing the house have reduced the amount of waste so much that a dumpster has not been necessary on the job site. A very small pile of waste is sorted for reuse. Some of these pieces have been used in a load-bearing wall. These load-bearing walls, in the garage, first, and second stories, will eventually support the roof load. Short blocks of leftover 2x6's are being used as "squash blocks." These squash blocks are designed to distribute the compressive load from the roof and keep the I-joists from compressing under the weight. A lot of the framing has been done using 2x6's, making it easier to install plumbing and electrical wiring. Precise measurement of the boards was necessary when the load-bearing partitions were put up on the upper floor because the addition is being set to match the roof of the existing house. I-joists will be used for the rafters.

Bob Vila and Joe Fitzgerald discuss the roof types of surrounding homes and the possibilities for our house. They show the beginning of the demolition process on the roof so that it can be built up to support a barrel tile roof. Then Bob Discusses the Demolition of the rest of the home and what must be left standing so that the construction is a remodel rather than a complete tear down. Bob Also discusses the debris created by demolition and how it is disposed.