Deconstruction work builds up nonprofit

Demolition of elementary classrooms at Punahou School is the latest project of Re-use Hawaii, a nonprofit organization that tears down buildings and sells the salvageable materials.

For the past eight years, Re-use Hawaii’s crew has been taking apart buildings piece by piece, preserving the condition of the components as best as possible and keeping flooring, wood planks, appliances and other building materials out of landfills.

On Feb. 17, Re-use Hawaii finished removing materials from two 5,000-square-foot Winne Units, which served as elementary school classrooms at Punahou. The private school is building new classrooms.

The project requires the deconstruction of nine buildings, and Re-use Hawaii will begin the second phase in 2016, said Quinn Vittum, executive director of Re-use Hawaii.

In addition to recycling the material for the school, Re-use Hawaii organized tours of the site to explain the process to the students.

Vittum "explained the benefits of recycling and reusing natural materials, which provided students with real-life examples of how and why to reduce waste," Punahou said in a statement.

The school’s redwood wallboards, dry-erase boards and sliding doors were some of the materials recovered by Re-use Hawaii during the deconstruction process.

Punahou has partnered with Re-use Hawaii before. In the summer of 2008, Re-use Hawaii removed and repurposed the gym floors in Hemmeter Fieldhouse.

Vittum said he wants his company to change the thought process of how the industry deals with unwanted buildings.

"There is a tunnel vision on how you remove an old building," he said. "We’re trying to spin the industry around to tone down what they’re sending to the landfill."

Approximately 600,000 tons of waste is created from demolition sites annually, contributing to 30 percent of the waste going to landfills in Hawaii, according to Re-use Hawaii.

Re-use has diverted almost 6 million pounds of demolition materials from landfills since the 8-year-old company began operation.

Margaret McManus, a homeowner in Kaimuki, said she contacted Re-use Hawaii because she didn’t want to waste the materials of her family’s 600-square-foot cottage when she was looking to build a bigger house.

"The central issue we had was we were building a new home and needed to remove the original cottage, but the problem was the original cottage had good materials and we didn’t want it to go to a landfill. … We chose to donate to Re-use Hawaii," McManus said.

McManus said the Re-use Hawaii crew also helped her family deal with the shock of tearing down their home.

"We loved our cottage. The first day that we went, it was very sad to see the house without windows or doors, but after we got over the initial shock, because (Re-use Hawaii was) so courteous and so professional, it wasn’t a bad experience."

Being able to watch the slow deconstruction process, about 13 to 15 days on average for Re-use Hawaii, helped her family adjust to losing the home, McManus said.

"I would bring my two children every afternoon, and they loved watching it being dissembled. They slowly watched it being taken apart," McManus said. "Now they are watching the new house being built."

Helping save family memories is one of the best parts of the job, said Harrison Flores, team leader for Re-use Hawaii, remembering a house his crew deconstructed in Manoa that had been passed down three generations.

"It was a family house; the grandmother passed it down to the mom. The mom passed it down to the daughter. There were a lot of generations in that house. There were old growth charts we were able to save for the family so they could see back to the 1940s," Flores said. "At least when we deconstruct it … it’s not in the landfill, all their dreams and memories."

Re-use Hawaii has systematically deconstructed more than 300 buildings. It pays to be green on the deconstruction side — as long as you get the tax deduction, the company says. Vittum gave an example of a recent home deconstruction that had an initial cost of $15,430: After tax deductions the cost dropped to less than $5,000.

There is also a benefit to the environment.

"For every ton of lumber we recover, we prevent the emission of 60 pounds of greenhouse gas," Vittum said.

"Turning costly waste into an affordable community resource, it’s simple. The tax deduction is huge for homeowners that choose deconstruction, and it feels great that folks can save money and do the right thing."

Several local businesses, such as The Curb coffee shop in Kai­muki and Skin Deep Tattoo, have decorated with materials from the company’s warehouse.

Using the materials from Re-use Hawaii added a unique feel to her business, said Hailey Berkey, co-owner of The Nook Neighborhood Bistro.

"It ended up being cheaper with some things, but I know in the end we put in a lot more character," Berkey said. "The more specialty redwood is just not even available today anywhere else. It adds more character and value."

Berkey said almost everything in the cafe was made of repurposed material: The trim, bar top, shelving units and cafe’s decorations were all made with materials from Re-use Hawaii.