Deconstruction not demolition

LONGMEADOW, Mass. (WWLP) - Kent Pecoy, of Kent Pecoy and Sons Construction, knew the house built at 8 Ardsley Road in Longmeadow in the 1970s needed work. A lot of work.

"[It was] not very good structure to consider remodeling," he told 22News on Tuesday, "We looked at several options in a situation like this and we're going to deconstruct this house as opposed to having the demolition company come in."

He decided to go with deconstruction over demolition. This new trend is gaining the attention of eco-coconscious contractors. It involves harvest most of the materials in the dwelling rather than dumping them in a landfill.

ReStore Home Improvement Center on Albany Street in Springfield is the premiere agency for reused building materials. ReStore Deconstruction works with contractors to take a building apart piece by piece. They salvage as much of the material as possible for reuse and recycle.

John Grossman, the manager of ReStore Home Improvement Center was at 8 Ardsley Road in Longmeadow on Tuesday. He explained to 22News how ReStore functions: "We're a self sufficient nonprofit that harvests these materials for the environmental benefit. We sell them at very low cost to the general public. So there's an environmental benefit and along the way we create green jobs."

Kent Pecoy and Sons Construction and ReStore have developed a healthy working relationship in the past several years. The ReStore Deconstruction team will reuse and recycle about 80% of the material in Pecoy"s latest project. Grossman estimates that the collected products, from framing to flooring, will generate approximately $5,000 for the nonprofit organization.

Items such as roof shingles and piping cannot be reused but will be recycled. The Deconstruction team even recycles the nails from rescued wood floors.

Deconstruction does cost a few thousand dollars more than conventional demolition, but Pecoy is glad to create local jobs and provide other homeowners with low cost remodeling materials. He finished his interview with 22News by saying, "It's the right thing to do. As contractors, as a whole, we try to do the right thing. Sometimes we get a bad rap in the process, but we really are a conscientious group of guys"

Taking the house down to the foundation will take about 2 weeks with the ReStore Deconstruction. Traditional demolition would have the house leveled in 3 hours, according to Pecoy.

Deconstruction will cost a little extra cash and time, but the benefits are a worthwhile investment for many bay state homeowners. Donations to ReStore are tax deductible.

For more information about ReStore and ReStore Deconstruction visit their website at www.restoreonline.org or call (413) 788-6900.

More information about Kent Pecoy & Sons Construction is at www.kentpecoy.com and (413) 781-7008.