Disassembly begins with Historic Houston - LEED points and tax advantage
We are working with Historic Houston to salvage building materials that can be reused or recycled. A key aspect of LEED building is to minimize the impact of the building process itself, separate from considerations of the environmental impact of the final house. One concern is how much of the old house goes to landfill. This is where Historic Houston comes in, as they provide services for salvaging useable building materials, such as floorboards, built ins, windows, siding and other items.
Historic Houston has a broader mission than salvage – according to their website "Historic Houston is a 501(c)(3) non–profit organization dedicated to conserving and promoting Houston’s historic architectural and cultural resources through scholarly research, education and advocacy of sustainable design."
Visit their website to learn more and to check out their Salvage Warehouse inventory here: http://www.historichouston.org/salvage-warehouse/inventory.html
A few weeks back we did a walk through of the house with Lynn Edmundson, Assoc. AIA, LEED AP, Founder and Executive Director of Historic Houston and Tommy Strong, our project manager, to discuss exactly the kind of salvage we want to do. If you have the time you can opt for entire dismantling of the house, which will give you maximal recycling, as it provides the opportunity to recover almost everything in a reusable state. We chose a more limited recoup of the items that are more easily accessible, partly for budget reasons and also to keep on track with our timeline.
As part of this process we are also working with an independent appraiser to help us value the items that Historic Houston removes, so that we can accurately submit this information with our 2011 tax returns next year. So you can reduce your environmental impact and your tax bill at the same time!
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Posted
by Oliver Bogler
