Rethinking Your Remodel

Posted by Lyndsy Czapla (DRN Intern)

At DRN we are always asking, “Why fill up our landfills with valuable building materials that could be deconstructed and reused?” One Florida family has answered that question with their newly remodeled home & setting a great example for neighbors. When Claire Sever and Jeff Bunkin first discussed their visions with their contractor, the couple was informed that their house would basically need to be completely torn down for their vision to come to like. Since the intended renovation was so extensive and involved a huge amount of structural changes it would cost less to do a complete tear down and rebuild from scratch. Following their contractor’s advice, Sever and Bunkin made the big decision to tear down their home, but made an even larger decision to do it as green as possible. Sever and Bunkin next hired a local company near their Florida home to come and remove and recycle every single building material and supply that could be reused by either them or somebody else.

The materials to be reused included everything from light fixtures and doors to wiring and even the stone around the fireplace. They were also able to get their outdoor porch and concrete slab from their backyard patio deconstructed. All the materials were removed by deconstruction to get a second chance at life so they wouldn’t end up adding to the 130 million tons of construction debris that annually overload our landfills. What’s super neat about Sever and Bunkin’s remodeling project is the fact that they found some cool, new ways to reuse old materials. Their old custom cabinets were creatively transformed to be used as doorway trim and floor moldings. Since Sever and Bunkin didn’t reuse all the deconstructed materials for themselves, they passed along the rest to a local reuse store. What’s pretty cool is the fact that it was that very reuse store where the family bought all of their flooring for their bedrooms, making their deconstruction efforts come full circle. For those people who may be curious about how deconstruction and remodeling a green house is not only beneficial to the environment but fulfilling for homeowners who choose to do it, contact us and be sure to share Sever & Bunkin’s story.