From the outside, it might looks merely like a rundown house is coming down in New Haven's Fair Haven section, but to Ted Reiff, it’s promise for the future.
Nail by nail, the house is coming down with great care because someone will be turning parts of the old house into something new.
For instance, the asphalt shingles from the roof will be sent to a recycling facility in Stratford, Vincent Mastriano, of MGM Carting & Recycling said. From there, they will be turned into asphalt that you might be driving on.
Ted Reiff, of Reuse People of America, Inc., has been deconstructing and recycling buildings for 17 years. His non-profit group from California has been showing New Haven contractors how to do what he does.
In the process, more than material is salvaged. Jobs are, as well.
"We started training lower-income people who didn't have jobs, or who were only partially employed into doing deconstruction, because it gave them an entry into all the construction trades," he said.
Walter Esdaile, the project manager, said this affords small contracting businesses to get the training and the opportunity to sell their skills as we go forward.
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Those skills might become invaluable with many seeing deconstruction as the future of construction.
This process also avoids burning materials or sending them to the landfill.
It is more expensive to deconstruct, but Reiff said tax deductions offset the expense.
And the real savings come in what isn't trashed but is turned into something useful.
"It's one solid beam running 27 feet, the whole length of the building, and that's going to be saved," Reiff said.
