Demolition vs. Deconstruction

Demolition vs. Deconstruction:


Demolish – verb - \di-ˈmä-lish\
1. a : tear down, raze
b : to break to pieces : smash
2. a : to do away with : destroy
b : to strip of any pretense of merit or credence

Deconstruct – verb - \dee-kuh n-struhkt\
1. to break down into constituent parts; dissect; dismantle.

At The Deconstructed House, we are working to make a distinction between demolishing and deconstructing the houses we encounter. As the definition indicates, to demolish something is to destroy it completely. In contrast, to deconstruct something is to break it down carefully in order to see the individual parts of the whole.

As a practice, the construction industry has viewed their job as demolishing the old to make way for the new. We are trying to reverse that trend and deconstruct the houses we encounter with the intent to reuse what we can.

We take the three Rs of conservation – Reduce, Reuse and Recycle – and apply them to our everyday practice.

We hope to find like-minded people, both in the construction industry and without, who share in our mission. There are treasures buried in every house we enter, and something we find might just fit your vision or plan for a new use.

Keep checking in with us as we find these treasures every day and will have new products listed as they are found.