We moved out today. It’s finally time to tear the house down. But there will be no wrecking ball for Casa Del Sol. Actually you wouldn’t need a wrecking ball. You could probably just drive a golf cart very slowly into the house and it’d collapse. But that’s not the way it’s done here. Our house won’t be smashed up and dumped in a landfill. Instead, in accordance with California’s environmental laws, it will be carefully taken apart piece by piece, sorted and recycled.
I’m relieved about this. I was hoping to have some parts of the house salvaged, but it’s surprisingly hard to find a housing charity who will take this stuff without considerable investment and effort on our part. I want to do the right thing but not if it’s going to add a couple of weeks and a few thousand to our project plan. Appliances need to be fairly new and materials need to have been removed and cleaned. I asked our builder for recommendations because ‘I don’t want it all to end up in landfill’ to which he said ‘It won’t, it can’t.’ Our demolition firm are obliged to sort whatever materials they remove and take them to the recycling center.
Still, re-use is preferable to recycling so I’m taking a ‘charity begins at home’ approach. Our housekeeper and anyone she vouches for can come and take out what they want – old kitchen cabinets, mirrors, garden tools and pots, etc. If they’re prepared to take them up/ out they can take the fence and the floor boards too. Anything they don’t want will go on Nextdoor which is a good place for freecycling. As I write this a local pilates instructor is using our old mirrored closet doors in her new garage studio, which makes me feel good.
So in a few more days the house will hopefully be an empty shell. Then the fence goes up, the asbestos gets taken out, and the real demolition work can begin.
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