INSIDE: N Classified Marketplace, page 68 N Puzzles, page 69
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SAVE WATER ... Chris Todd will teach a free class on the “New Water Efficient Landscape Ordinance Elements — Calculations and Standards” on Saturday, May 22, from 9 a.m. to noon at Cubberley Community Center, Room H-6, 4000 Middlefield Road, Palo Alto. Information: www.cityofpaloalto.org/utilities or 650-3292241 to register. MANAGING PESTS ... A BayFriendly Gardening workshop, “Gardening to Manage Pests Naturally,” will be offered Saturday, May 22, from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. at Cubberley Community Center, 4000 Middlefield Road, Palo Alto. Topics include controlling pests without pesticides and attracting insects to the garden. A $20 fee includes a Bay-Friendly Gardening book. Information: www.ReduceWaste.org or 408-918-4640 to pre-register.
ALL ABOUT LILIES ... Judith Freeman, of The Lily Garden and Columbia-Platte Lilies, will speak to the Garden Club of Los Altos on “A New Frontier — Lilies in Bolivia” on Tuesday, May 25, at 1:30 p.m. Freeman recently returned from Bolivia where she helped train farmers in cost-effective, (continued on page 48)
Planks of wood, above, are stripped and stacked for recycling. Below, Jose J. Ramirez, right, tosses stripped Sheetrock into the recycling bin as other workers carry out various parts of the house. ago when 100 percent would go to the landfill,” by Kate Daly Heilman said. hinking about going green in your conDuring the deconstruction process, all of the struction or remodeling project? There’s items are removed and handled with care so that a way to do so before you even start by they stay in reusable state. Furnishings and fixchoosing deconstruction over demolition. tures are wrapped in plastic and then donated to Deconstruction is a relatively new option availa nonprofit such as Habitat for Humanity or the able to property owners where they spend maybe Reuse People, a company that owns a huge waretwo to three times more up front to have an exhouse of used materials in the East Bay. isting building deconstructed piece by piece so In the case of this house, almost everything that most of the materials can be donated and was trucked to Petaluma to Garbage Reincarthen recycled or reused. In return, the owners nation, which for more than 30 years has run a can receive a sizeable tax write-off and the gratirecyclery and thrift store in the area. fication of knowing they are keeping more waste tennis court being built there. Marin Sonoma Deconstruction co-owner Tony from going into local landfills. He asked the owner to consider deconstrucDemolition, on the other hand, is usually a less tion over demolition. The first step was hiring Perez started out in the demolition business more expensive and quicker process. an appraiser, Donation Solutions of Belmont, than two decades ago, and expanded into decon“Bringing in a wrecking ball for $10,000 to to see if the numbers made sense. For a fee of struction in the last few years because of a shift $15,000, tearing it down in a day, and having ev- $3,500, that company inspected, measured, in demand. “With new laws and ordinances that cities have erything hauled off in two days was the old way photographed and itemized each window, door, to do it, the cheap way to do it,” said Dave Heil- fixture, appliance, fitting, deck, pavers, etc., that to reduce their waste by 60 to 70 percent ... cities man, a general contractor with Young & Burton it deemed worth saving. The appraiser estimated are looking to deconstruction to help meet their Inc. based in San Ramon. at least $50,000 of lumber could be salvaged, recycling goals,” he said. Perez said about a third of his jobs involve deHe’s now working on his fifth deconstruction as well as another $143,000 in other building project in a row, and in comparing prices, he is materials and contents, making the potential tax construction. “Every person I talk to is intrigued about it, but referring to an approximately 3,000-square-foot write-off as high as $200,000. house that until recently stood in Woodside. Tests showed no asbestos in the old house, but it doesn’t always work with every job because the Originally built some 30 years ago, the house pointed to lead in some tiles, so they were re- value of the items doesn’t always warrant making the bigger investment.” featured a lot of cedar-faced paneling indoors moved. He’d like to see towns and cities offer incenand fir siding outdoors. The siding was configHeilman then hired Marin Sonoma Deconured in a pattern that he said “is hard to find, struction & Demolition Services Inc. of Novato. tives to clients who choose deconstruction, such and the quality of the lumber is better” than the It quoted a price of $40,000 to deconstruct, and as fast-tracking permits or giving discounts on equivalent made today. predicted the job would take 18 business days fees. Each municipality has its own rules. Since He recognized that fact and the inherent value with an average crew of eight to 10 men work2001, the town of Woodside, for example, has of other building materials such as the old con- ing each day. crete foundation. He plans to grind it up to use as “Ninety-one percent of the materials are either an ordinance requiring 60 percent of demolibase rock for the new, contemporary house and going to be reused or recycled versus 10 years (continued on page 47)
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Michelle Le
SUMMER SALADS ... Lou Pappas will teach a class on “Summer Entree Salads at Gamble Garden” on Sunday, May 23, from 5 to 7:30 p.m. at the Gamble Garden Carriage House, 1431 Waverley St., Palo Alto. The participationstyle cooking class will feature healthy, hearty entree salads, and wine. Cost is $55 for nonmembers, $45 for members. Information: 650-329-1356 or www. gamblegarden.org.
Taking apart a house piece by piece can keep junk out of the landfill
Michelle Le
SUMMER GARDENING ... Drew Harwell, Common Ground Demonstration Garden manager, will teach a class on “Starting Your Summer Garden” on Saturday, May 22, from 10:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. at Common Ground Educational Center, 559 College Ave., Palo Alto. The class will focus on what plants thrive now, including basil, chard, cucumbers, tomatoes, corn, lettuce, beans and carrots, and how to grow them. Cost is $31. Information: 650-493-6072 or www.commongroundinpaloalto.org or http:// summergarden.eventbrite.com.
DEMOLISH OR DECONSTRUCT?