When home improvement calls for demolition

    As a “picker,” Ryan Blumenstein is all about preservation, cutting down on waste and an appreciation of everything old. But even he knows that sometimes a house is beyond being saved by home improvement. There’s a certain time to just start new, he said, but that doesn’t mean an old house has to go to waste.
    Recently Blumenstein, who owns High Plains Picker in Holyoke, finished the two-month task of disassembling an entire house by hand. Where the two-story home once stood in Yuma, there’s now an empty lot. He offered some insight into the alternative to simply bulldozing an old building and hauling the rubble to the dump.
    It takes time. Disassembling can be a cheaper alternative than traditional demolition, but it’s going to take time. Blumenstein noted that it takes planning and care to keep the house stable as different elements are removed: roof, siding, floors, walls, etc.
    The house in Yuma was already gutted when Blumenstein got to it, but it still took him two months to finish the project. His most used tools were a hammer and a pry bar. For the most part, he didn’t even use power tools.
    When it comes to dismantling an entire house, even little projects add up. Picking up nails from the ground, for example, took Blumenstein about seven hours, and they totalled close to 100 pounds.
    There may be surprises. In the world of home improvement, surprises aren’t usually a good thing. This can be true when disassembling a building, too, but Blumenstein did happen upon a few good surprises during his most recent project.
    When he started, he thought the house was built in 1922. Finding a 1915 newspaper stuffed in the rafters made him second guess the age of the building. Another interesting find in that particular house were the old window weights. For those interested in history, a 100-year-old house is a good place to find it.
    Salvaged materials are ready and waiting to be repurposed. By the time the Yuma house was completely torn down, Blumenstein had hauled off tons of wood — literally. Floor joists, planks, lap siding — if it was wooden, he was interested. It’s hard to convey in text his sheer elation over the old-growth lumber, its remarkable grain, the beautiful color. He has plenty of ideas for using the salvaged wood himself — coffee tables and end tables for starters — but he also likes to see others put it to use.
    Much of what’s salvaged goes to the High Plains Picker shop, where it’s for sale. In tearing down the house, Blumenstein came across things he doesn’t necessarily have a purpose for himself, but he kept them anyway. Who knows, maybe it’s just the thing someone else was looking for, and that way it doesn’t end up at the dump.

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