Thursday, September 02, 2010 - 2:49:21 PM

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Binghamton's First Deconstruction - 10/22/2009

Construction equipment tearing into the house she grew up in was the scene that greeted Joyce Van Worner as she and her husband, Jim, walked past the building at 42 Robinson Street.
   
"I lived here when I was six years old until 1958," Van Worner said.

Not only was this Worner's old home, it is the first old home in Binghamton's Restore New York program to be deconstructed instead of demolished.
   
"We're not deconstructing the entire building by hand," said Larry Pierce, owner of LCP Construction. "What we're doing is we're picking out the material that actually has some value, and we're going after that."
   
Workers are saving everything they can from this house -- including reusable furniture, appliances, and even lumber.  The goal:  to keep up to 50% of what would've been lost in a normal demolition from ever reaching a landfill.

City officials say not only is this method expected to cut down on waste, it will also save money.
   
"As we learn more and more what we can save from going to the landfill, which would really help the whole county, this is an experiment that will be well worth it," said Binghamton Mayor Matt Ryan.

The salvaged items that sat useless in the building for years will soon find new life -- LCP Construction says everything will be put up for sale and benefit the community.
   
"The people taking the buildings down are local, the people selling the materials will be local, the people buying the materials will be local," said David Bennink of Reuse Consulting.

A bit of local history was even unearthed today.

When the Van Worners asked crews if any pictures had been found in the house, they showed them photos the Van Worners believe to be of Joyce's family, discovered 51 years after the couple moved out.

***FOX 40's Sarah Blazonis Reporting***

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