Bruce Levin owns 15610 Loma Vista Ave. He plans to tear it down and build a new house, which is a familiar story in Los Gatos. Rather than reduce the smallish single-story home to toothpicks and cart it off to the landfill, however, he hired Whole House Building Supply to conduct a salvage, or demolition, sale. This and another home on Loma Vista were open this weekend. Customers are invited to pay and then come back with their tools, pry loose whatever it is they bought, and haul it away.
Whole House Building Supply has a warehouse and lumber yard in East Palo Alto, according to on-site employee Gene Leedham. They help homeowners deconstruct their house and give them a receipt for everything sold. Whole House has numbered everything in Mr. Levin's house, and price lists are available at the door. Shower head, $12. "Last of the vintage ceiling lights," $34. Every customer signs in before entering, to limit liability.
"We sell a lot of plants, too," says Leedham. Customers include architects, contractors, artists, and homeowners looking to upgrade or maintain a vintage house. "It's step one of the whole green building process," Leedham says.
If you have a house to be salvaged, call 650.856.0634. Whole House is on the web, or you can e-mail owner Paul Gardner. By the way, Whole House Building Supply needs to move out of East Palo Alto and is seeking a new location, possibly co-locating with other recycling companies in a Resource Recovery Park.
Reduce, reuse, recycle.
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