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Bringing Down the House

Officials from Fort Gordon and the Georgia Department of Natural Resources offer demonstrations to prepare bidders in an auction for recycled building materials from deconstruction of old World War II-era buildings at the Army post. (The Augusta Chronicle, July 16, 2004)

A man uses a tool to remove nails from a wooden board while another man holds the board in place at Fort Gordon, Georgia.
Bill Bowman (right), of Austin, Texas, Habitat For Humanity, helps Dave Tosi, of Greensboro, N.C., Habitat For Humanity, try a new "de-nailer" at a warehouse on Fort Gordon. The air-powered tool removes nails from boards. (Michael Holahan/The Augusta Chronicle)

Fort has training in deconstruction

July 16, 2004

By Jeremy Craig
Staff Writer

Before the public could take a hammer to some of Fort Gordon’s old wood and take it home, some demonstration was in order.

Fort Gordon, along with the Georgia Department of Natural Resources, held deconstruction training Wednesday and Thursday ahead of Saturday’s auction recycling rights for World War II-era buildings on post.

The materials from four large warehouses and a metal pole, and the right to salvage them, will be offered to the public at the auction.

Teresa Shifflet, of the Georgia DNR’s Pollution Prevention Assistance Division, said attendees were shown different techniques for dismantling buildings and learned how to prepare a contract for deconstruction and how to market the recycled materials.

Even those not really interested in the wood Fort Gordon has on the auction block participated in the training.

Dave Tosi, who works for the Greensboro, N.C., Habitat for Humanity’s “Re-Store,” said he attended the training to see whether there are more efficient ways to deconstruct buildings.

For the agency, old buildings are taken apart in order to resell the old, usable materials, he said.

Even though Greensboro, N.C. – 219 miles north-northeast of Augusta – doesn’t have a military base, Mr. Tosi said there’s plenty of old industrial warehouses that can be recycled.

“We wouldn’t even have considered them before coming here,” he said.

A man in a darkened warehouse kneeling and talking on a cell phone at Fort Gordon, Georgia.
Edward Engbert, an environmental engineer with the U.S. Army Environmental Center, talks on the phone inside a warehouse at Fort Gordon. Salvage and deconstruction rights to the warehouse will be auctioned. (Michael Holahan/The Augusta Chronicle)

Cam Jordan, from the south Georgia town of Fitzgerald, about 141 miles southwest of Augusta, said he too came to learn more about deconstruction.

The town’s looking to take apart old, disused buildings instead of demolishing them, which would take up more space in landfills and cost the city more money.

“We did a lot of demolition, but those landfill fees will hurt you in a hurry,” Mr. Jordan said. “I think every instance (of deconstruction) you approach is different, and you have to be creative.”

Auction registration begins at 8 a.m. Saturday, with the sale starting at 1 p.m. Deconstruction of the buildings sold will start as early as Aug. 1 (2004), Mr. Willard said, and buyers have until Sept. 11 (2004) to finish deconstruction.

Scanned text and images from hard-copy archives of The Augusta Chronicle. Article published July 16, 2004.