News14.com

  55º

07/24/2010 03:54 PM

Group salvages old buildings

By: Stephanie Stilwell

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GREENSBORO - Saving history from the bulldozer and the landfill one nail, one board at a time. That's the effort behind the non-profit, Architectural Salvage of Greensboro. Volunteers regularly come together to deconstruct buildings and save the pieces for resale.

It might look old and dilapidated, but volunteers with Architectural Salvage of Greensboro see treasures in behind the old doors. Over the last 17 years, the group has salvaged more than 100 buildings, 90% of which were in Guilford County. What makes this project even more unique is the fact that it's all done by volunteers.

Jon Enos, co-chair of Architectural Salvage of Greensboro, will often take walks, on a treasure hunt for the group's next venture.

“I'll go look at just about any old house or building and see if it has any interesting elements that it has that we can sell or that someone else would be interested in re-using and recycling into their structure,” said Enos.

Enos found lots of interesting things at an old barn, it's front door, paneling and wood siding. All of which is taken down, the nails removed, and set aside to go to the retail store. The store is an oasis for salvaged goods, drawing people from across the state and country to find unique items.

“I feel like it's a really good cause,” said Brian Park, a volunteer. “I feel like recycling these materials rather than going out and buying new ones and just watching these houses get demolished and wasted like that. It's rewarding that it's not going to waste and that someone is going to be able to reuse it.”

Architectural Salvage of Greensboro is one of the only salvage organizations of it's kind in our state. But at least one other group in the Charlotte area is working to create a program like this one.