Having a home demolished may be the best choice if you cannot simply renovate or make a few cosmetic changes inside, but don't want to actually move to a new property. However, you may also wonder how to ensure that your work is as friendly to the environment as possible, with as little material winding up in landfills as possible. If you want an eco-friendly demolition for your home, note a few options to keep in mind.

1. What can be salvaged

You might hire a demolition company to come in and perform what is called a deconstruction, where they manually remove everything in the home that can be salvaged. This can be expensive since it's so labor intensive, so you might consider how much of this work you can do yourself. You may know that items like the glass in windows and solid wood doors can be salvaged, but keep in mind other items that can be removed and recycled. This would include concrete, brick, porcelain (including bathroom fixtures), bronze, copper including copper wiring, steel, iron, ceiling tiles, drywall, carpeting, floor tiles of virtually any material, and most if not all plumbing pipes and fittings.

Note too that most small fixtures around the home can be salvaged if they're in good working order. This can include electrical outlets and switches, sink faucets, ceiling fans, heating vents, thermostats, and the like. If you're able to remove all these items safely on your own, you can save the cost of a deconstruction and still be able to keep these things out of landfills.

2. Interior demolition

An interior demolition means removing the entire interior or some of the interior of the home while still keeping the frame intact, as needed. As an example of how this works, you might need your entire kitchen torn out along with the attached dining room, living room, and first floor bathroom, so you can expand the kitchen and relocate the bath. An interior demolition would take these rooms down to the studs and remove what utilities and plumbing fixtures are necessary, but leave the rest of the house and other areas intact.

This type of partial, interior demolition allows you to create the home space you want while not removing any items that can be built on, including the home's frame and certain utilities or fixtures. If you don't need to tear down your entire house, work with a demolition contractor to decide on an interior demolition; this will mean fewer items that get removed and that potentially wind up in landfills, making it another eco-friendly choice.