Crews working with Meticulous Deconstruction recently completed wood salvage operations on the 1890-era home at 37 NE 78th Avenue. Within the coming weeks, demolition specialists will mechanically remove the remaining masonry and concrete foundation, making way for a new eight-unit townhome development. A series of owners wrapped this original Montavilla home with a century’s worth of remodels and extensions, making it a tricky project for deconstruction manager and company owner Brianna Ivy.

“We kept calling it the onion because of how many layers we kept uncovering, different weird eras of the house. Cool, but not unique necessarily because we’ve come across several of them,” explained Ivy. This crew of deconstruction specialists formed several years ago working for Good Wood‘s salvage team. She worked as the company’s deconstruction manager until the reclaimed lumber business decommissioned that portion of the operation to focus on its core mission. “When they shut down, I got my license and inherited their contracts,” recalled Ivy. The crew began working under the Meticulous Deconstruction title in May 2023. Over the years, the team has encountered a wide range of structures, from layered projects like the home on NE 78th Avenue to all original homes, where nearly every board is knot-free old-growth timber likely harvested within miles of the site.

A 2016 Portland City Ordnance mandates deconstruction for any house or duplex built before 1941. It also extends to some historic resources. Certified Deconstruction Contractors like Meticulous Deconstruction must complete these jobs, and this labor-intensive work can cost $18,000 to $20,000 per house, but it can also cost more for complicated projects. Portland was the first city in the country to implement a policy that ensures crews salvage valuable materials for reuse instead of sending a whole house to the landfill. The city does this because older homes contain unique wood that is no longer available. “Pre-industrial revolution, more or less, the houses were built with trees felled right on the property, milled on the property, and then they just built the house right there,” explained Ivy. Before the Second World War, skilled craftspeople built most houses, and they would only select the best lumber from the plentiful supply in the Pacific Northwest. Homes then had higher 10-foot or 12-foot ceilings, requiring straight, thick, and tall timbers. As the years progressed, lumber became physically smaller and of lower quality. The framing was “literally two by four [inches], and so the house that we’re deconstructing on 78th was old enough to have actual dimensional 2x4s. Some of them are even thicker than two inches, which is beefy. Pretty much every decade, the wood got milled a little bit smaller and then plateaued at today’s standard of 3 1/2 by 1 1/2 inches,” said Ivy.

The 134-year-old home at 37 NE 78th Avenue had more than thick lumber hiding within its walls, complicating the deconstruction. “Instead of using framing for the walls of the house, they use basically 1″ by 12″ flat planks of material that were the full height of the house. I think they would assemble those on the ground with siding on them perpendicular. The 1″ by 12″ material running vertically and then siding horizontally. They build all four walls on the ground, erect them, and connect them to the corners. The only framing is the floor joist and the ceiling. So the walls have no framing,” remarked Ivy. “We had to peel the house away from the outside to expose that original plank-constructed house to salvage it safely.”

Brianna Ivy explained that in this type of hand deconstruction, the crew must understand building practices of every age; otherwise, removing side paneling could cause the upper floor to come crashing down because it was hanging from the walls. This home was old enough never to have lath and plaster walls. It went from wood-planked walls to more modern gypsum board, skipping over decades of building trends. The structure also predated the common use of electricity in housing, requiring future owners to install many modern amenities later. The house had several addresses over the years, but in 1909, Sanborn maps referenced the property as 325 East 78th Street. At the time, Daniel N. Hooker and Margaret Hooker lived there with their three daughters. A birthday party for daughter Cora Hooker turned into an “impromptu musical programme,” as recounted in the Sunday Oregonian’s August 11th, 1907, edition. Three years later, Daniel Hooker died in the house at the age of 61. The Hooker family may have been the original owners of the house, based on the timing of the articles and its construction date. However, many other generations of people have lived in the home since.

This house’s architectural significance and viability were lost to unconventional remodels and neglect. Saving it was never a practical notion, but thanks to the deconstruction process, the wood that made it a home for many residents will continue on. “We report the wood salvage at the end of the project so the city can keep tabs on the salvage program,” said Ivy. “We salvaged an unbelievable amount of material from this project.” The timbers recovered from the oldest portion of a home rarely end up inside a wall of a newer home. The crew sends newer components from recent remodels to reuse specialty stores like the ReBuilding Center or the Habitat for Humanity ReStore center behind Plaza 205. However, the older wood is valuable to furniture makers and builders who use it for interior finishes. Builders 100 years ago had unlimited access to tight-grained lumber and used it throughout a project. Now, those craftspeople reserve those timbers for display areas in people’s houses.

Brianna Ivy enjoys this work, its environmentally supportive nature, and the community that has grown around her woman-owned business. Through word of mouth, Meticulous Deconstruction’s staff has grown to include mostly non-binary identifying employees. “We are a non-dude crew,” remarked Ivy. “We’ve become a safe haven for people who are not normally treated well in the construction industry.”

Although Portland requires deconstruction for pre-war residential buildings, Meticulous Deconstruction will work on other projects of any age or size. People often hire them to deconstruct detached buildings where the owners do not want heavy equipment disturbing their yards. One client had the crew deconstruct a garage without disturbing a bird’s nest in the tree leaning against the structure. Admittedly, deconstruction costs more than bulldozing, but it can save trees from being cut down for new lumber and provides long-lost wood to craftspeople. Expect to see the remaining foundation and basement at 37 NE 78th Avenue removed in the next two weeks as heavy equipment levels the ground for the new townhomes coming next year.

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