As i was planning for my eventual Knockdown rebuild, i realised that my current house has alot of decent condition building components and electrical components that would be an absolute waste to just demolish and dispose of.
I couldnt find any posts about the actual knockdown process so wanted to get some guidance around what happens as part of the knockdown process and what they do with existing parts of the house that is salvagable
My house is a 60yr old weatherboard home that the previous owner renovated a few years prior to selling. The overal design is a mess but they used decent parts since they were a builder. The parts are obviously used, but only used for a few years.
Examples:
- Flooring, when i moved into the home i replaced the carpet with laminate flooring which i love. The floors have only been used for 3 years and are in excellent condition. Is it possible to remove them before moving out and salvage them to be used in a new home? I know it sounds stupid to use 3 year old flooring in a brand new million dollar home. But its gotta be better than paying $20k for new flooring or using the crap carpet the builders include by default
- Windows - they were installed only a few years prior to me moving in, so some of them are in excellent condition aluminium windows.
- Lighting - i have tons of downlights, which i replaced with LED bulbs that ill definitely be removing. But i wonder if the downlight modules themselves can be salvaged?
- I have a bunch of regular lights that just seem like a huge waste to just demolish
the prev owner salvaged a bunch of fluroscent lights which he macguyvered into the garage and carport. I dont care for these, but again they are perfectly useable and seems like a waste - Fans - i have 5-6 ceiling fans that look brand new. i have no idea how to uninstall these, but another wasteful component to throw away
- doors and doorhandles - i suppose i can salvage these and resell as they are new or use them for a DIY project later
- Kitchen - the kitchen is a cheap DIY ikea/bunnings kitchen. But was installed the same year i bought the house
this means the cabinetry is in excellent condition and the 20mm benchtop is new marble.
I dont personally care for them because the previous owners were retirees with appalling taste (the kitchen and entire exterior of the house is painted light red/pink!!!!)
This is the biggest waste i can see given how expensive it would be to buy new. ive always wanted a granny flat to be used as a mancave, so that marble top would come in handy later. Problem is i would have no idea how to uninstall it or store it anywhere - Tapware and showerheads. Ive seen agents charge like $150 for some of these to replace in rental properties. i can salvage the shower heads, but the tapware is pretty vanilla from bunnings, but practically new. Someone would be able to find a use for them
- Central Aircon - we have 3 zone ducted aircon that they installed as well. Theres a massive daikin unit outside that wouldve cost them thousands. is there anyone that would pay to take it away to reuse somewhere? heck id donate it to an orphanage
- Aircon 2 - i have a second personal aircon unit in the master bedroom. Its also a daikin, id say 5 years old and quite big. In absolutely great working condition. What would i do with this? hire an aircon guy to uninstall? id definitely have a use for it, but the cost of uninstall and reinstall could be more than just buying a new unit and huge waste to dispose of.
- Bricks and gyprock - the interior of the house was renovated before we bought it and theres a house extension which is clearly newer condition. There also a garage out the back and a footpath. All these have perfect condition bricks and gryprock walls that could be reused, but i wouldnt know where to start to find people to make use of them
- Decking - the prev owner built a new deck as well. i want to salvage the decking for the portico i plan to build, but it could also be used as fencing/landscaping/feature wall etc. this is an easy one since its just screwed in.
These are just some of the big ticket items i can think of, and im sure not unique to my house
How have other people dealt with this or have you all just said F*ck it, knock it all down!?
Also one related question. I literally just had NBN FTTC installed last week...do i need to call NBN to get them to uninstall it? or do you just cut the cable?