The sizeable pile of bricks used to be part of a Monte Sereno home that was leveled to make room for a new residence.

The tedious chore is time-consuming and pricey when compared to the usual practice of demolishing a home and taking the pieces to the dump. For homeowner Linda Graham, though, it's worth the extra time and money to have the house deconstructed piece by piece instead of simply destroyed.

"We don't throw our old cars in the bay, why would we not do this?" Graham says. "It's wasteful not to."

Contractor Jeff Townsend said the home is being carefully deconstructed so that usable materials can be donated to The ReUse People of California, a nonprofit organization that resells construction materials at low cost. Depending on the project, between 50 percent and 60 percent of the materials from a deconstruction can usually be salvaged.

"You can crush the thing and throw it away in about two or three days," Townsend said. "This takes four or five weeks. It takes some patience and a little courage from the owners to deconstruct it, but it's definitely what needs to be done."

The Karl Avenue home is the first major deconstruction project Townsend has done. He said he had tried to salvage materials from other smaller remodel projects, but never an entire teardown of a 3,000-square-foot home.

Ted Reiff, president of The ReUse People, said people donate construction materials such as lumber, windows, doors, hardware, bricks and more to his organization. The items are primarily used, but some retailers and manufacturers also donate new items. They are then sold at one of three ReUse People outlets for as much as 75 percent and as little as 5 percent of their market price. There are ReUse People stores in Alameda, Gardena and Silver Lake.

"Our charter is environmental," Reiff said. "We keep the stuff out of the landfill."

Reiff said the cost of deconstruction is usually at least 50 percent more expensive than demolition. When items are donated to the nonprofit, though, the donor is eligible for tax exemptions that usually cover the extra cost.

Dave Marcan's demolition firm is deconstructing the Grahams' home. Marcan said he has owned the firm for about 3 1/2 years, always approaching projects with the intention of salvaging as much as possible. However, it was hard to convince people to pay the added cost of doing so.

After learning of The ReUse People and the opportunity for clients to write off donations, he said he has been able to do more of that work.

"Economically, it made great sense," Marcan said. "It also filled the niche with my environmental side, in wanting to be able to do something with all this material."

Marcan said he has seen "streams of garbage" going to the dumps in 14 years in the demolition industry. He said he and Reiff contacted many of the contractors he has worked with over the years to let them know about the program.

"I think they have seen a lot of stuff getting thrown away over the years," he said. "I find that a lot of people are environmentally minded ... I try to show them how it makes sense economically and I think it tends to touch a chord with them as far as doing the right thing and not wanting to send it all to the landfill."

Indeed, Reiff said he has seen the program grow in popularity over the years. In 12 years of business, his agency has diverted more than 200,000 tons of material from landfills.

Graham said she felt good about recycling the materials, especially the message it sends to her children.

"Actually, a lot of the children in the neighborhood are interested in the process," she said. "The kids are learning about the value of recycling."

For more information about donating construction materials, contact The ReUse People of California at 510.522.2722 or visit www.thereusepeople.org.