Recycling old buildings: "deconstructing" World-War II-era buildings allows the army to clear ground needed for other purposes, while at the same time recycling the wood, glass and metals the buildings contain

Soldiers Magazine, April, 2005 by Neal Snyder

MANY Soldiers who have lived in the Army's old World War-II-era barracks, built at the time as temporary structures, called them "matchsticks," because over time the wood had literally turned to tinder, say officials at the U.S. Army Environmental Center at Aberdeen Proving Ground, Md.

Drill sergeants at Fort Knox, Ky., told their trainees that the wood posed fire hazards from overheated coal furnaces or discarded cigarettes. And those possibilities kept basic trainees awake during overnight lifeguard duty.

In 1998 the Army had some 50 million square feet of old barracks, warehouses, apartments and other buildings to eliminate as part of its transformation into the 21st century. Though the Army has reduced that number significantly, thousands of buildings remain, said Sarah Killinger, a spokeswoman for the National Council for Historic Preservation. These include more than 6,000 temporary World War II structures.

When the Defense Department directed the Army to get rid of its excess buildings in 1998, Fort Knox waste managers estimated that the post's construction landfill would be overcome by debris from these old buildings, said Joseph Yates, pollution prevention manager at Fort Knox.

The timber used in the old buildings was solid oak or hard pine. And, to permit many of the old structures to continue to be used, many had been fitted with reusable modern siding, double-paned windows and heating and air-conditioning systems, said Edward Engbert, a USAEC solid-waste technology specialist.

Excess family housing units and warehouses are also treasure troves of brick, structural steel, wooden cabinets and plumbing fixtures, Engbert said.

Up to 90 percent of a building can be recycled--a process called "deconstruction"--whereby a structure is carefully disassembled in the reverse order of the way it was put together, he said.

"Deconstructing unneeded buildings frees money to support Soldier training, reduces the impact on the environment and builds good will in the communities surrounding Army installations," Engbert said.

Installations across the Army are using deconstruction, but Fort Knox takes the process a bit further by auctioning recycling lights to local businesses or individuals.

The remains of buildings are typically sold for between $25 and $250, and the successful bidder gets five weeks to recycle materials from the site, Yates said.

Officials at Fort Knox expect the winner to remove at least half of the material or lose the deposit. After six weeks, a demolition crew removes what's left, he said.

Yates said that in the past six years Fort Knox has auctioned the recycling rights to more than 500 World War II-era wooden buildings and more than 900 brick apartment buildings.

The auctions have turned into a part-time business for SSG Donald Shively, a Fort Knox intelligence NCO. He specializes in selling scrap metal from his deconstruction projects and often negotiates with other auction-goers to share the expenses and labor.

A veteran of more than 10 deconstructions, he's used the materials he's purchased to build a shed and put cabinets and windows in a garage. "It's a fairly inexpensive way to do improvements and complete additions to your own property, as well as help the environment," Shively said. "One of my sheds was built from wood that's at least 100 years old."

Shively and other buyers have kept more than 300,000 tons of material out of the Fort Knox landfill, said Engbert. Besides saving around $3 million, the deconstruction program has pumped $500,000 into Fort Knox's morale, welfare and recreation fund.

It's meant a lot to the people living around Fort Knox, too. Engbert said entire homes have been built of pieces of old barracks and warehouses, and a campground outside the post exists largely due to recycled materials.

"Eighty-five percent of my construction material comes from deconstruction auctions," said campground owner Raymond Fultz. The story is the same wherever deconstruction is used.

Fort McCoy, Wis., spokeswoman Linda Fournier said several homes, a church and other structures have been built in the surrounding communities since the installation started selling its World War II wood buildings for deconstruction in 1992. Enough building materials have been recycled through Fort McCoy's private sales system to reconstruct 300 houses in the local community.

Other installations, including Fort Gordon, Ga., and Fort Campbell, Ky., have held auctions for deconstruction rights.

On a recent auction-day tour at Fort Knox, Shively and other prospective buyers sized up the floors and plumbing. A couple of two-story barracks, which had been outfitted with green-plastic siding, remained.

Shively circled to the back of one building, weighing the value of the cast-iron boiler and pipes. And a couple shopping for building materials went inside, noting that the double-pane windows were sound.

They touched the archways and tried the doors, and checked water damage on a wooden floor that had seen thousands of boots, millions of pushups and gallons upon gallons of paste wax.