HOUSTON – Almost one year after the fury of Hurricane Harvey wiped out their home, Clay Fisher and his wife Margaret are returning to their flood-ravaged home only to witness this place they love very much being ripped to pieces.
“It tears me, it hurts my heart, to see this home being torn down. We loved it here. It really hurts,” Clay said.
But, if you look more closely, you will see that it isn’t so much the death of the Fisher’s beloved home as it is a rebirth, a new beginning.
Now, volunteers with the Northwest Harris County Habitat For Humanity are deconstructing the Fishers' home.
They are carefully taking every non-water damaged, salvageable, item that can be reused or resold and removing it and repacking it away, so it can have a second life in someone else’s home.
“In the average demo situation, the house would be torn down and everything would be thrown into a landfill. However, when you do this with Northwest Harris County Habitat, we are able to identify the items that are able to be reclaimed, and those items then become a donation to Habitat,” said Soleil Watt of Northwest Harris County Habitat For Humanity, one of seven Habitat affiliates in the greater Houston area.
So, instead of being crushed into rubble by a demolition contractor, parts of your precious home can be reused in a brand new Habitat For Humanity home or resold at one of Northwest Harris County Habitat For Humanity’s ReStores.
The reclaimed items can be anything from kitchen countertops made of granite and marble or sandstone to bathroom sinks, ceiling fans, kitchen cabinetry or home speakers.
Even the crushed concrete from your foundation and the home's wiring can be reused.
“Copper wire is especially valuable, even as scrap. So this stuff is just like money or cash,” said Ron Crider, a Habitat volunteer.
Speaking of money, when you hire Habitat For Humanity to deconstruct your home and demolish it or partially demo it, you are actually donating to a charity, so you could get a huge tax write-off.
“Some could be anywhere between $100,000 and $200,000 worth of tax write-offs that you get by using us,” Watt said.
When their Braeswood Heights home was wiped out by the 2015 Memorial Day Flood, Eric and Olivia Barvin opted to have Habitat, instead of a demolition company, demolish their flood-damaged home and they got a massive tax break.
“On our last demolition, we were able to get a tax donation of $145,000,” Eric Barvin said.
Clay and Margaret Fisher wanted to hire Habitat to demo their home because they wanted to help the less fortunate. But in the process, they are looking at being able to write off between $80,000 and $120,000 on their taxes.
There are some things you need to know about this program.
Habitat does not appraise the value of your donated items.
For more information about The Northwest Harris County Habitat For Humanity Deconstruction Program, call the phone number below or go directly to their website through the link provided below.
- Email: restore@habitatnwhc.org
- Phone: 281-477-9064