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" Unfortunately, few people build with an eye to future dismantling. Instead, builders naively assume that the world wants their works to last forever. And, building supply manufacturers aren&amp;#039;t any help. Take construction adhesive, for example. Why would anyone want to glue construction lumber together? Who convinced builders that this was a good idea? Fortunately, the adhesive I&amp;#039;ve encountered during my 30-year-old-barn renovation hasn&amp;#039;t seemed to have worked that well. On the other hand, today&amp;#039;s goop is probably more effective\u2014look out 30 years from now. To put things in perspective, the advent of nails and stick framing might have inspired a similar response from a timber framer. After all, the old guy might have observed, with all those steel pins driven all over the place, how can you take it all apart\u2014and put the wood to use somewhere else?  And, he&amp;#039;d be right. Still, pulling apart something nailed together is infinitely easier than ripping apart lumber that&amp;#039;s really glued. And, with a few exceptions, the tools you need are stone-age simple. My list includes 36 and 18-in. pry bars, 14-in. flat pry bar, cat&amp;#039;s paw, nail puller, locking pliers and a ripping hammer. For pulling common nails, a nail puller will do a neat job, but a cat&amp;#039;s paw is faster and often easier in awkward positions. The stable half walls in my barn are double sheathed with T&amp;amp;amp;G fir, for example. If I can get the wall section comfortably flat on the floor, the nail puller is the tool of choice. But, pulling 3-in. nails out of 2 X stair treads was a job for the cat&amp;#039;s paw and hammer. Once the nail heads were proud of the surface, I used the big pry bar to lift them out. Of course, some pieces, like trim, need to be pried away\u2014in which case, the nail often comes out with the wood. If they&amp;#039;re finishing nails, pull them out from the back side by gripping them with locking pliers, then levering with a small pry bar. The real benefit of dismantling over demolition is the stack of reusable lumber that grows on the work site floor. The process takes longer than the dumpster-and-sledge-hammer approach, but it&amp;#039;s certainly more economical if you&amp;#039;re working for yourself. I reaped the first benefit yesterday as salvaged stair treads went into service as short joists that span the old stairwell opening.  By the way, I screwed these new joists in place. The guy who takes my stuff apart will thank me for it.\u2014Tom Klenck Earlier: Glues Clues Demolition Man: You can take apart your house with tools as simple as these. Part of the reward--and the jobs just begun. "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
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