Interesting article this morning in the Times about deconstruction in New Orleans. (taking appart select houses and recycling some of their materials instead of demolish and bury). Hope this link works.
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In this interview, Kimberley talks about the importance of proper training, current concrete trends in the Bay Area, and the history of racist housing policy in San Francisco.
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Deconstruction would be great. The fact is that many of the houses are being pillaged of their nice woodwork before the owners can repair them (and even while the owners are repairing them) and being sold out of state.
The lumber is mostly old growth cypress and heart pine -- some of the heart pine will make a nail dance on the surface unless it is a hardened nail. The old growth cypress has a stunning grain and is impervious to rot and insects.
Some of the houses are built with "barge boards" which literally came from wooden barges that were floated down the Miss. River and then taken apart when they reached the port of New Orleans -- it wasn't practical to push all those barges back up the River. The barge boards could be any species of wood and many of them are 2 or 3 inch x 20 inch planks 20 feet long, used to balloon frame two story houses. Many are only 10 feet long for 1 story homes. I've seen some beautiful dens and kitchens having the walls finished with barge boards that have been wire brushed or lightly sanded to clean them up but retain the patina and the look is awesome. I have a cypress barge board that came out of my parents basement flooded during Katrina and it will go into a project one of these days.
So yes -- it makes sense to recycle the good stuff and it would keep a few people employed and off the streets while learning some basic trade skills. But it will never be as "cheap" (in all positive and negative senses of the word) as new construction.
Billy