Building deconstruction is not a novel idea but represents an ancient practice reinvented for our modern era. Deconstruction is an environmentally friendly (yet fiscally remunerative) alternative to traditional building demolition. Deconstruction is: [t]he process of carefully dismantling a building in order to salvage components for reuse and recycling. Typically, a small team of skilled and licensed professionals disassemble the structure, setting aside the valuable materials for direct reuse or resale, before recycling the rest. In most instances, deconstruction is combined with an element of demolition, with the latter process plugging the gaps not covered by the former process. Deconstruction has traditionally been used successfully with decommissioned military bases and all-wood barns. Building deconstruction is simply an expansion of this practice to both commercial and residential structures. In fact, it can be argued that deconstruction is the original demolition.