In a city with more than 200 condemned buildings, how hard could it be to find one to dismantle and salvage?

Harder than removing a million rusty nails and stripped screws, it turns out.

Construction Junction, a nonprofit retailer of used and surplus building materials in North Point Breeze, gets most of its windows, paint, cabinets and other items as donations.

In September, it went one step further, taking down a house in East Liberty through "deconstruction" -- separating and recycling wood, metal, brick and other house parts, keeping them out of landfills. Now the 9-year-old organization would like to do more such projects in Pittsburgh and Wilkinsburg. But first, they'll have to break through a wall of legal issues and demolition procedures that were created to take down more eyesores as cheaply as possible.

"This is about more than reusing things people throw away," said Mike Gable, Construction Junction's director. "This is an economic development strategy. The more material we intercept, the more material we put in the marketplace, the more people we employ."

It's a complicated issue that bedevils communities nationwide. Cities in Washington and California offer incentives or simply require developers to divert at least 50 percent of building waste from overburdened landfills.

Brad Guy, a Regent Square-based sustainability consultant who recently visited Cleveland to teach deconstruction, believes Pittsburgh could do better.

"Pittsburgh is a city with a strong green builder movement. People would rather harvest the community's resources and make the most of everything we have," he said.

The Pittsburgh Climate Action Plan released in June mentions deconstruction and recycling construction waste, but ridding city neighborhoods of ugly, unsafe buildings that sometimes shelter crime is a much bigger priority for Mayor Luke Ravenstahl, said acting mayoral spokesman Joanna Doven.

"The mayor is always interested in having the dialog but his first priority is public safety," Ms. Doven said. "If we do this, will it take longer for this vacant house to come down? Will it cost more?"

The answer to both questions is yes, but only for the handful of houses that Construction Junction could deconstruct each year. The cost to dismantle the house at 6121 E. Liberty Blvd. was $20,000, covered by a grant from the city's Urban Redevelopment Authority. With the blessing of East Liberty Development Inc. and the help of demolition contractor ICX, an eight-man crew spent 4 1/2 days in late September razing the 2 1/2-story wood-framed house. Demolition, meanwhile, would have taken roughly 1-2 days and cost about $10,600, Mr. Gable said.

The project was a learning exercise, not a money-maker or big waste diverter. Dave Bennink of RE-USE Consulting in Bellingham, Wash., who has deconstructed nearly 500 buildings nationwide, showed the crew techniques to speed the process, including cutting the house into huge panels that could be more easily disassembled.

Most of the debris went to a landfill. Lumber, doors and other salvage had a retail value of only about $3,000. On future deconstructions, Construction Junction hopes to recoup at least 50 percent of the cost of demolition.

Since only 25 to 30 percent of condemned houses have enough usable material to be worth saving, the field of candidates is fairly small. It shrinks even more once officials' legal concerns about allowing salvage on properties the city doesn't own are added in.

Most condemned properties in Pittsburgh are privately owned, said Paul Loy, demolition manager for the Bureau of Building Inspection. The city can take owners to Housing Court to try to get them to demolish the buildings. But they often end up bundled into a single demolition contract with nearby condemned buildings. Contractors have salvage rights to the building's contents.

"We can't tell a third party they can go in and salvage from a building we don't own," Mr. Loy said.

Marla Marcinko, Wilkinsburg's borough manager, said their solicitor has the same concern.

"After we have condemned a structure, we didn't want the appearance that this property has any value. There's the potential for litigation from people who have walked away from the property," she said.

Wilkinsburg and Pittsburgh officials also worry that demolition contractors will raise their bids if properties have been stripped of salvage beforehand. Mr. Gable believes demolition contractors are mainly interested in copper plumbing and scrap metal, not woodwork.

Contractors are more likely to crunch and haul away doors, windows and other woodwork than take the time to separate it out for resale. And they're on such a tight schedule that they can't allow Construction Junction in to take it, either.

Mr. Loy and Ms. Marcinko said the nonprofit would be better off targeting municipally owned properties.

"Of the 200 properties we own, dozens are structurally sound and worth looking at," Ms. Marcinko said. "It would require council action but we're very interested. Council is really making a push to brand Wilkinsburg as a sustainable community."

To get a shot at Pittsburgh-owned properties, Construction Junction should bid on demolition contracts, Mr. Loy said. But how would they know which houses were worth deconstructing? And how could one house be unbundled from other condemned properties?

Another issue for Construction Junction is what to do with the materials left from deconstruction. No company in this region recycles asphalt roof shingles, drywall or painted wood. And it's not clear that there is a market here for old, de-nailed lumber. "We don't make much on lumber, but that's not the point," Mr. Gable said. "There's a cost to just crunching this up and sending it away."

CHATHAM UNIVERSITY PRESIDENT ESTHER BARAZZONE RECEIVES AN ANNUAL SALARY HIGHER THAN HER HIGHER EDUCATION COUNTERPARTS ANYWHERE IN WESTERN PENNSYLVANIA. THE CHRONICLE OF HIGHER EDUCATION LISTED HER 2006-07 COMPENSATION AT THE SMALL LIBERAL ARTS CAMPUS IN SHADYSIDE AS $734,576. IN 2007-08, MARK NORDENBERG OF PITT MADE $590,200 AND GRAHAM B. SPANIER OF PENN STATE RECEIVED $611,367. OF COURSE I'M DISAPPOINTED. ...

THE REASON I DO RESEARCH IN THE DISEASE IS I WANT TO FIND WAYS TO BEAT IT."

-- DR. STEVEN DEKOSKY

FORMER PITT NEUROLOGIST AND LEAD RESEARCHER ON AN EIGHT-YEAR, $36.5 MILLION NATIONAL STUDY THAT CONCLUDED GINKGO BILOBA IS USELESS IN PREVENTING ALZHEIMER'S DISEASE

IT WILL FEEL LIKE WE'RE IN SCHOOL FOREVER."

-- EMILY SALE

KNOCH HIGH SCHOOL SENIOR ON HER RETURN TO SCHOOL TUESDAY, COMPLAINING ABOUT A THREE-WEEK STRIKE BY SOUTH BUTLER TEACHERS THAT ELIMINATED MOST HOLIDAY VACATION DAYS AND EXTENDED CLASSES TO JUNE 15

I DON'T WANT TO HEAR ANY WHINING. THE CUTS WILL BE PAINFUL. PEOPLE WILL HAVE TO GET READY."

-- GOV. ED RENDELL

ANNOUNCING A NEW ROUND OF STATE SPENDING CUTS IS FORTHCOMING, AS A RESULT OF A BUDGET SHORTFALL ESTIMATED AT BETWEEN $1 BILLION AND $2 BILLION FOR THE CURRENT FISCAL YEAR