When a 1940s church in Pasadena was slated for demolition to make way for new housing, the congregation reached out to us about the building's redwood structure. The church had been built almost entirely with old-growth redwood — walls, ceiling, and roof framing.
We sent a team to carefully deconstruct the building over three weeks. The haul was remarkable: thousands of board feet of clear, tight-grain redwood that you simply cannot buy new at any price.
One of our regular customers, landscape architect Thiago Vasquez, had been searching for redwood for a backyard deck project in Los Feliz. When he saw the church redwood in our yard, he knew immediately it was perfect.
The heartwood was deep burgundy-red with virtually no sapwood, and the grain was so tight you could barely distinguish individual growth rings with the naked eye. After milling to 5/4 deck boards, the wood was absolutely stunning.
Thiago designed a 600-square-foot multi-level deck that flows from the kitchen through a series of built-in planters to a lower seating area. The reclaimed redwood gave the project an instant aged warmth that new materials would take decades to develop.
Perhaps the most meaningful aspect is the provenance. The homeowners love knowing that their deck is built from wood that was once part of a beloved community gathering place. Several former congregation members have visited to see their old church living on in a new form.
The deck required about 2,200 board feet of redwood. At current market rates for new clear redwood, the material alone would have cost over $15,000. The reclaimed wood was roughly 40% less, with incomparably better quality.
Old-growth redwood is naturally rot-resistant and dimensionally stable — this deck will likely outlast the house itself with basic maintenance.