Hi everyone. I usually hang out on the Kitchen and Building GW forums, but I have a question that I think you old house experts might be best able to help me with.

We just bought a riverfront 150ish year old Federalist home in northeastern Massachusetts. I'm sure it was once a beautiful house, but we've had several builders and renovators go through it and they all agree that it would be way more expensive to try to save it than it would be to build a new home in its place. Furthermore, very few of its original features remain intact, so it's not as if we'd be destroying beautiful moldings, mantles, etc. It has been vinyl sided and has all vinyl replacement windows. It has been chopped up very badly into a three-family, the main staircase has been essentially chopped in half--it's a mess. We've lived down the street from this house for 27 years, so we're pretty familiar with the Federalists around here, and this one does appear to be beyond saving.

However, it still does have some wide pine floors that we believe are original. Judging by the huge hand-hewn beams that are visible on the third floor, we assume the original post-and-beam frame is still intact. I guess there may be a few other cool things hiding somewhere, but I'm not sure.

Rather than paying big bucks to have the house demolished, I'm wondering whether there is anyone who would pay to come in and dismantle the house so that they can re-use the beams, flooring, and anything else they might want--or, even if they won't pay, but won't charge us for the demolition. I've googled and have found several companies that do this with old post-and-beam barns. Will anyone do it with houses? If so, does anyone know where I would find these people/companies?

One other question that has nothing to do with old houses, but I figure it can't hurt to ask it is this: The vinyl replacement windows are only one year old. Is there a market for these?

I know I'm sounding really cheap here, but we're going to need to find all the money we can get to rebuild on this site! And, I really hate to see the few remaining original parts of this house destroyed. It would be nice if they could begin a new life somewhere!

Thanks in advance for any suggestions you can offer.