If you will be demolishing a house and then building a new one in its place, here are two tips which you might want to bear in mind.

Search the house for reusable materials before demolishing it

Before you start your house demolition project, it's worth spending a day or two rummaging through the property, in search of reusable materials. Building a new house is a very costly process. One of the most expensive elements of most construction projects is purchasing brand-new building materials.

However, if you carefully remove parts of the soon-to-be-demolished property, you may be able to significantly cut down on the amount of money you have to spend on construction materials for the new house. Things such as light fixtures, plug socket covers, cabinetry (which can be sanded and repainted if necessary), countertops and banisters can all be removed relatively easily and reused in the house that you eventually end up building.

Additionally, removing and reusing as much of the current house's materials as possible prior to demolishing it will also reduce the amount of materials that you end up disposing of in your town or city's landfill. This, in turn, can reduce the negative impact your demolition and construction projects have on the environment.

Check the soil type before you start the construction process

After the house has been demolished, you should not immediately begin constructing your new building. Instead, you should extract a small sample of the soil below the demolished house's foundation and have it tested to find out what exactly it is composed of. The reason for this is as follows; if the soil is made up wholly or partially of an expansive material (like clay, for instance), you may need to take preventative measures to ensure that your new house is structurally sound.

This is because building a house on an expansive soil could result in subsidence if the soil loses moisture and subsequently contracts. If this occurs and you haven't taken the appropriate precautions, the house may develop cracks that will make it structurally unstable.

If you have the soil tested and it turns out that it contains clay, you can then have the foundation underpinned to ensure that it remains stable and level, even if the soil below it contracts. Whilst underpinning will increase the upfront cost of your building project, it could save you a considerable amount of money in the future.