TRAER - When Gary and Deanne Gute purchased the 1874 Italianate house, it was destined for demolition.

The once-stately home, one of Traer's earliest, had become a neighborhood eyesore.

"It was in rough shape, and you could see where the original architectural details like decorative brackets were missing. The cedar siding was stained with rust, and decay had set in," recalls Gary Gute.

The interior was a mess, too. In the corner of one bedroom, an old cage sat open on a stand, leaving the Gutes to wonder what had lived in it.

"We could look past all of that and see a vision of what it once was and what it could become again. There was this feeling we got, in spite of the crud. It seemed like a happy house, and that pulled at us," Deanne Gute says.

Today, the house has been fully restored to its former glory and is on the market. Like proud parents, the Gutes enjoy sharing details and photographs of the restoration of the 19th century home that took nearly 14 years.

The public can tour the home from 1 to 4 p.m. today at 503 Fourth St. It is free, and the Gutes will be available to answer questions.

In the midst of this restoration, the Gutes bought, restored and sold an old house in Cedar Falls, purchased another old house in Waterloo to restore and have been hard at work on restoring their own historic home.

The do-it-yourselfers describe their passion for old house restoration as "the ultimate recycling project."

Gary says amid all the buzz about green construction and green buildings, "people are missing an obvious and important way to be green - historic preservation."

The May T. Watts Appreciation Society said, "The greenest building is the one already built," and the Gutes agree. "We don't do it to be green but because we believe in preservation. Old houses were sturdily built and meant to last. For a culture that's supposed to embrace green, bulldozing an old house instead of restoring means dumping tons of debris in landfills," Deanne points out.

The National Association of the Remodeling Industry estimated in 2008 that building demolition creates 124,670,000 tons of new landfill waste every year. Few people seem to compare the BTUs consumed in new construction and the BTUs consumed in the preservation of older, architecturally significant structures, Gary says.

Incorporating salvage material keeps old houses architecturally true to their roots and can be more cost-effective than reproductions. For example, Gary was able to salvage a front door for the 1874 Italianate, as well as an elaborate portico for their own residence and a limestone foundation that Gary is using to build a retaining wall. It all came from a burn pile of an 1868 house the owner chose to dismantle.

"I drove past, saw it, stopped and bought all of it," Gary says.

In the early days, the Gutes confess they were eager but naive about the labor, time and cost involved. Gary, an assistant professor in design, textiles and family studies at the University of Northern Iowa in Cedar Falls, spent many days climbing scaffolds, rebuilding soffits and replacing siding. Deanne, a writing specialist in the learning center at UNI, spent countless hours stripping paint from woodwork. Winter months were spent indoors, gutting rooms and tackling myriad projects.

"It was on and off, really, because you have to have a life outside of it all, and there are much better products available now for restoration work than when we first started," Gary explains.

The Italianate home, built by a Civil War veteran, has been restored top to bottom, including roof, plumbing, wiring, furnace, water heater, insulation, drywall, lighting fixtures and refinished floors and woodwork. The kitchen features salvaged and refinished tongue-and-groove fir floors, and salvaged beadboard wainscoting graces the living room and parlor. An open staircase leads to a master bedroom and bath.

"All restoration is a labor of love because when these old houses are gone, we've lost some of our history as a culture. Restoring an old home also restores the stories about the people who built these houses and lived in them," Deanne adds.