After Hurricane Helene slammed the Southeast U.S. in 2024, homes in Western North Carolina were damaged beyond repair. But one resident saw the value of the old wooden debris and decided to build something new from the rubble.

Leicester

In Leicester, North Carolina, John Sonbe has built a house using primarily recycled and salvaged materials, much of it sourced from hurricane debris that would have otherwise been sent to landfill. After a major storm left piles of destroyed buildings and homes in the region, Sonbe saw potential in the discarded wood and fixtures, incorporating them into his home alongside other reclaimed items such as cotton mill floorboards and black locust bark siding.

Sonbe's approach to building is deeply creative, viewing the remnants of disaster as treasures to be transformed. With the help of his partner, Appalachian recording artist Jenny Kimmel, Sonbe continues to seek out unique materials, including weathered wood from old barns, to complete his home. The project is described as his 'last hurrah,' as he aims to finish the house within a year.

Building a home with hurricane rubble

If you follow the music down a windy mountain road in Leicester, North Carolina, it will lead you to a new house that feels like it's always been here. Pretty much everything is recycled and salvaged. This is where we met John Sonbe. I just love this stuff. He pulled his porch post out of the wilderness. He found his kitchen floorboards inside a cotton mill bearing the scars of the late industrial revolution era. And that's what those marks right here are. Diamond plating steel. Just as John was finishing the kitchen, disaster struck in his beloved western North Carolina. Helene. Seeing it on the news is one thing, but standing there amongst it is hard to get your head around. But the debris. Oh, we saw it when we were in Marshall. Oh yeah, that was horrible. And it was the dead of winter too. You can't even tell that people have been working day and night since. For months, the pieces of buildings and homes were just sitting there. Some spots are still not cleaned up. But that's when a light went off above John's head. That's a chandelier. That's the porch light. Things like that. The woods are full of treasures. There was also, apparently, treasure in the debris piles. Hurricane destruction, plus John's tools, raised a home. Call it metamorphosis. And it wasn't like you were pulling stuff out that people wanted to keep, right? Oh no, this was headed to the landfill. John says he's always built homes, but he's never had the resources to satisfy his creative vision. From the black locust bark siding, to the pieces of knocked down trees that now hold a roof over his head. You can see where it was dragging on the asphalt. You were dragging this behind Butterbean? Yeah. Butterbean. Butterbean's a 58 International pickup. That's the truck he used to bring all this debris home. I never get tired of this view. One year later, he's still looking for more weathered wood. Today, he wants wormy chestnut. Back in the early days in the Carolinas, it was a real plentiful tree. His neighbor's 100-year-old barn survived the storm, but it's barely standing. You can see right here where you have those deep marks in it. You put a wire wheel to that, and the texture will just scream at you. John sees what others don't. When I wake up in the morning, my head's full of this stuff. So I get all these ideas from my sleep. It's almost like singer-songwriters tell us about how music comes to them. Yeah. Oh, the better me, oh, the better me. Appalachian recording artist Jenny Kimmel is John's partner in this project. I want to hear the story. Not with her tools. They're more like each other's muse. This house has like the soul of the world in it, you know? It's nice to be with somebody who sees that. It's quiet. Somehow, it just works. These broken pieces, carefully crafted together at the end of a road. How long before you can call this your home? Give me a year. You think you can do it in a year? Yeah. You said this is your last hurrah. What do you mean by that? I'm kind of wearing out. Takes a lot of energy to do it by yourself, so the last hurrah is going out in style. For CBS Saturday Morning, I'm Dave Malkoff in Leicester, North Carolina.

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