The 17,000 ft., six-bedroom home in a gated community in North Palm Beach, Florida that she brought last year was built in the 1920s, and wasn't suited to present day regulations.
"It wasn't built to the South Florida wind-loading codes of today that were put in place because of hurricanes," People magazine quoted Dan Reedy of Onshore Construction and Development as saying
"We had an architect and a structural engineer out here and everyone agreed that it made more sense - structurally and economically - to tear it down and start over," he said.
Nordegren gave Habitat for Humanity four weeks to methodically go through the structure and salvage tens of thousands of dollars worth of cabinets, hardware and fixtures, discovering termite and carpenter-ant infestations in the process.
"When we pulled out the windows, the bugs were everywhere," Bobbi Blodgett, Habitat's director of deconstruction, was quoted as saying.
"To rebuild that house would have been ridiculous. We're so grateful to Elin. It's rare we get this kind of donation," Blodgett said.
"Elin could have had a garage sale and made a lot of money. But she wanted everything to go to charity," Reedy was quoted as saying.
