NORWAY — Tom Moore hoped to save his mother’s house at 118 Main St. from demolition.

It has stood, some say, for more than 180 years. But in the next few weeks it will be torn down under Maine law that allows removal of dangerous and dilapidated buildings that pose a threat to public health and safety.

“Being built in 1830, I’d rather see it stay,” Moore told selectmen at their Oct. 3 meeting in a last-ditch attempt to starve off the order to raze his childhood home.

When the Board of Selectmen voted 4-1 to tear it down because of the its condition and several thousand dollars in outstanding sewer fees and taxes, Moore left the meeting and broke down.

Nothing was easy about the decision, selectmen said.

The two-story, wood-frame house that sits a few yards back from Route 26, was “a disaster,” Selectman Warren Sessions said after a recent tour of the interior.

Years of sewer problems, debris and the unpaid sewer fees and taxes left the board with little choice.

Selectmen normally try to sell property to recoup the money, unless there is an unusual situation. This was one of those special cases, Town Manager David Holt said.

The board initially voted to demolish the two-bedroom house in August after determining it posed a risk to public safety but decided to give Moore, a Lewiston resident, time to clean and secure the building and make payments. In the end, they decided it was just too much for him.

Board of Selectmen Chairman Mike Twitchell told Moore this month that he would need well over $100,000 and “an army” of helpers to restore the house. Most of the board agreed it was a goal that Moore could not realistically reach.

“Sometimes, we are able to find creative solutions to challenging situations … in this case, there only appeared to be a tough decision that had to be made,” Holt said.

Moore tried to hang onto the house because it was his family home and, more importantly to him, it was that of his mother, Ramona Moore. She died of breast cancer in the summer of 2012 at the age of 55.

“She thought her job was to stay home with her kids,” Tom Moore said.

Moore’s brother Tyler, who has autism, lived with her at the time. He now lives with Moore.

Moore said Tuesday that Tyler realizes his home is going to be taken down and he cried when he heard the news.

For the past two weeks, with the selectmen’s approval, Moore has been removing a few items such as his grandfather’s brass chandelier, his mother’s bed frame and a trunk of his brother’s items from the house.

“It was nice growing up in it,” said Moore, who lived there with his mother, grandfather and brother as a child. “Then it got deteriorated. She kept trying to fix it and fix it.”

One of the problems, Moore said, was his mother’s need to keep things. He doesn’t hesitate to say she was a hoarder. He doesn’t know what made her buy and save items but he knew she had hoped to open up a thrift store in the back barn someday, he said.

Holt said he tried to work with Ramona Moore to raze the house and get a mobile home placed on the lot, but she changed her mind at the last minute. She died shortly after.

Holt said the town will pay about $24,500 to remove the house. The money will come from surplus fund.

“If someone were hurt or should the building catch on fire, folks would be quick to point out that the town did not rectify a dangerous situation,” Holt said.

Moore said he hopes to be there when the house comes down.

“What I’ll remember most about the house is spending time with my mother and hanging out with my grandfather before he died,” he said.