I live in a neighborhood that is still under construction, and once a week or so I see the construction dumpsters FULL of plywood sheets and 2x4s. I'm sure all of this woulc be used in another house if applied right and creatively, has anyone done this? Material costs could drop significantly on a project, allowing more design decisions to be realized without budget compromises, or to increase profit on a development.
In the area I work in (Great Falls, VA), the land values are so high that old houses with 2 or 3 acres are bought, torn down, and mcmansions are built and sold on the site for millions. I worked for an architecture firm that did this and they made a fortune. What do the demo crews do with the materials of the old house ocne they've torn it down?
when i was contracting, i just did not get more wood as they "ran out".
it was incredible what they were able to salvage from the garbage.
as for old salvage materials...there is a great market for a lot of the materials...ie wood floors, beams brick, windows and doors roof tiles, plumbing. if they are able to make a profit...THEY DO.
problem is that most of the "tear downs" don't have any of the above that has value short of the wood floors (at least here in houston)
as for the perfect house...let's just say that it takes the perfect craftsmen to build... prefab has a better chance...
i think that is really an interesting idea...take something commercial and reuse the pieces to produce a very different and interesting new product...see the 2 below: big dig
It's tough to re-use lumber because it is often split, warped etc. or cut to lengths that won't work for a different design. There's also the time involved to remove nails, transport to another site, sift through to find correct sized pieces, in addition to storage & safety issues. It's more efficient to have a hauling company that recycles waste take everything away & just buy new lumber, at least that's what we're finding now. If you live in a large urban area, the hauling cost for companies that recycle is practically the same as for ones that don't (talking about companies that drop off dumpsters & then remove them). Some cities are now mandating that a large percentage of construction waste be recycled - in West Hollywood, CA for example where we're working now I think it's 75%.
Scrap Materials? Re-using demo'ed houses in new construction?
I live in a neighborhood that is still under construction, and once a week or so I see the construction dumpsters FULL of plywood sheets and 2x4s. I'm sure all of this woulc be used in another house if applied right and creatively, has anyone done this? Material costs could drop significantly on a project, allowing more design decisions to be realized without budget compromises, or to increase profit on a development.
In the area I work in (Great Falls, VA), the land values are so high that old houses with 2 or 3 acres are bought, torn down, and mcmansions are built and sold on the site for millions. I worked for an architecture firm that did this and they made a fortune. What do the demo crews do with the materials of the old house ocne they've torn it down?
Just curious.
OR you can design houses that leave no scrap. One of my professors did this. Everything was modular, carefully calculated, crazy dude he was.
when i was contracting, i just did not get more wood as they "ran out".
it was incredible what they were able to salvage from the garbage.
as for old salvage materials...there is a great market for a lot of the materials...ie wood floors, beams brick, windows and doors roof tiles, plumbing. if they are able to make a profit...THEY DO.
problem is that most of the "tear downs" don't have any of the above that has value short of the wood floors (at least here in houston)
as for the perfect house...let's just say that it takes the perfect craftsmen to build... prefab has a better chance...
david hertz is building his house out of the parts of a 747...
and i know the record had an article on reusing timber (the old growth stuff can be really really valuable) some time ago.
what is the LARR number on a 747?
i think that is really an interesting idea...take something commercial and reuse the pieces to produce a very different and interesting new product...see the 2 below:
big dig
big dig2
additionally, rural studio has done some incredible things with things like carpet squares as walls...etc.
It's tough to re-use lumber because it is often split, warped etc. or cut to lengths that won't work for a different design. There's also the time involved to remove nails, transport to another site, sift through to find correct sized pieces, in addition to storage & safety issues. It's more efficient to have a hauling company that recycles waste take everything away & just buy new lumber, at least that's what we're finding now. If you live in a large urban area, the hauling cost for companies that recycle is practically the same as for ones that don't (talking about companies that drop off dumpsters & then remove them). Some cities are now mandating that a large percentage of construction waste be recycled - in West Hollywood, CA for example where we're working now I think it's 75%.
some of these people are asking similar questions:
onesmallproject
here's a good use for cast off lumber scraps:
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