mark sr

I built my house with a mixture of old and new materials. I recently expanded my shop with all the materials other than studs and joists coming from a house I tore down.
Sorry, no pics as that's beyond my diy capabilities.

Rough Rooster

All my life has been one of scavenging, recycling, repurposing, and just plain "penny pinching".
Very few projects have been done with all new materials. Have built cabinets "all new".

My grandson is constantly "amazed" at what his grandpa will recycle and/or repair. I am trying to teach him to copy, but am fast running out of time.
Hope some of it will soak in to his thinking.

RR

Truth avenger

When I tore down my deck, I used most of the lumber to build a shed. I've used lots of old lumber for several projects.

That said, I usually use new lumber where strength/load bearing is important. There's such a thing as being too cheap.

BigJim

I reuse just about anything reusable, I hate waste. I have a pretty good stash of old barn wood and several woods. I am in the process of clearing out my shop of stuff I can do without. For me this is tough because I know as soon as I throw something away, I will need it.

I did use a lot of used materials in one house I built for myself. The entire floor system was reused materials that was either free or bought.

I have, in the past, built complete sets of cabinets that went in a butler pantry and tack rooms etc out of old barn wood. I know it sounds tacky and not good looking but they turned out looking great, I was even surprised. LOL

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Jim

F250

I have no pictures, but I've saved the large dimension redwood boards from a deak I tore down in Texas some 20 years ago. Thus far, I've milled down that redwood and built a large exterior trellis to support a pair of piracanthas on the back of our house (the one we sold in Texas). I still have enough to make an exterior redwood potting table for my wife, but it's not built yet.

I've also salvaged a bunch of thick mahogany from a large broken artist easel my FIL built for my wife when she was a teenager. Most of that salvage got consumed in building a huge flat lid for one of my wife's 12 gallon crocks in the kitchen.

Then, just this past summer, I cut down my huge custom built (by me) red oak entertainment center. By cutting down, I mean reducing the entire cabinet depth by 16" by circumsizing the back off of it. I reinstalled the back in a different format and removed a couple of built-in internal shelves to open it up for hosting my flat screen TV. Various parts of what I cut off were used in the internal structure of the faux fireplace I built in my dining room in the fall.

AND... when we refaced out kitchen cabinets year before last, I kept all the solid oak drawer fronts and have used them to make jigs in the shop and other miscellaneous pieces for all sorts of reasons.

Along with that, (but this is really leftover usage, and not salvage)... I used leftover tile from our first home remodel (small 3x3 Spanish blue and white tile) to make a set of trivets for my wife. The frames for the trivets were made from leftover oak trimmings from the cabinet work.

I'm sure there are other things I've done with salvaged materials, but can't think of them at the moment.

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Pete

Bark less, wag MORE, and Show Compassion to everyone you meet!

Drachenfire

I have some pretty nice pieces of wood I got from a pallet I disassembled and planed. Have not found a project to use them on yet (but I will).

All of these were made with scrap pieces of wood in my shop.

The marking knife is made from an used up sawzall blade and red wood cut offs from my joiners hammer project.


The tenon jig is made from cutoffs from my table saw crosscut sled.


The grr-ripper was made from my wood bin scraps and leftover t-track from the cross-cut sled project.


The push sticks were made from wood bin scraps.

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My Deck Rebuild Progress

Fate whispers to the warrior, "You cannot withstand the storm," and the warrior whispers back, "I am the storm."

de-nagorg

If it's loose and lying around, it's loaded up and hauled home.

I found an old Charbroil barbecue, that someone had melted the bottom out of.

Hauled it home, stripped it down, replaced the wood with TREX decking, repainted it, new wheels, and feet.

It now holds several Potted plants, and matches my deck.

It can be rolled around just like the old barbecue could, repositioned to get the best sun for the Petunias, or Daffydills, or whatever is on it.

The most reused thing is the 4.5 pounds of old (65) grey stuff between my ears.

ED

rcpaulsen

Most everything I make is made from someone else's garbage. Most recently, I acquired a couple of gas grills with bottom cabinets (painted steel frames and sides with stainless doors) that somebody had thrown away. I sold the grungy aluminum grills for scrap, made tops for the cabinets from some old pieces of maple butcher block I had laying around, and put a shelf in each one. I now have have a pair of nice tool cabinets on wheels. Total cost: $0.00

Nealtw

Before I knew flipping houses was a thing I re cycled houses, older neighbourhoods that were close to schools or had close bus service, things like that. I lived in them and fixed them up. There would never be enough mark up to remodel houses like you see on TV. You can improve a lot in a house with used doors that match the rest or finding that window trim that hasn't been made for 40 years instead of replacing with new that just wouldn't look right in an old house. What was important was fresh paint inside and out, maybe a new deck that might be used material.
For a while we could buy re cycled paint where they just mix new colors out of all those old left overs. When buyers are looking in that neighbour hood because they like the area or that is what they can afford, you just need the nicest one of the ones for sale at the time.

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Do not use flat bottom gables with scissor trusses.

landfillwizard

I mounted my miter saw to an old grill. It is very handy to move around with the wheel. I also have added rollers to each end to move boards around. I also added shelves to the underside to store blades, tapes and other tools.

Nealtw

I have one just like that, handy when we finished a bunch of basements right in our neighbourhood, I would just take my saw for a walk.

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Do not use flat bottom gables with scissor trusses.

Drachenfire

Growing up we never bought a grill. We would use old Volkswagen rims with an oven grate on top. They were made of steel and the vent holes were a perfect size. We would set the rim outer face down on some cinder blocks, light up some homemade charcoal and then bring on the steaks..., or fish or whatever we had to grill.

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My Deck Rebuild Progress

Fate whispers to the warrior, "You cannot withstand the storm," and the warrior whispers back, "I am the storm."

Two Knots

Yes, one mans trash is another mans treasure?
This antique chair was from the head knots grandfathers den.
It was covered in green leather...the leather that we reupholstered
it in - - is from our old leather couch....we stripped it, and had enough
leather for the chair. This is the first chair we upholstered in leather,
however, not the last. The footstool legs are from my Mothers mahogany
coffee the legs have little wheels.
Also, the wood the couch was made from, he ripped apart and saved for
scrap wood. The entire leftover parts from the old couch fit into one garbage
Pail.

We’ve made lots of cabinets, tables, shelving etc... from recycled wood and
curbside adoptions. It’s all so fun!

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Nealtw

Nice job on the chair, I have a bonded leather couch that the leather is coming apart. Picket up a $12 sewing machine, something new to learn. But will be fabric.

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Do not use flat bottom gables with scissor trusses.