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I read in the October/November issue of Fine Homebuilding the discussions about tearing down old houses. In Iowa City there has been a non-profit organization developed whosspecific purpose is to remove and rreuser sell the salvageable materials from old buildings. There have been changes to the municipal building codes that require older buildings to be made available to this organization before they are demolished. The main labor source is volunteers. There is excellent, experienced susupervisionon every site. The materials are stored in a warehouse and available to the public for resell, available to Habitat for Humanity, to the volunteers, or used in the shop classes at the high school. I have helped tear down two homes and one former hospital. In my home I have used windows, strip flooring, mirrors, and doors from the recycled materials. It is a shame that other communities haven’t been as enlightened. So many old buildings with wonderful salvageable materials are being bulldozed. If anyone is interested in more information about the Iowa City program, you may contact me at [email protected]. Thanks for “listening”.
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Barb,
I use a tremendous amount of salvaged material. Attachment below is a heart pine floor that we recylcled by turning 3-14" wide by 3/4" thick material into 2-1/2" x 7/16" and reinstalling. The owner was willing to foot the tremendous bill. It can be done. I have at least three specific objections to your model though, if I may elaborate:
Any time that a municipality inacts an ordinance requiring me to do certrain things with my property, they have in fact and in legal principle, taken my property and my rights from me. This country is founded on principles of individual rights which are being slowly eroded. If my judgement is that the flooring would make better kindling, dump filler or fencing, the city has no right to allow yuour organization to send volunteers into my property to claim it for recycling. In opposition to the opinions of "enlightened" folks, the govt does not have greater ability to manage resources than individsuals. central planning was tryed in Russia and it failed. In addition to the rights issue, you have openned up a whole can of worms for the litigation teams when one of your volunteers gets hurt while claiming materials from my house or leaves behind a board with a nail sticking up out of it for the next visitor to step on and puncture his foot.
I salvage many for reuse within the same home and I sell many items to salvage houses which are run well under our free enterprise system which is much more enlightened in that it works voluntarily without compelling people to give up their rights to their property. Amazing isn't it! I also donate several items to Salvation Army or Habitat.
Anbother item for You to consider is that much of the material that would not survive this free enterprise initiative that I use but does end up in your system is material that is not worthwhile in thew first place. We have an old saying that you have to be a wealthy person to afford a used window. That is because the amt of labor needed to make an old used window worthwhile is more than the cost of a new window. Then you need to add the value of lost energy for the air leaks and lack of comfort in the home. Donating a used window to a poor family will often cost them more in fuel than it saves in materials. You have then done them no favors.
The general idea is OK but don't look down your inflamed Enlightened nose at anyone who does it differently and remember that if it didn't succed without govt changes to the municipal building codes, it won't succeed without an infusion of govt money either.
*I agree with Piffin (I think). I too am a great believer in using recycled materials out of necessity. My work is almost all restoration.But I agree that a law requiring it is probably a place where government shouldn't go and an infringement on rights. That said, I applaud anything that encourages (without requiring upon pain of law) the salvaging of old materials, both from the environmental as well as aesthetic perspectives. I would definitely like to see such encouragement where I am, since there is a huge amount of material lost in demo that can never be found or replaced again.And Piffin is definitely right about having to be a rich man to use an old window. It takes huge effort to restore, but the results if done right can blow your mind. If you love this sort of thing, there's nothing better.SHG
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I read in the October/November issue of Fine Homebuilding the discussions about tearing down old houses. In Iowa City there has been a non-profit organization developed whosspecific purpose is to remove and rreuser sell the salvageable materials from old buildings. There have been changes to the municipal building codes that require older buildings to be made available to this organization before they are demolished. The main labor source is volunteers. There is excellent, experienced susupervisionon every site. The materials are stored in a warehouse and available to the public for resell, available to Habitat for Humanity, to the volunteers, or used in the shop classes at the high school. I have helped tear down two homes and one former hospital. In my home I have used windows, strip flooring, mirrors, and doors from the recycled materials. It is a shame that other communities haven't been as enlightened. So many old buildings with wonderful salvageable materials are being bulldozed. If anyone is interested in more information about the Iowa City program, you may contact me at [email protected]. Thanks for "listening".