I like Reduce/Recycle/Reuse; but reusing isn’t always easy September 5, 2007

 In preparation for the real construction crew to come in, I’ve been doing some pre-work. One such task has been the reclaiming of 2x4s and wood flooring.  I know in a previous post I said it was too much work to reclaim the 2x4s, but now that costs are adding up, I’m looking for every dime.

The process of getting the 2x4s back was a combination of unscrewing, nail pulling and just sawing the nails off.  Not the funnest thing I’ve done, but we did reclaim 23 2x4s (I’ll attach a pic soon).

We’re also keeping the original trim and reclaiming some of the wood floor to be used elsewhere in the house.  See photos Img_17, 18, 19 and 20 to the right at the flickr account.

I’m telling you, yanking these nails out of woodwork is no easy task. Some pieces have 3-4 nails each. Yuck!!! Guess it keeps this stuff out of the landfill though. And keeps from having to produce new trim.

The even more ambitious plan I have is to reclaim the wood slats from the roof when they remove it.  They really appear in good shape, so hoping we can use them somewhere on this job.

Finally, you’ll see some stacks of the ceramic roofing tiles. I just plan to sell those. Hope I get my money’s worth.

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Eco Friendly Flooring…..what’s it gonna cost me? June 12, 2007

Saturday was the flooring hunt. Felt like if we could spend one day and see all of our flooring options, then we could make an informed decision and get our architect the necessary information for pricing.

Remember, the criteria is:

1.  Sustainable – The floor must be made from old tires or recycled wheel chairs or something.

2. Long lasting/low maintenance –  Need something reliable, that wears well, and can take a beating (for the kids someday).

3. Stylish – needs to be as attractive as, if not more attractive than a non-sustainable floor.

4.  Cheap – Gotta be as cheap as the nearest good looking, non-sustainable flooring.

Drum roll please……………..

The winners (so far) are Forbo for the kitchen and baths. And bamboo for the bedroom floor (rest the floors have the original wood).  Read here for Treehugger’s view on bamboo floors; luckily we’re using in the bedroom, so don’t see any issues with it being a somewhat soft wood.

 

We found our Forbo and Bamboo at this Home Eco store in St Louis. It appears to to be the only supplier of Forbo, so we might have to get it there. And maybe we’ll let our floor installer choose where they want to get the bamboo from.

So this is where we are now. Feeling pretty good about Eco Flooring, and by the way, the cost is roughly $5/sq foot for Forbo and $4/sq foot for bamboo. So it’s all pretty reasonable.