Wallace Detroit Guitars Use Reclaimed Motor City Wood For A ‘Cadillac’ Sound | Benzinga

Mark Wallace of Wallace Detroit Guitars

The reclaimed wood used to build Wallace Detroit Guitars — salvaged from buildings in the Motor City — dates as far back as the early 1800s. The handmade guitars are therefore being built with the same vintage, slow-growth wood as instruments made in the golden era of the 1920s, said Wallace Detroit Guitars founder Mark Wallace. “That wood went into guitars, and my wood went into houses,” Wallace said during an interview at Architectural Salvage Warehouse, the nonprofit where he sources maple, ash, walnut and pine. “There’s something fundamentally different about the wood that went into those [vintage] guitars, and that’s what I’m tapping into.”

Source: Wallace Detroit Guitars Use Reclaimed Motor City Wood For A ‘Cadillac’ Sound | Benzinga

Two years after mystery home demolition, Detroit will clean up mess

Patricia Kobylski has been trying to get the City of Detroit to remove a pile of debris left from an illegal demolition in her east-side neighborhood. On Tuesday, she holds an envelope filled with notes on her calls to city officials.  (Photo: Jennifer Dixon, Detroit Free Press)

The property is owned by the Detroit Land Bank Authority, but spokesman Craig Fahle said city officials don’t know who tore it down in January 2015. Fahle said no one pulled a demolition permit, and the Free Press could not find any demolition or asbestos abatement notices on file with the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality for the property on Westphalia between Gratiot and McNichols.

Source: Two years after mystery home demolition, Detroit will clean up mess

Mayor Catherine Pugh Calls For $40 Million Investment Each Year In Deconstruction Projects And Affordable Housing | Town of Morningside Maryland

United Workers, an advocacy group, founded the Baltimore Housing Roundtable in 2013, by bringing 25 different organizations together to confront affordable-housing issues in the city. The group advocates the city to set up a land bank to expedite the conversion of vacant houses and properties to affordable housing and grant priority to ex-offenders for employment and training to work on such projects. It recommended “deconstruction” a process that will allow for more job opportunities and recycling of building materials.

Source: Mayor Catherine Pugh Calls For $40 Million Investment Each Year In Deconstruction Projects And Affordable Housing | Town of Morningside Maryland

Frank Jones Brewery redo saves architectural treasures

Mat Ouellette, assistant project manager for Chinburg Properties, shows an orginal low ceiling area that still remains, before a new level is built, at the Frank Jones Brew Yard in Portsmouth. [Rich Beauchesne/Seacoastonline]

“The quality is amazing,” said Spitzer, about the wood planks with aged patina. Spitzer said a local craftsman will use some of the timbers to make club room fixtures and tables, mill some for shelving and use other old planks for finish work. More of the pine timbers will be reused for counter tops and furniture, he said.

Source: Frank Jones Brewery redo saves architectural treasures

ReUse-apalooza offers new life for ‘junk,’ new jobs for workers, and new challenges for tinkerers – Insider – Story

David Rueve finished creating a new cabinet for the hi-fi and modernizing it more than a week before the ReUse-apalooza deadline. (Photo provided by David Rueve)

“It was a mess when I found it,” Rueve said of the hi-end RCA Victor cabinet hi-fi he recycled. “And it took some work. But now everything works — AM/FM/AFC, phono, tape (which is now set up for iPod, etc.), lights, all tone controls, all eight speakers,” Rueve said. “It sounds amazing. I mean really good.”

Source: ReUse-apalooza offers new life for ‘junk,’ new jobs for workers, and new challenges for tinkerers – Insider – Story

Battling blight with big data | Harvard John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences

Qian Wan , a mechanical engineering Ph.D. candidate at SEAS, and co-author Bradley Pough, a J.D. candidate, provide data-driven recommendations city officials can use to battle urban housing blight.

Their paper, “Digital Analytics and the Fight Against Blight: A Guide for Local Leaders,” examines the problem of urban housing blight, identifies best practice uses of data analytics, and provides data-driven recommendations for municipal officials.

Source: Battling blight with big data | Harvard John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences

A salvager’s decades-long dream to build a museum of architectural artifacts – Curbed

Preserving part of the the Rivoli Theater in St. Louis Courtesy National Building Arts Center

“I just love old buildings,” Giles said. “It’s a big collection, without a doubt, the largest that I’m aware of, and the idea was to develop it as a comprehensive study collection. The idea has grown into a collection of pieces from all over the country. The history here is a national history.”

Source: A salvager’s decades-long dream to build a museum of architectural artifacts – Curbed

Friendly Giants Built From Recycled Wood Hidden in the Forests of Copenhagen | Colossal

All of the giants are produced from recycled wood, material that was gathered by Dambo and his team from 600 pallets, a shed, an old fence, and various other sources. Using local volunteers to build the works, Dambo then names each sculpture after one of the builders, such as Teddy Friendly . You can see more images of the oversized sculptures on Dambo’s website. (via Bored Panda)

Source: Friendly Giants Built From Recycled Wood Hidden in the Forests of Copenhagen | Colossal

Historic firehouse to hot hotel: Repurposed buildings revel in their colorful pasts – The Washington Post

A rendering of the planned exterior of the Detroit Foundation Hotel inside Detroit’s former Fire Department headquarters. (Vista (Beijing) Digital Technology Co., Ltd. )

“So many places are the same that people crave difference,” Poris says. “New York is like a mall now with the same stores you find at Somerset Collection [in Troy, Mich.], Milan or Hong Kong.”

Source: Historic firehouse to hot hotel: Repurposed buildings revel in their colorful pasts – The Washington Post

Artist Rides Rivers in a Homemade Shantyboat to Learn About the People Who Live on the Banks

Wes Modes, an artist and lecturing professor at UC Santa Cruz and a crew full of creative mates built a shanty boat out of found materials and trash and rode down both the Mississippi River and the Tennessee River over the course of the past two summers. The collective purpose of these journeys is to learn about the people who live on and around the banks and the about the ecology of the rivers.

Source: Artist Rides Rivers in a Homemade Shantyboat to Learn About the People Who Live on the Banks

Wedge-shaped Acute House reuses materials from demolished cottage : TreeHugger

© Nic Granleese

Rather than discarding all the old materials, the architects strove to salvage and reuse as much of the old house as possible: wood boards, fencing, doorknobs and vents. The architects say: Like fragile museum artefacts, these were carefully removed, labelled, stored and re-installed in their original location on a new mount that not only highlights their charms by contrast but allows the house to live again in a new way.

Source: Wedge-shaped Acute House reuses materials from demolished cottage : TreeHugger

Old grain elevator in St. Anthony comes down | Ag/Business News | rexburgstandardjournal.com

A deconstruction crew, including a man with a chainsaw atop a crane bucket, slowly saws down a grain elevator that’s stood as a landmark of sort on the south side of St. Anthony for more than 100 years.  Joyce Edlefsen

Trost’s Feed and Seed started life in 1901 or 1902 as Miller Brothers. It burned down almost as soon as it was completed, but the brothers rebuilt it the next year. According to a sign painted on the Miller elevator, it dealt in grain, flour, produce, eggs, feed stuff, salt and coal.The Black Elevator, nicknamed for its dark, oxidized wood color, apparently was used at about the same time, and seemed to have been owned by the same people as the other elevators in town.

Source: Old grain elevator in St. Anthony comes down | Ag/Business News | rexburgstandardjournal.com

Urban Institute Links Urban Blight and Public Health – CityLab

A man walks through a vacant lot in the Northern Liberties neighborhood of Philadelphia. (Matt Rourke/AP)

In other words, rather than wielding code enforcement as a way to punish offenders or extract revenue, Schilling argues that the wellbeing of residents ought to be restored as housing policy’s central purpose. “We need to return housing back to its roots,” he says. “Housing codes were initially framed as a way to protect public health. While there’s still some of that, it’s so often become secondary.”

Source: Urban Institute Links Urban Blight and Public Health – CityLab

Scrap Exchange seeking to finish leasing of Lakewood building | The Herald Sun

Ann May Woodward, executive director of The Scrap Exchange, is photographed in Lakewood Shopping Center in March 2016. The Scrap Exchange plans to purchase 10 acres of the Shoppes at Lakewood center to establish a Reuse Arts District.

Ann May Woodward, executive director of The Scrap Exchange, is photographed in Lakewood Shopping Center in March 2016. The Scrap Exchange plans to purchase 10 acres of the Shoppes at Lakewood center to establish a Reuse Arts District. Kaitlin McKeown The Herald-Sun

A stable collection of paying tenants will bring more traffic to the shopping center, and allow The Scrap Exchange to implement other parts of the Reuse Arts District, Shark said. The Scrap Exchange is seeking to redevelop the Lakewood area without driving out the people who live there, one of the pitfalls of neighborhood improvement. The shopping center already is facing pressure from potential developers, particularly the southern part, which includes Food Lion and several other businesses.

Source: Scrap Exchange seeking to finish leasing of Lakewood building | The Herald Sun

Rejuvenation Opens NYC Store

Rejuvenation was founded to help customers restoring old houses, but most today spurn interiors that reference a single period or style. “We decided to help people live eclectically,” explains Alex Bellos, a West Elm veteran who is now senior vice president and general manager. “Designers are looking for unique pieces with a story behind them, and we have things they can build a room around.”

Source: Rejuvenation Opens NYC Store

Spend a Luxury Night in a Converted Pigsty (North Yorkshire) – Urban Ghosts Media

(Image: John Lindsay; converted pigsty in North Yorkshire, England)

According to the Landmark Trust, which restored the now converted pigsty overlooking Robin Hood’s Bay, in North Yorkshire, to its former glory: “Once really a sty, Squire Barry of Fyling Hall is said to have been inspired by the classical architecture he had seen in the Mediterranean during his travels in the 1880s when building this home for his pigs.”

Source: Spend a Luxury Night in a Converted Pigsty (North Yorkshire) – Urban Ghosts Media

Wallace Detroit Guitars Announces Limited Edition ‘Firehouse Series’, Handcrafted with Reclaimed Wood from Iconic Detroit Firehouse | Guitar Girl Magazine

Aged Maple and Pine Salvaged from Floor of Old Detroit Landmark Inspires
Twelve One of a Kind, Timeless Instruments

The first guitars released from the firehouse wood will be a pair made of pine and featuring a brand new offset body shaped, designed by Wallace Detroit Guitars. Eye-catching and comfortable to wear, the smoothly rounded dual ‘horns’ cut a classic profile on-stage or in the studio. “Pine is a lighter, softer wood with more air inside of it as compared to common guitar lumbers like ash or poplar,” says Wallace. “That allows it to resonate a bit more for a nice prolonged tone.” Pine has only begun to see wide use in guitar making within the last ten years, so these guitars present a unique opportunity to own a pine guitar with the sound and feel of vintage wood.

Source: Wallace Detroit Guitars Announces Limited Edition ‘Firehouse Series’, Handcrafted with Reclaimed Wood from Iconic Detroit Firehouse | Guitar Girl Magazine

Norwalk Reflector: Ohio Materials Marketplace to find reuse and recycle solutions

 

“With statewide access to thousands of Ohio’s businesses, communities and other organizations, Ohio EPA’s Division of Environmental & Financial Assistance (DEFA) is well positioned to bring members together in this modern online marketplace,” Director Butler said. “This new service positions Ohio as a leader in the circular economy, helping remove materials from the waste stream, promoting jobs and allowing for better efficiency and savings in the processes of creating goods and services.”

Source: Norwalk Reflector: Ohio Materials Marketplace to find reuse and recycle solutions

Multi Award-winning Marketplace Start-up Enviromate Relaunches

As an alternative to the linear economy of “take, make and dispose”, the revamped Enviromate marketplace makes it easy to recirculate, redistribute and reuse materials that would otherwise end up in the skip. It’s open to anyone – from tradesmen to DIY enthusiasts – and allows users to buy or sell anything from a few tins of paint to pallets of bricks, timber and roof tiles.

Source: Multi Award-winning Marketplace Start-up Enviromate Relaunches

Repurpose Old Furniture with Chairloom’s Newest Location at Kennett Square

Chairloom joins a host of other high-end names in fashion, home décor, and vintage pieces at Kennett Square’s new one-stop shop, Works.

The Chairloom team is collaborating with House of Hackney, a London-based textile company, on a vintage and custom furniture display at Bergdorf Goodman in March. Says Burke, “We’re looking forward to seeing what doors open now that we will be making more of our own vintage-inspired pieces.”

Source: Repurpose Old Furniture with Chairloom’s Newest Location at Kennett Square

Dwell – 10 Inspirational Examples of Adaptive Reuse

“A high-performance, heavily tinted glass was used within the skylights’ double-glazed units to reduce summer heat,” Simpson says. Autex Industries provided the insulation for the year’s cooler months, and the addition of a second, more geometric ceiling hides modern-day electrical and mechanical cords. Photo: Shannon McGrath

The following 10 structures were fortunate enough to fall into visionary hands and are enjoying a pretty fabulous second shot at life.

Source: Dwell – 10 Inspirational Examples of Adaptive Reuse

Couple powers newly converted home on wheels with bus-length solar roof | Inhabitat

They sold their house and converted the school bus into a permanent home on wheels with a standing workspace, kitchen, king-sized bed, bathroom with a composting toilet and lots of storage space.

Arkansas natives Zack and Annie (and dog Lola) are the latest digital nomads to reject the grind of 9-5 life. The couple recently converted a former school bus into an ultra-modern solar-powered mobile home on wheels, and now they’re living the dream.

Source: Couple powers newly converted home on wheels with bus-length solar roof | Inhabitat – Green Design, Innovation, Architecture, Green Building

Supportive housing, Collegetown apts up for review – The Ithaca Voice

Plans also call for an 8,100 SF warehouse for salvaged lumber/wood, and a 600 SF pavilion. 79 parking spaces are included in the project. For those unfamiliar, Finger Lakes ReUse (FLR) is a local non-profit focusing on materials recycling and sustainability. The organization has “deconstruction crews” who take apart buildings by hand, salvaging reusable building materials (which can be up to 70% of a building) for sale at FLR’s stores on Old Elmira Road, and at the Triphammer Mall in Lansing.

Source: Supportive housing, Collegetown apts up for review – The Ithaca Voice

This property is more than another abandoned building near Detroit River | MLive.com

This is a row of four townhouses on East Grand Boulevard, three blocks from East Jefferson. If you stand on the sidewalk you can see the Detroit River – right where cars turn to reach Belle Isle. That’s what gives the area its name: Islandview. Paula Gardner | PaulaGardner@mlive.com

Detroit is still a city balancing rapid redevelopment downtown with slowly rebounding real estate market – and 90,000 vacant houses.

Source: This property is more than another abandoned building near Detroit River | MLive.com

Shannon Park School voices concern over air quality during demolition | The Chronicle Herald

Behind Shannon Park School stands one of many military housing units to be demolished. Parents have raised concerns over the demolition and air quality risks that may result during the project. (CONTRIBUTED)

She added that air-quality samples are taken on a regular basis, and that Canada Lands will be sharing the results with the principal. The demolition is now half complete, according to Millier, with an expected wrap-up date in mid-April. The deconstructed materials, besides coming down, need to be removed from the site as well. The demolition has been slowed as contractors dispose of asbestos, lead-based paint and mould found in the roughly 40 buildings on the property.

Source: Shannon Park School voices concern over air quality during demolition | The Chronicle Herald

GOING FOR $2 A FOOT

John Mangelos and brother-in-law Allen Velthoen check out the interior of the Barnwood Restaurant building as they wait for wood buyers to come through their front door. GLENN KAHL/The Bulletin

They had devised a plan to tear down five old barns at no cost to the farmers in the valley and used the wood for their new family restaurant 37 years ago.

Longtime chef and owner John Mangelos said the second floor wood in the “haunted” private dining room was originally intended for a Victorian home that was never built. He said he was fortunate to find it, but extremely puzzled how the young ghosts were included in the purchase.

 

Source: GOING FOR $2 A FOOT

Adaptive Reuse Projects Provide Substantial Returns – D Magazine

“The conversion of a property from industrial or retail use to creative office has become an increasingly popular value-add strategy for investors,” Transwestern’s Michael Soto, director of research in Southern California and co-author of the report, said in a statement. “Two trends are fueling demand for this type of differentiated office product: One, technology, advertising, media and other companies trying to attract millennials are interested in the characteristic features of creative office space—open floor plans, natural lighting, common spaces and amenities such as cafés and rec rooms. And two, tenants are returning to cities, where they can take advantage of live/work/play environments.”

Source: Adaptive Reuse Projects Provide Substantial Returns – D Magazine

Proposed Oregon Senate Bill 871: Requiring Lead-Based Paint Survey Before Demolition

There is a proposed Senate Bill for Oregon to require a lead paint-based paint survey prior to a building demolition. 

If SB871 passes it means that buildings must be surveyed for lead paint, in addition to the already required asbestos survey before being demolished.  This information would then be available to the public by request.

In short, if you are living next to a building scheduled for demolition, you have the right to know if there is asbestos in that building. With the passing of SB871, you will have the right to know if there is lead paint in that building too. 

Listed below are the bill sponsors who are waiting to hear from you. Each name is linked to their email. Please take a moment to let them know that you support this important legislation. 

Oregon Senate Bill 871

Summary

Makes changes to program requiring asbestos survey to have been conducted before demolishing residence or residential building. Creates program requiring lead-based paint survey to have been conducted before demolishing residence or residential building. Becomes operative January 1, 2018. Takes effect on 91st day following adjournment sine die.

Status

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 12-0)
Status: Introduced on February 28 2017 – 25% progression
Action: 2017-03-02 – Referred to Environment and Natural Resources.
Pending: Senate Environment and Natural Resources Committee
Text: Latest bill text (Introduced) [PDF]

Title

Relating to demolitions; prescribing an effective date.

Sponsors

History
Date Chamber Action
2017-03-02 Senate Referred to Environment and Natural Resources.
2017-02-28 Senate Introduction and first reading. Referred to President’s desk.

Oregon State Sources

Can Big Data Predict Housing Abandonment? – CityLab

A pair of surviving rowhomes surrounded by vacant lots at dusk in Baltimore. The city has some 17,000 vacant buildings. (Patrick Semansky/AP)

Budavari and Phil Garboden, a doctoral student in sociology and applied math, are working on a statistical tool to predict abandonment. They’re combining publicly available data with GIS technology to create a database of the city’s housing stock. This will serve as a base to do high-level statistical analyses that can help officials make better, data-driven evaluations of current and future interventions. It could help Baltimore study, among other things, when and why homes are abandoned, and at what point a vacant home starts affecting nearby properties.

Source: Can Big Data Predict Housing Abandonment? – CityLab

Old-School Wooden Tablet Covers Give Class

How is his ipallet4me different, then? “You have numerous producers making awesome tablet cases and covers out there,” he says. “They are all using high-quality wood and making premium products,” Kasner explains. “I wanted to do something completely different — I wanted to use low-quality wood from used transport pallets and make a difference for the environment.”

That environmental concern is key to Kasner’s mission. “With an estimated one billion pallets used every day, you can imagine how much wood is cut and how many new pallets are produced on a daily basis. If I can make only a tiny effort recycling pallet wood and create extra value for my community, I am quite happy with that. We are saving the world, one pallet at a time.”

Source: Old-School Wooden Tablet Covers Give Class

Craftsman’s ‘mad science’ transforms salvaged material

Jaime Walton creates woodwork at his workshop in Railroad

Jaime Walton creates woodwork at his workshop in Railroad Square. (Photo: Jaime Walton)

Today at age 51, Walton can’t imagine himself in any other line of work and believes in interrupting the waste stream to landfills by placing discarded items back into mainstream use. In Albany, he would purchase items from salvage yards, auctions, and estates, but since arriving in Tallahassee has received many donations. He also creates with found objects, like an abandoned railroad tie whose sculptural qualities allow Walton to see it as a future fireplace mantle or bookshelf.

Source: Craftsman’s ‘mad science’ transforms salvaged material

Shifting the Paradigm from Demolition to Reuse: New Tools – Preservation Leadership Forum – A Program of the National Trust for Historic Preservation

Deconstruction of an 1884 House in Portland. | Credit: Scott A. Tice

It is important to note, too, that Portland city leaders also considered deconstruction as a job engine. Although rehabilitation of an older building—one that is neither demolished nor deconstructed—is likely to generate more jobs than deconstruction, supporters of the ordinance noted that deconstruction will provide six to eight jobs for every one job associated with traditional mechanized demolition. Furthermore, although it doesn’t compare to the reuse of an entire building, deconstruction will provide carbon-reduction benefits by preserving the embodied energy of at least some existing building materials and by cutting the greenhouse gasses associated with sending waste to landfills.

Source: Shifting the Paradigm from Demolition to Reuse: New Tools – Preservation Leadership Forum – A Program of the National Trust for Historic Preservation