Public Domain Concrete demolition via PXhere
Workers performing concrete chipping at substructure bridge repair sites had the highest level of respirable crystalline silica exposure, a time-weighted average of 527 micrograms per cubic meter of air. That is more than 10 times the PEL of 50 micrograms per cubic meter that OSHA established in its most recent silica regulation (1926.1153).
Source: Another reason to avoid concrete: silica dust | TreeHugger
Berkeley County Water and Sanitation workers continued to cover mounds of waste with dirt on Thursday, January 10, 2019, to control any odor coming from the Berkeley County landfill on Highway 52. Brad Nettles/Staff. Brad Nettles bnettles@postandcourier.com
It turns out that the problem began when construction and demolition debris was diverted from the landfill where those materials normally are buried and instead were put into the municipal solid waste landfill…
…C&D debris can include drywall, which contains gypsum, a substance that can produce hydrogen sulfide gas when exposed to water or moisture under anaerobic conditions within municipal solid waste.
Source: Berkeley landfill mystery odor finally solved | Editorials | postandcourier.com
The original idea came from local politicians in 2006 or 2007. According to the waste management plan, all the municipalities should reduce waste and start some kind of business where it is possible to reuse these unwanted resources.
Source: Climate-smart shopping in the world’s first recycling mall | LivingIt
Flanked by two office buildings also owned by Meridian, the Victorian home is the only one currently slated for demolition. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)
Over the objections of residents who pleaded that it be saved, the Red Bank planning board approved the demolition of a 118-year-old Victorian house owned by Riverview Medical Center Monday night.
Source: RED BANK: Turning aside pleas, board OKS demolition of Victorian house.
(Photo: Barry Gray)
The passion for many in Stittsville to have the ‘Bradley-Craig Barn’ kept in place and integrated into a new subdivision can set tears flowing. To actually read this 52 page thesis and see how this heritage building has been thoroughly researched, with a re-purposed use being realistic, is what Stittsville residents have been pronouncing for many years.
“You never know when you might see something,” said Paula Bishop, owner of City Girl in the Country, an architectural salvage company in Antrim that specializes in sinks. “I am not afraid to knock on people’s doors if I see something in their yard. And I didn’t realize at first that so many New England homes have their own junkyard in the backyard.”
Source: Everything and the Kitchen Sink | Elf | sentinelsource.com
Customers are taking note: 93% of global consumers expect more of the brands they use to support local social and environmental issues, according to a report by the Retail Industry Leaders Association (RILA). The report also found that an estimated 68 million adult Americans base purchasing decisions on their values – personal, social, and environmental – and say they will spend up to 20% more on environmentally sound products.
At the ReTuna shopping mall in Sweden everything for sale is recycled, thanks to its clever location.
Source: The shopping mall where everything is recycled – BBC News
His approach is unique in that he didn’t hop out and buy a sheet of plywood, instead reclaiming it from things like cabinet doors.
Be a Patreon for Keith Decent!
Source: A Decent Reclaimed Wood Guitar
I have a great love for CRT televisions. Especially small ones form the 80s and 90s. A few months ago I found one at the junk shop. Color, still working, $10. How could I say no.
Source: Reuse That Old Thrift Store TV: 3 Steps (with Pictures)
Over the last few years, the floors of some of our rackhouses in Clermont were in need of redoing, so we pulled up the floorboards. We thought it would be a shame to throw away so much history, so we stored them for something special. Each box of Booker’s® 30th Anniversary Bourbon is made from the reclaimed wood of those floors – the same floors walked by legends Booker and Fred Noe as they selected batches of Booker’s.
Source: Booker’s Bourbon
Above: The recently installed kitchen—in what had been the officer’s mess—is far from new looking. In keeping with the exterior, the couple went with a crepuscular matte charcoal for the cabinets, left the storm-ravaged brick walls exposed, and kept signs of 21st-century life largely under wraps.
the HMS Owl, a World War II air squadron control tower, fit the bill: it had been left derelict for decades and Justin and Charlotte took on its restoration
Ben’s Barn was constructed with a mix of reclaimed materials sourced not only from the former farmhouse and barn that had stood on another portion of the site, but also from a midcentury modern teardown in Weston, Massachusetts.
Ryan Cox used a stencil (from Royal Design Studios) to create the living room’s ornately patterned walls. Photo by Emily Minton Redfield.
“Historically designated neighborhoods do a great job protecting the exteriors of historical homes, but we’re losing our historical interiors,” Ryan says. “Every renovation strips away more and more of the original character, and we lose a lot of the workmanship that went into the build.”
Liz Gordon
“Environmental aspects are so important that we save as much as we can. You wouldn’t be able to find any of it because it would all be in the landfills,” says Gordon.Good to know your Spanish Revival restoration pieces not only look good, but aren’t bad for the planet.
Source: Antique Hardware Finding New Life as Interior Fixtures
An arborist removes a tree to prepare the lot for the removal of the Mayo house and the construction of new town homes.
Amelia Templeton/OPB
“I thought, ‘I could save the house,’” said Cleo Davis, an artist who lives just a few doors down.The Mayo house appealed to him because demolition and lost opportunities are a big part of his family’s story — and part of the African-American experience in this part of Portland.
Stacked flooring that was taken out of the former Case buildings in the Water Street Redevelopment Area deconstruction. An Appleton company, Urban Evolutions, bought all of the wood and timbers from the project area. Photographed in January 2019.
The first project, Janson said, was pulling out all of the maple flooring. They were able to save close to 200,000 board feet of flooring and about 400,000 board feet of decking, or subfloor, from the buildings. (A board foot is 1 by 12 by 12 inches, or 144 cubic inches.)
Source: Case deconstruction is lumber mother lode | Money | journaltimes.com
MinnPost file photo by Bill Kelley
Burying construction debris can dredge up naturally-occurring chemicals in the soil like arsenic and manganese that leach into groundwater after precipitation.
In order to catch up with demolition, Adams said he wants people who don’t deconstruct buildings to pay what he calls the “social costs” of carbon emissions to cities, which is the price of mitigating climate change. Reuse and recycle of construction waste cuts down on emissions in part because of the energy it takes to create new building materials. Adams pegged that carbon cost at roughly $9,000 for a typical house. He said cities should use that money to offer grants to homeowners who can’t pay for decon
Source: The problem, and politics, of throwing old houses in the garbage | MinnPost
Paramount Assets bought 36-40 Clinton St., pictured above, and 30-32 Clinton St.
We saw this as an excellent opportunity to reposition two historically significant assets to the benefit of both the City and residents alike.
Source: Century-old Properties in Newark’s ‘Billion Dollar Triangle’ to Get Face Lift | TAPinto
For reclaimed wood customers like Sween, the two remaining Globe Elevator structures — undamaged by the fire — might serve as a source for wood.
Source: For Globe Elevator owner, December fire was ‘devastating’ | Duluth News Tribune
I was reading about the scale of the abandoned housing problem – that there are 40-60,000 abandoned, vacant, or blighted houses in Philadelphia. The idea was to create an organization that could take on the abandoned housing blight block by block, neighborhood by neighborhood.
Source: Q&A with Greg Trainor of the Philadelphia Community Corps – Shareable
From his humble beginnings in Belgium to his current home in Gravenwezel Castle, explore the sophisticated elegance behind one of today’s most prestigious tastemakers.
The city’s economic development agency, St. Louis Development Corp., is testing an alternative process this year that deconstructs buildings piece by piece. The more expensive process is used to salvage materials as well as reduce health risks from dust and debris. City officials said it isn’t financially feasible to use “deconstruction” to remove all of St. Louis’ 12,000 vacant properties, but they hope to expand the 30-building pilot project in the future.
Source: Officials: St. Louis demolitions could reverse lead progress – Herald-Whig –
Duplexes at 2075 N. Cambridge Ave. were set for deconstruction last summer. (Photo: Stephanie Morse/Milwaukee Journal Sentinel)
Of nearly 500 city-owned houses slated for demolition, only five were deconstructed in 2018, according to the Department of Neighborhood Services. The department struggled to get reasonable bids from contractors, said Tom Mishefske, neighborhood services commissioner.
Source: Backlog leads Milwaukee to suspend deconstruction rule for old houses
Sharalee Armitage Howard
One family in Idaho took their Library design to the next level with a “Little Tree Library,” carved out of a 100-year-old cottonwood tree stump on their property.
Erin and Keenyn Smith
A general contractor by day, Keenyn salvages used materials, and, by night, the Indy-based couple gets to work in their garage.
Source: The Maker: Smith & Co Creations – Indianapolis Monthly
SCREEN SHOT/NATIVE LAND
Native Land started in early 2015 and shows traditional Indigenous territory boundaries across the world.
“I really believe in the tool, and I use it when I do conferences, or when I talk to people, as a way to open people’s minds about territory,” Minifie said, “it helps plant a seed that there’s people here before you, these are the lands that they’re on, and they’re still here.”
Source: ‘Native Land’ Map Helps You Recognize Which Indigenous Territory You Live On | HuffPost Canada
Microsoft
Some drywall is gone from Building 2 on the Microsoft campus.
“From concrete and steel framing to carpets, ceiling tiles, electronic and networking gear, interior debris and loose assets like furniture, chairs and whiteboards, to even the artificial turf outside — most of the materials in the old spaces will find a new life,” the company said in a statement.
Source: Microsoft begins demolishing buildings in Redmond campus remodel
In order to eliminate as much waste as possible, the artist considers future sculptures during the building of each otter, pangolin, or mollusk. He slices shapes that might make sense for the tail of a fish, while considering the beak of a bird, or the leg of an iguana.
Source: Charming Wooden Animal Sculptures Designed with Articulated Torsos and Tails by Jeff Soan | Colossal
“The Heart Pine will be going down into the southeast and will be used for timbers in building projects and for floorings,” says Fox. “It’s an extinct species. The forest has been depleted, and there are no standing Heart Pine trees anymore.”
Source: Remains of an old Rock Island rubber plant are given a second chance | WQAD.com
Milwaukee could pause its enforcement of a mandate requiring contractors to deconstruct, rather than demolish, historic homes after a assessment of the policy found that it struggled to get off the ground in 2018.
Hundreds of thousands of New Jersey residents live in flood zones that can become inundated with storm water. But the state is trying to move some of them out of harm’s way in one of the biggest home buyout programs in the nation.
Adam Corneil’s Vancouver company UnBuild, offers an environmental alternative to building demolitions and cost savings for homeowners.
The Australian company has been working on AR applications that help designers, builders, and engineers project their virtual designs into the real world through AR glasses like HoloLens.
Source: AR app Fologram turns 3D models into life-size building instructions – Curbed
Photo by Sasha Bogojev for Arrested Motion
Working with recycled wood doors and paneling pulled from old houses, Belgian artist Stefaan De Croock aka Strook constructs both large and small-scale geometric portraits.
Source: Geometric Portraits Constructed with Reclaimed Wood by ‘Strook’ | Colossal
The SS United States, seen here on Jan 21, 2014 remains docked in Philadelphia for now. Photo Credit: Chris Ware
Uniondale-based RXR will work on an adaptive reuse plan and suitable site for the 990-foot ship that set trans-Atlantic speed records after its launch in 1952, but which has been deteriorating at a pier in Philadelphia since 1996.
Source: RXR Realty to work on reuse plan for mothballed ocean liner | Newsday
If you have a piece of furniture you are about to throw away, or saw abandonned in the street, tell me and I will do my best to give it a second life!
Source: Karel Woodcraft – Repairs
“We’ve received calls from desperate construction managers who want to comply with waste regulations and certification requirements, but honestly have no idea where to start,” Natarajan said. “High turnover in the industry exacerbates this issue as institutional knowledge is lost with each regrettable turnover.”
Source: American Recycler News, Inc. – Closing the loop on C&D materials
free wifi connection, free usb charging sockets, seating arrangement, newspaper rack, coffee table, reading lights at night and an emergency public phone are among the features.
Source: 100architects transforms phonebooths into new urban landmarks in shanghai
The Pacific Maritime Heritage Center sits on a hill above Newport’s bayfront.
It wasn’t just the historical society that scored, so did the county. In what became the Pacific Maritime Heritage Center, it gained a museum, retained a piece of history, and saved a structure that otherwise might have faced demo crews.
Source: Ill wind blows good wood for Newport museum | Oregon ArtsWatch
“It affects everyone,” said Morris Hylton, the president of Modern Gainesville, a local nonprofit aimed at preserving mid-century architecture. “It’s an architectural landmark deserving of preservation.”
Source: St. Michael’s Episcopal Church Torn Down Ahead Of Meeting That Might Have Preserved It – WUFT News
The City of St. Louis is ramping up demolition of vacant buildings on properties owned by the metro’s land bank, but some of them will undergo deconstruction instead. (Photo by Oscar Perry Abello)
As he gears up for the pilot project with the city, Schwarz says that Refab will tighten its hiring focus. “We’ll hire people from the neighborhoods where we do the deconstruction,” he says. “We’re going to take tax dollars and put them into the pockets of the residents who are affected by this activity in their neighborhood.”
Source: Can Deconstructing Some of St. Louis’ Past Help Build a Sustainable Future? – Next City
Richelieu Dennis, founder and chairperson of Essence Ventures, attends the 2018 Essence Black Women In Hollywood Oscars Luncheon on March 1, 2018 in Beverly Hills, California; the rear view of the Villa Lewaro, the mansion of the country’s first self-made female millionaire, Madam Walker, is seen Oct. 19, 1998, in Irvington, N.Y.
Photo: Leon Bennett (Getty Images for Essence), Ed Bailey (AP Photo)
Villa Lewaro was a frequent meeting place for the leading lights of the Harlem Renaissance—but nearly 100 years later, Dennis hopes to honor the beauty mogul’s innovative and entrepreneurial spirit by transforming Walker’s historic estate into a training center and retreat “designed to support black women entrepreneurs in their efforts to turn their ideas into flourishing enterprises,” according to the Independent.
Source: Will Madam C.J. Walker’s Home Cultivate New Black Women Moguls?
House on 310 Bladen Street (Photo: Historic Wilmington Foundation)
Historic Wilmington Foundation (HWF) says a turn-of-the-century bungalow will soon be moved and become a restaurant.
Source: Historic Wilmington home to be moved, become restaurant – WWAY TV
A lithograph of Portland High School at Southwest 14th Avenue and Morrison Street. Built in the 1880s, it was razed in 1929. (Oregonian archives)
Ballestrem’s just-released book, “Lost Portland” (The History Press, $21.99), highlights grand structures that have disappeared from Stumptown over the years. The book certainly will cause readers a pang or two of wistfulness, for Portland has lost its fair share of irreplaceable landmarks.
Working together, the family revitalized the farmhouse with a floor plan that includes reception spaces, meeting rooms, art and design exhibition galleries, experimental rooms, living spaces, and areas that can be set up for photography shoots.
Source: A Creative Family Transform an Old Spanish Farmhouse Into an Incredible Home – Dwell
Brian C. Rittmeyer
Amanda Anderson, of Greensburg, an employee with American Architectural Salvage, tosses a ceramic mold onto a pile outside a building on Fifth Avenue in Tarentum that had housed a ceramics business on Tuesday, Dec. 18, 2018. The building is being emptied and gutted to be redeveloped as a community center called ‘The Depot.’
The molds have been piled outside against the side of the building. They are destined to become clean fill, Rankin said.
Source: Removal of ceramics molds part of demolition work underway at Tarentum building | TribLIVE
Richard Neutra’s iconic Hassrick House in East Falls, Pennsylvania Courtesy of Thomas Jefferson University
Opening in April, the Center for the Preservation of Modernism is a key facet of the school’s newly launched master of science program in historic preservation; the new degree program, which will debut next fall, will focus on preservation, restoration, rehabilitation, and adaptive reuse of historic buildings and sites.
Source: Jefferson University’s New Center Celebrates—and Studies—Modernism | Architectural Digest
CHRIS KENDIG
Enter “Infill Philadelphia: Sacred Places/Civic Spaces,” the exciting new partnership between Partners for Sacred Places and the Community Design Collaborative. Its purpose is to generate innovative design concepts and solutions for the re-activation of underutilized spaces in local historic sacred places.
Source: How saving Philly’s historic sacred spaces can make the city stronger | Opinion
This North Vancouver home, at 5,000 square feet, is one of the largest projects Unbuilders has taken on. After three weeks, they have completed the front-end salvage and the strip-out of the four units. The entire project, from start to finish, is estimated to take six weeks. Photo by Michelle Gamage.
And now, as some 3,000 homes are being torn down in Metro Vancouver each year, the material is being sent to landfill or, in the case of the lumber, being burned for heat or energy. “It’s really not waste — it is wasted. This is all reusable material,” Corneil said, gesturing around the home.
Source: Eco ‘Unbuilding’ Ensures Material from Demolished Homes Is Re-used | The Tyee
