Ward and Casal didn’t rely solely on Habitat for recycled materials for their house. A “sucker rod” from an oil rig provides support for the main stairs in their 2,200-square-foot house. The wood for the stair stringers and a massive wood beam came from a 100-year-old ice rink in Pennsylvania. Other interior finish wood was salvaged from a Pickle Barrel restaurant that closed.
The exterior of their house is partially covered with corrugated steel leftover from a ranch near Lenado. White siding was salvaged when the Aspen Square building was remodeled.
“Being a scrounger, I don’t like to see anything get thrown away,” said Ward, a carpenter by summer and foot alignment specialist by winter. He estimated that up to 75 percent of the materials for the house came from other structures — everything but the framing, sheetrock, concrete and roof.
“This house is a good example of what you can do with recycling. The thing that makes it cool is it’s all used,” Ward said. “It should be illegal that stuff ends up in Dumpsters.”