“I myself am heartbroken that this observatory is being taken down. We did not realize that some people would be upset with us trying to help recycle some of the material instead of it just being disposed of. We only are allowed to use new material for our builds, we sell recycled material at our ReStores to help us build affordable housing. “To set the record straight we have been working on affordable housing with the city for over a year. Due to the concerns put forward we will withdraw our service of helping to recycle the material when it is disposed of.”
Source: Habitat For Humanity withdraws from observatory deconstruction project – Mission City Record
The Legg House was demolished last June to make way for a tower. Doors from the heritage residence are among the items for sale at the Vancouver Heritage Foundation’s sale of architectural salvage items. Photograph by: Arlen Redekop, PNG
Ironic in that we tear down 1900s arts and crafts homes, built with old-growth fir, leaded casement windows, wood-planked floors, stained glass windows and French pocket doors, and replace them with boxy pseudo Craftsman eyesores hastily constructed of chipboard and drywall, the solid wood and artistic detail of yore replaced by slapped-on stucco and MDF.
via Shelley Fralic: The sad reality of architectural salvage.
As part of our ongoing project to update the Cartolina studio we decided that we needed a workshop.
Doug built an addition onto the studio and decided to finish the floor using ‘end grain block flooring’. It’s actually a really old style of flooring that was commonly used on factory floors in the 19th century.
We had some leftover beam ends in the shed from a previous project – kiln dried fir- and he set to work, slicing them up into 3″ x 7″ blocks, about 3/4 inches thick. It took him quite a long time to slice up all the blocks and sand the edges.
Once he had prepared 850 blocks he glued them to the plywood floor using a non water based, flexible flooring adhesive.
via Cafe Cartolina: End grain block floor at the studio!.
Reclamation Administration: News and Research on Building Material Waste Prevention