1/6/2009 3:07:00 PM The shop built from (mostly) waste
Samuel Cooke at the southern entrance to a shop built mostly from construction waste. The shop includes a passive solar heating system.
Some of the waste lumber Cooke collected from construction sites.
Ryan Dostalek ConnectFitchburg.com
It isn't always easy, but it's certainly possible to construct buildings from construction waste.
Fitchburg resident Samuel Cooke recently scoured 64 construction and waste collection sites for materials for a shop addition. The final cost of $20,750 for recycled materials (including labor) was considerably less than the $34,800 it would have cost to construct the addition from new materials.
Cooke's goal was a building with a recycled content exceeding 61 percent. Despite some setbacks, the addition had a recycled content of 75 percent. Cooke said much of the new material consisted of "cosmetic material" such as siding for the building's exterior.
Cooke kept voluminous records of the materials collected and all expenses, resulting in a report explaining all facets of the project. The Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources paid some of the expenses to collect and process materials.
All of the recycled material was collected within five miles of the building site.
More than 400,000 pounds of recycled materials were used, of which 150 tons was crushed concrete fill. Among the other items were pea gravel, shingles, concrete containing fly ash and slag, siding, rebar, plywood, beams, dimensional lumber and doors and windows.
Cooke originally planned to collect construction materials from and build a "recycled" house in an adjacent development, but the slump in housing starts and the reluctance of developer and residents to allow such a "garbage house" required a change in plans.
Cooke notes that lumber prices were the lowest in more than a decade, which tilted the comparison in favor of some new materials. He estimates that is cost almost 60 percent more to work with reclaimed lumber, due to irregular sizes, sorting, pulling nails, etc.
"Once you get started, things come out of the woodwork," Cooke said. One serendipitous discovery involved 100-year-old lumber from a barn that someone wanted to remove. Another was the timbers and dimension lumber from silver maple and walnut from trees on a construction site.
Cooke wrote that the recovery and recycling of waste wood should be emphasized "since it is the most abundant material in the construction waste stream and has the highest potential for ready reuse, after processing."
Cooke decided not to use scraps of drywall due to the labor required to install multiple pieces of scrap and the amount of taping and mudding required.
Even though 2 x s and oriented strand board are the most prevalent type of wood waste in the construction waste stream, Cooke recommended that other materials be used for framing. Oriented strand board had many other uses, such as roof sheathing.
He found many recycled/reused materials could easily be used for several phases of building construction, including crushed recycled concrete for use as fill material to windows and other fixtures from Restore operated by Habitat for Humanity.
Most of the gusset plates for the 18-foot trusses were made from reclaimed plywood concrete forms.
The asphalt shingles were an older type that had been discarded.
Using only those items that took no extra effort and cost less than new materials, would divert hundreds of thousands of tons of material from landfills, Cooke said.
The shop also includes a high thermal mass bed to store heat during the summer and release it during the winter. Solar heating panels will also be installed on the roof.
Cooke said most contractors or builders are reluctant to use recycled or reused materials on a larger scale because they think labor costs will exceed savings, and new building materials are uniform and can be delivered directly to the construction site.
However, Cooke found it's economically feasible to rely on several recycled/reused building materials, cutting costs with little or no extra effort.
Cooke's report is posted at www.nobleearthtech.com.
