Tag Archives: salvage

Lumber Salvation

We found out about an old house only 1/2 mile from Maya Creek that was going to be bulldozed and burned. We introduced ourselves to the owners and they were happy to have someone to salvage some lumber out of it.  Another neighbor down the road that we buy eggs from came by and rescued some of the old plants around the yard too.

Jesse and Tony took an afternoon a few days ago and got a nice load of 2x4s, and today we took the whole crew over to see what we could get out. We took a few of the heavy-duty hardwood oak 2×6 joists and some more 2x4s, but most of the work we did today was taking the roof off the back porch to get the 1×12 boards off. The back porch is a somewhat newer addition and the wood seems to be in pretty good condition there.

We stripped off the shingles and tar paper, and then denailed and pried up the boards. It looks like we should have just enough to do the loft floor in the duplex.

We’re going back again tomorrow to get more 2x6s on that back porch and see what else we can save. When we’re done we’ll figure out how much that lumber would have cost us to buy and add it to the fundraiser count since some of that money was slated for that wood.  It’s also less trees that need to be cut down and less carbon dioxide entering the atmosphere.  Reusing materials is a win/win.

You can see more pictures of the salvage job here.