A couple weeks ago there was a dumpster [...]]]>

There is a gut renovation going on accross the street from our green show house. It is a classic renovation where a lot of money is being spent and not much thought going into how it is done. The owner is getting reamed with prices IMO.

A couple weeks ago there was a dumpster full of old bricks in front of their job site. We took a bunch of the bricks but didn’t need more and didn’t have a place to store them at that time.

So the dumpster went on it’s merry way to the landfill. Dumpster price to contractor: $700 aprox. He was a sub contractor hired to tear down some walls. Old bricks go for a premium over new bricks. They are actually MORE valuable. Value of bricks he threw out: $1200 aprox.

I didn’t loose any tears over it because this kind of waste happens all the time.

But then yesterday I saw they were hauling in NEW bricks! Lots of them. So this time I was annoyed. I went over and asked why they had bought new bricks when they had just thrown away perfectly good old bricks.

“What old bricks!?” The guy asked. He was a sub contractor hired to build the chimneys and knew nothing about the other bricks. He was annoyed to hear they were thrown out because it could have saved him a lot of money.

This is classic construction status quo. One person is doing one thing and not communicating with another part of the job.

One sub-contractor went in and tore down a wall or two and threw out the debris. He left.
Another contractor went in and built a chimney somewhere else with new bricks.
The General Contractor didn’t think.
Had the two been put in communication they could have shared resources, saved money, saved garbage from the landfill, etc.

Here is one job site where they knocked down the whole building.

There were thousands of perfect bricks. The [...]]]>

One thing brownstones have in abundance are bricks. And I keep seeing dumpsters full of them. It is heartbreaking for me. These are beautiful bricks, a hundred years old, with character and texture.

Here is one job site where they knocked down the whole building.

There were thousands of perfect bricks. The next day they were brimming in a dumpster. And the next day when I came with a truck to get some they were gone, off to a landfill.

We got some of their left overs.

We use them everywhere. It is quicker to use cinder blocks, but bricks are my preference. It may be weird but there is something very comforting for me to put these bricks back into the house so they can sleep maybe another 100 years. To send them to the landfill seems so absolutely wrong.

It took me ten minutes to do. The bricks will cover a 100 square foot patio at 22 2nd street. [...]]]>

I love old bricks. They have great character. I got these from a job site. The contractor couldn’t believe I wanted to take them. He was actually insulted and called the whole thing “stupid”.

It took me ten minutes to do. The bricks will cover a 100 square foot patio at 22 2nd street. No landfil. No cost. No making new bricks. And the contractor didn’t have to pay to ship them off to the dump (bricks cost almost as much to throw out as to buy since the main cost is hauling the heavy bastards). Think about it! People are actually paying to throw things out! And others are paying to buy the very same thing! It is out of a comedy of errors. Mother Earth isn’t laughing.