At the beginning of this job I had to buy my salvaged wood from Fine Lumber in Williamsburg. But now that the local job sites know about my project I get most of my wood from them. Here you see a nice selection of old cut prime wood. That’s my daughter.
I have relationships with the contractors in the neighborhood. These oak floors were perfectly fine but the owner wanted to replace them with cherry wood floors. Instead of put them in the dump I got them. The lower floors of a brownstone are dark so I like light floors to maximize the light.
These studs were on their way to the dump until I intercepted the contractor and he let me take them.. I’m using them in the cellar where they will be in touch with the ground and where in the past there have been termite problems (thus no wood studs).
On the 2nd street project we are doing a lot of underpinning and laying a concrete slab in the cellar. This requires a lot of concrete. Cement uses up a lot of energy to produce and creates a lot of CO2 Substituting up to 50% of the cement with fly ash is considered a more …
What is Fly Ash? Why Its Called Fly Ash isn’t flying Read More »
Here are some great movies from the web site TheStoryOfStuff.com Guess what percentage of the stuff that Americans buy is still around six months later? 1%!! The other 99% is already garbage according to the site. These movies are useful for anyone in construction. What construction company doesn’t spend huge amounts of money on dumpsters …
In the constant quest for a greener insulation I have considered many options. – Cellulose is good but messy and dusty. – Isonyne spray foam or Demilec spray foam is good but not that cheap and quite honestly not as green as they say. It takes huge amounts of energy and petroleum to create the …
Choosing Green Insulation – Consider Recycled Green Foam Board. Read More »
A huge myth about green building is that it costs more. That was true in the past but not now. Building green today is the most cost effective thing to do. According to a study by Sheila Muto, author of the article “The Public Sector Spurs Green’ Building,” Special to RealEstateJournal.com, July 16, 2003, she …
Building Green isn’t expensive and is cheaper in the long run Read More »
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 …
I had a big argument with my architect because I wanted to use salvaged wood for part of the house and his mantra was: “If it is fixing something old you can use it but if you are building something new you need to use new wood.” Fixing some broken joists in a floor is …
I got some wood floors from a contractor friend. He is working for a customer who wants to get rid of perfectly good oak floors and replace them with cherry. God what a total waste! Waste of money, resources, forest etc. Waste helps keep the economy going…in a bad way. Unfortunately I only got in …
