Construction waste frames the deconstruction narrative

– February 19, 2021

Greetings reuse fans,

Thanks for your continued shopping support during the additional challenges of a snow filled February and braving our warehouse temperatures, which feel about like early spring under the heaters! While we endeavor to make reuse shopping and donating convenient, you do have to do some work to make it happen. Our staff has done an amazing job during the pandemic and the cold temperatures, so if you think about it, give them a socially distanced “thank you” when browsing in the store, having materials picked up or dropping off a donation!

Pittsburgh Botanical Gardens barn deconstruction project in progress, with only framing still standing. — *Construction Junction deconstruction project of the Pittsburgh Botanical Gardens barn from 2019.*

In addition to saying thanks for your support, which we can never do too often, I wanted to direct your likely over-loaded attention to a resource you might find interesting. I assume that a lot of you are familiar with This Old House, but did you know they have a great podcast called Clearstory. I have not listened to all the episodes, but the ones I have listened to are really great. The episode on Framing, “Episode 2: Framing: They Don’t Build ‘Em Like They Used To“, was particularly fascinating as it relates to discussions our deconstruction crew has about the yield of reusable lumber that can potentially come from different types of construction methods specifically “balloon” framing. This framing method had a profound impact on the building of this country as well as on one of its tragic events (I won’t give the event away, but it’s also the current topic of another great podcast, American History Tellers).

I was directed to the podcast while doing presentation research on construction and demolition waste. That episode, “Episode 9: Construction Waste: A Dumpster Dive“, gives a great perspective on the problem, which creates over 500 million tons of waste annually, and offers some interesting solutions in addition to reusing and recycling construction and renovation materials. DIYer’s will love all the episodes.

Construction waste frames the deconstruction narrative