Recycle Wood
How to Use Recycled Wood
Reusing wood from old buildings, demolished barns or old shipping crates can save money, preserve trees and add character to decorative projects. Leftover construction lumber and wood removed from the demolition of a building may be in good enough shape to reuse for studs or structural beams. Old barn boards make rich and interesting wooden floors. Wooden pallets and smaller construction scraps are good sources of ...
How Do I Recycle Wood Products?
Construction waste, much of which is wood, comprises up to a quarter of the non-industrial waste produced in the U.S. (See Resources 2, page 1) As an organic material, wood should be simple to recycle, but often it's tough to find a home for demolition waste. Unlike metal or plastic, wood can't be melted down and reformed; it can only be cut smaller and smaller in each incarnation. To wring the most life possible ...
How to Repurpose a Hollow-Core Door
Remodeling projects in older homes invariably involve adding new doors and windows – which usually means discarding the old ones in landfills. However, those old doors are handy pieces of lumber that have a variety of functional and decorative uses. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency suggests reusing, selling or donating doors – as well as other building materials – as alternatives to ...
Flooring That Is Easy to Clean & Environmentally Green
Flooring can be one of the most environmentally hazardous parts of your home -- or it can be an environmentally sound, long-lasting investment. In the recent past, many homes were built with new hardwood floors or conventional wall-to-wall carpeting installed with toxic glues. Carpet manufacturing plants and their products emitted high levels of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) that polluted the air. Some specialty ...
More Articles on Recycle Wood
How Do I Recycle Wood?
Americans produced 15.84 million tons of wood waste and 33.20 million tons of yard trimmings in 2009 (see References 4, page 7). Whether you're building, demolishing, or just doing odd jobs around the yard, you're likely to wind up with at least a few scraps. Rather than burn used wood or send it to the landfill, check out your local recycling opportunities. According to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, as of 2011, there are more than 500 wood-recycling centers across the country (see References 1). Even if you don't live near a center, you have several options to recycle your wood waste.
How to Lay Recycled Wood Flooring
Salvaging and restoring hardwood flooring saves the wood from ending up in a landfill by giving it another life in your home. Buying recycled wood flooring is one way to prevent the use of new materials in your new or existing home (See References 1). Recycled wood flooring is generally salvaged from homes or businesses, repurposed into new wood flooring planks and sold in batches. You can install the planks in any room of the house, providing you have the right tools.
How to Clean Recycled Wood for a Vegetable Garden
Wood is a renewable resource, but its harvesting and processing are resource-intensive and can sometimes be damaging to the environment. Environmentally conscious consumers recognize this, and do their part by trying to reuse and recycle as much wood as possible. One use for used wood is in your garden for walkways, and to frame raised beds. In vegetable gardens, because the soil forms a bridge between the wood and your food — and can absorb chemicals like arsenic that leach from treated wood — carefully select and clean the wood you use.
Sustainable Countertop Materials
Environmentally-conscious consumers have a number of choices to make when building or remodeling a home. One of the most significant is the deliberate choice of environmentally sustainable materials, wherever they're appropriate. For example, when you need to replace a countertop, consider using recycled or repurposed materials or attractive and colorful counters made from post-consumer waste. To complete the picture, set them with adhesives or grout containing low levels of toxic volatile organic compounds, or VOCs.
