Comments on: Family Recycles Home for $100,000

By: JB

JB — Fri, 08 Jan 2010 21:51:22 +0000

My wife and I decided to tear down our 1890′s era poorly insulated, poorly constructed, mouse infested home and rebuild 2 years ago (2007). (We live in northern Indiana, heart of the recession). We loved the property, hated the old house. We salvaged/recycled many things from the old house, including the wiring, copper pipes from the water system and hot water heating system, the hot water heater, aluminum siding, kitchen cabinets, etc. We rebuilt on the same location, selected energy efficient windows and doors, used 6 inch walls instead of the standard 4 inch walls, packed them with lots of insulation,. We reused the cabinets in our basement, recycled all the concrete to our crushed stone driveway, sold the copper and aluminum, and bought almost all the fixtures, knobs, lights, and many of the bathroom cabinets at local Habitat Restores.

Bottom line, 1) we were able to save a lot of money on the new house, 2) we are now saving $300/month in energy costs. 3) We salvaged a sun room we had added in the 1996 and 4) no more problems with rodents when the cold weather moves in! 5) Much nicer house.

Our timing was excellent. With the recession in play, we got good deals worked out with the construction company and sub contractors, and we picked up a whale of a good interest rate. Being green, being frugal, doing a lot of work ourselves and being timely made a huge difference for us.

By: eucarya

eucarya — Fri, 16 Oct 2009 20:16:25 +0000

I just picked up two solid wood doors in perfect condition at my local ReStore for $50 each. I love that place!

By: MacLir

MacLir — Mon, 22 Jun 2009 22:31:02 +0000

@ TriskelionAZ

No, asbestos is chemically inert and does not dissolve – it’s a rock, basically. When disposed in a landfill, it remains in place. If there is enough infiltation to move it from the landfill, there are already bigger problems to deal with. And only certain types and uses are hazardous in the first place. As this is a house, I expect the asbestos is present in either Transite siding or old-style flexible floor tiles, both of which are difficult to recycle anyway, and only release their asbestos if abraded.

The problems with asbestos occur when it is NOT interred in a landfill – when inhaled, and only when inhaled, it creates an essentially mechanical irritation of lung tissue, which leads to the health problems.

By: J. Whitmore

J. Whitmore — Fri, 19 Jun 2009 04:39:47 +0000

Excellent idea. Hopefully more builders and renovators will start doing this.

By: TriskelionAZ

TriskelionAZ — Wed, 10 Jun 2009 23:03:27 +0000

I applaud the family for doing this but it says the asbestos were thrown away that means it went to the dumpster. Doesnt it seep into the ground and get into our water – causing cancer?

thanks!

By: Recycling made Lucrative! | House Plans.info

Recycling made Lucrative! | House Plans.info — Wed, 10 Jun 2009 16:04:09 +0000

[...] Not only did the Barry family save tons of debris from going to the landfill, they also added a little padding to their wallet. Check out the full article! [...]

By: Family Recycles Deconstructed Home for $100,000

Family Recycles Deconstructed Home for $100,000 — Wed, 10 Jun 2009 11:22:17 +0000

[...] the Seattle Times, via Earth911: The double-pane windows were sturdy, Barry says, as were the newer appliances and some of the [...]

By: Lisa Marie

Lisa Marie — Wed, 10 Jun 2009 01:24:50 +0000

Wow, truely amazing.