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Building Materials San Francisco CA

Recycled building materials are becoming more popular as the green movement continues to gain traction in the building and remodeling trade. If you think about it, it only makes sense that if something still has some useful life left, why discard it. Read on to know more about recycled building materials.

Local Companies

MacBeath Hardwood Company
(800) 479-9907
930 Ashby Ave.
Berkeley, CA
Center Hardware And Supply Co
(415) 861-1800
999 Mariposa St
San Francisco, CA
Cole Hardware
(415) 647-8700
3312 Mission St
San Francisco, CA
Handy Handyman Hardware
(415) 934-9010
2075 Market St
San Francisco, CA
Cole Hardware
(415) 753-2653
956 Cole St
San Francisco, CA
MacBeath Hardwood Company
(415) 647 0782
2150 Oakdale Av.
San Francisco, CA
Cole Hardware
(415) 777-4400
70 4th St
San Francisco, CA
Brownies Ace Hardware
(415) 673-8900
1563 Polk St
San Francisco, CA
Cole Hardware
(415) 674-8913
2254 Polk St
San Francisco, CA
Central Ace Hardware
(415) 931-7503
1949 Post St
San Francisco, CA
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Recycled Building Materials

Part 4 Of Our Real Life Remodeling Journey

Click here to see part 1 and read what this series of articles is all about.

Recycled building materials are becoming more popular as the green movement continues to gain traction in the building and remodeling trade. If you think about it, it only makes sense that if something still has some useful life left, why discard it.

The expansion of our family room meant our existing room had to be torn down and rebuilt. I don't like waste but in our case there wasn't a lot in our current family room that could be salvaged. The carpet was well-used and the windows were bad. But the brick hearth, the french patio doors and maybe the overhead beams offered some possibilities for salvage.

You can take advantage of recycled building materials in several ways. You can shop for used materials and incorporate them in your home; you can reuse your own materials elsewhere in your house (using old kitchen cabinets in the garage or laundry room comes to mind); or you can contribute to the reused building material stream by donating useful items to building material reuse centers.

We chose the the last two routes, keeping some material for use elsewhere around the house and donating the rest.

Deconstructing The Brick Hearth

One of my favorite things about the old family room was the brick hearth. The floor-to-ceiling brick gave the room some grandeur and the height of the hearth offered a great place to sit and warm yourself in front of a fire on cold days.

family room
The Bricks & Beams To Be Salvaged

With all that brick just sitting there, it seemed a shame to just see it go to waste in a dumpster. A few of the bricks were already loose, no doubt from one of the boys bouncing a baseball against them, so prying some others loose might not be that hard. I'm not sure what I'll use them for just yet, maybe a brick patio or walkway, but I'm sure they'll come in handy for something.

    recycled bricks
    Loosening The Bricks
   

So with chisel and sledgehammer in hand and safety glasses over the eyes I went to work. The loose bricks were the perfect starting point and it didn't take me long to perfect the technique of prying them loose without damaging the bricks.

The bricks in front of the fireplace on the built-up hearth came off without much fuss. If the mortar stuck to the sides, a firm rap with the small sledge popped it off. Surprisingly, most of the bricks came loose without any damage.

recycled bricks    
Tapping The Mortar To Break It Free    
   

After the hearth was finished I turned my attention to bricks on the wall. This proved to be more difficult and the bricks wouldn't budge without a lot of effort.

With the time it took to break just one free it was quickly apparent that I wasn't going to be able to...

Click here to read the rest of this article from HomeStyleChoices.com

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