Recycled building material

[propertylord]

It has come to my attention that using recycled building materials to renovate an existing home is the most environmentally friendly building option. It may not be the cheapest as you might think because labour costs are much greater and in some cases, the materials themselves are more expensive than new alternatives.

Take concrete as an example. New concrete is made from three basic materials: aggregate (crushed stone), sand and cement. All of these ingredients are mined from the earth. Stone from a quarry, sand from a river, desert or beach and cement is made from limestone which is also quarried. Procuring all of them requires the expenditure of energy, usually in the form of fossil fuels, for mining, processing and transport.

Have you ever thought what happens to all the old concrete from demolition sites? In the past, most of it went into land fill. More recently it has been crushed and used for road base but the best use by far is to make new concrete. What a bright idea! How long has it taken for someone to come to the conclusion that concrete can be crushed as easily as virgin stone and separated into reusable components?

The one flaw in the process is the cement that holds it all together. You can't use cement twice. When water is mixed with cement, a chemical reaction takes place that is not reversible so in separating the components of concrete you only end up with aggregate, sand and lots of dust (which can still go into the mix). Unfortunately, limestone still has to be mined to produce the cement to bind together the recycled material to make it into new concrete. It is not a perfect solution, but it still helps to minimise to some extent, the environmental destruction cause by mining.

Timber can also be recycled. After a timber framed house is demolished, if it is done carefully, the components of the frame can be used to build a new home. The wood is well seasoned, harder and stronger than freshly cut timber and in the process, consumption of sawn wood is reduced. The main difficulty is that the process of demolition takes longer in order to end up with minimal damage and the process of building also takes longer because the timber is usually harder to work with and tougher on the workmen's tools.

There are lots of other things that can be effectively recycled in the building industry but reuse is never a factor for consideration in design of new construction. Perhaps it is time construction methods were modified to make it easier to dismantle buildings and reuse the construction materials.

[darrenwoodard]

I don't understand all of this green talk and then your signature is to some online buying and selling forum. Looks like you are in the lead generation business.

[propertylord]

Hi Darren,

Just another forum that I am a member of. There are not many fourms in this space. This one is a little heavy on the advertising and seems to be Australian based, but aside from that it seems to be just a forum like any other. I imagine real estate agents could promote themselves and find people who are interested in conducting business with them, but I guess that is the point for fourms networking and the like.

This article I actually found on that site, hence the link anyway. I am a green property developer in the UK and I am interested in understanding how being GREEN and environmental marketing for selling real estate works in the USA.

[darrenwoodard]

I haven't seen much of it my way. I see the need for it everyday. Maybe you can come over here and start a trend.

[propertylord]

My partner is from Colorado so the chance is quite high.

[Mack Perry]

Propertylord have you had any experience with ICF (Insulated Concrete Forms). This seems to be a "green" product from an energy effeciency standpoint.

[propertylord]

Hey Mack,

No I havent had much experience with the insulated product old chap. Sounds like it could be a great option. I am currently trialling different types of recylced products for the house frames at the moment, this article I lodged I found on the other RE forum, looks like someone from Australia is recycling concrete... anyway would be interested in any info you may have on ICF

[RJacobsen]

I've found that 'going green' is a growing trend. In fact many of the builders that my company works with, promotes environmentally friendly building practices. Personally, I think it is great... along with energy saving building approaches!