Using Old Materials For New Construction

[caption id="attachment_4510" align="alignleft" width="282" caption="Courtesy of This Old House"][/caption]

Vintage? Is this a term just  for clothes or does it apply to building materials too? It's always a good thing to save materials, especially wood. If you are looking to do some reconstruction on your home and want to use old materials, then take a look at this article from This Old House:

Salvaging Pieces of the Past

Joe and Becky Titlow are die-hard old-house devotees—thus their decision to buy a charming-but-needs-work Georgian built nearly 300 years ago. So when it came time to remodel it, as part of the current season of TOH TV, they had a not-so-small request. "We asked the team to reuse as many original building materials as possible," says Becky.

Fortunately, this directive suited TOH general contractor Tom Silva just fine. "I'm Yankee and I'm cheap," jokes Tom. "If used parts are in good shape, I'd rather recycle them than buy new." So, after knocking out walls and tearing up floors, the TOH team was left with centuries-old wood and brick that might have been destined for the Dumpster at many job sites. Instead, they've been picking through the pile, spotting pieces with potential, then transforming these and other old house parts into finishes, details, and furnishings. These salvage projects will make even brand-new areas look perfectly at home next to existing rooms, and will also keep intact the house's historic character—the very thing the Titlows fell in love with. Read on to see what's in the works.

Kitchen Floorboards and Sheathing: Box Beams and Wainscoting

Most of the old kitchen floor was pulled up, and an exterior wall was taken down, resulting in a stack of pine floorboards, subflooring, and sheathing in various widths and lengths. Tom and his crew looked the pieces over for cracks, checking, and warping. The keepers were set aside so that nails can be removed and surface debris sloughed off with coarse sandpaper. "We want to retain a rustic look, so we won't go too far," says Tom. The material is finding its way into several projects.

Read more at This Old House