Second Life

    (http://reuseconex.org/)

and the Building Materials Reuse Association (BMRA) plan their upcoming deconstruction conference (May 2011)(http://bmra.org)

4-10 Mainstream moves
We continue to conquer different types of buildings, market and sell their materials, and create green collar jobs and benefit the community all at the same time.  Would someone please call us with an easy 100,000 sq ft warehouse?  All of these lower-value debris filled abandoned properties are tough!

 

Coming soon:
An update on the new RRP Lead Class from the EPA
An update on the new lead painted material rules.


3-10 RE-USE is on the move
In Chicago, our training project for the City is going well and one of the project teams, Breaking Ground, has completed their safety training and now are working in buildings salvaging and deconstructing.  The final of the four work divisions, value-added work, will start soon and we will be constructing everything from saw horses to picnic tables to reclaimed flooring and furniture.

We quickly moved on to Iowa where we are conducting a study on harvesting flooded homes.  The three homes are expected to be disassembled in 5 working days! (Study Completed in 4.998 days!) 

We are now about to start working in the Cleveland area where we already have a contractor taking down homes at the rate of 50/year, and the local government would like to support and increase that effort and have asked us to help make decon competitive with demo.

2-10 Chicago Update:
RE-USE Consulting was asked to study and design and now help manage the nation's largest building deconstruction and building materials reuse training program.  We expanded on the City's original goals and now are very happy with the results.  Around one dozen reuse businesses will receive help through this program and almost 200 jobs will be created during this time.  Participants will learn about all aspects of the building material reuse industry.
  
  

1-10 RE-USE Consulting's current 14 building project was featured on Public Broadcasting television (PBS) stations in Jan 2010.  The project, the oldest underground power plant in the WORLD, is full of interesting materials that all help tell the Power Plant's story (click links): 
http://www.sadisfilmworks.com/blog/2010/01/26/sfw-documentary-to-air-on-pbs/

http://www.facebook.com/video/video.php?v=274531203122&ref=mf


1-10 Thank you Buffalo Reuse, the people of Buffalo, and ABC for making Extreme Decon such a success - The two-hour episode of Extreme Home Makeover touched on building deconstruction, construction waste management, recycling, reuse, and even visited the Buffalo Reuse store!  I don't think we could have expected more. 
Here is what we have of the show:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=99qkxd0uxLk
http://www.movieweb.com/tv/TEEMDJGLAndLIL/VIzYTFAGpMyCEA
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U4k_X1VuDH4&NR=1
Deconstruction works... What are you waiting for?


12-09 Nationwide audience, meet hybrid building deconstruction.  Hybrid building deconstruction, meet the nationwide audience.
January 24th is the date for EXTREME DECON - Our team's full house decon on Extreme Home Makeover (Buffalo Reuse/RE-USE Consulting)
more soon...

11-09 The Challenge
 Fully deconstruct a building in 12 hours on national television! 
Stay tuned...

And the winner is...
Buffalo Reuse and RE-USE Consulting were successful in fully deconstructing a 2700 sq ft home in 15 hours in a project that will demonstrate the benefits of deconstruction to a national audience of over 31 million viewers!  Nice job Michael Gainer and Buffalo Reuse - we were happy to help!
 

10-09 On the road again
RE-USE is on the road again after several weeks in the office.  We spoke at the GRRN conference outside of Boston and then took down two buildings (totalling 4500 sq ft) in four days, continuing our experiments in the more aggressive building harvesting techniques designed for communities with few recycling options.  We continued our trip to consult on the removal of 18 more buildings that would have to be removed in 18 calendar days! 

Below: That's not a rake, this is a rake - seeing how carefully an excavator can rake the second floor for us.

9-09 Another win-win scenario
After our team submitted the winning bid on another prevailing wage job, we suggested that we turn the project into a fund-raiser for the school district we were working for.  The contractor, Mitchell Contractors, took it one step further, donating 100% of the sales of salvaged materials to the school district to buy equipment that the school couldn't afford due to budget cuts.  The 50' long 10x10 rough sawn trusses were returned to the owner so that they could be used in a future building. 

Green-jobs created - landfill diversion - donations to a school - owner reuse - all materials kept on the Island and all within a 7 mile radius of the jobsite.
  
8-09 100 windows in one day
Dave Bennink set his personal record by removing 100 windows in one 11 hr shift.  Think that 11 hrs is unfair and it should be based on an 8 hr shift?  Too bad, didn't ask you.  It wasn't really that hard (screwed-in/double caulked vinyl replacement frame windows), but it 100 still sounds nice. 
Chicago - The Windy City
RE-USE Training: RE-USE Consulting is working with the City of Chicago to start the largest deconstruction training program in the USA.  Over 140 green collar jobs will be created and Chicago's deconstruction industry will be built up, surpassing the efforts being made in most other cities around the Country.
7-09: WHAT ECONOMIC SLOWDOWN?
We are training and promoting deconstruction nationwide.
RE-USE Consulting continues to train and consult for new deconstruction and reuse operations around the USA.  We just completed three more trainings in the last five weeks, taking down three buildings and helping with two new stores selling used building materials. 

6-09:
If you have a historical building renovation project in Snohomish County, WA and would like some materials donated, let us know asap.