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Thank you. I comment on flipping house channels etc ALL THE TIME asking why don't they save what can be used for people who can recycle, upcycle and help build tiny homes for the homeless or sell the materials and support women's shelters provide homes etc etc.
Also these building supplies would be great to build homes for the homeless or help people that are renting rundown homes to refurbish them, as alot of people renting these homes have low incomes and often children.
They don't care they just want it gone now I've tried to get building several times they would rather see it torn down when an excavator in one day and hauled off then give you a couple weeks to take it apart
Why don't they just use the kitchen and furniture that the house comes with? What the …? People just suffer from elevated aestheticism … that's a personality disorder if you ask me, and it does not justify ecological crimes. Like, refurbishing a perfectly functional home.
Good. I have been doing this on a SMALL scale with all my waste for years, recycling everything I can. I'm so glad this is happening on a LARGE scale. Other countries please follow this example.
Yes Dav, so have my husband and I on our remodel/renovation projects. We have recycled, reused and gifted a very large percentage of everything we have removed on projects and feel joy in doing so, as I am sure you do as well.
Serious props to this incredibly needed company. I agree that this should be normal policy across the board! These types of companies are planet saving!! Bravo!
That's not true. The work and logistic behind, to re-use materials, use a lot of energy as well. They should rather burn it with filters and create energy
Its really great to see this become an industry. I tried to this when i renovaded my house and even reached out to the Restore to give them an entire kitchen with all the effort of taking it apart so that it could be reused. when I went to drop it off they had no room, even though the headoffice said to. So it all ended up in a land fill. During the pandemic has been difficult as well as they couldnt take any furnature. But this is the right direction as like he says it produces a lot of waste.
I love this! My parents recently sold their home (and my childhood home) that is quickly being gentrified. Our home was 100% livable and functional. The developers they sold it to tore down EVERYTHING and threw it into waste containers for the dump. Such a waste of resources. They even tore down the trees my dad took care of and his garden! I periodically go visit our home I lived in for 20 years growing up. They just have the basement done with all new materials. Would have been so much more emotional digestible if they had reused some of the materials from the home we had lived in for so long.
Thank god for this guy!!! This is something that has been worrying and saddening me for so long. There's so much demolishing and dumping going on in Toronto. And so quickly too. So glad he's taking a leadership role in this. Bravo to him and his whole team!
I’ve really enjoyed watch The D construction of a building that is done safely. And re-purposed. As I’m a great fan of Habitat for Humanity! Mostly everything from my last home came from there. My goal is, my second home have everything for my kitchen and bathroom come from there! Thank you so much🥰
I love this, I have torn down an old oak shed, door is now an coffee table, large planks my husband made into a kitchen table top, made a cabinet, and planning on taking 2x4s to an Amish mill to cut into 1 x4s for more projects. Tore down an old camper windows used in my goat building and greenhouse, metal and 2x2s used to build rabbit cages. Although, I don't believe in climate change, I do agree we waste to much reusable resources.
I work in hotel construction and renovation and the amount of waste is appalling. Hotels compete to keep things "modern" that they tend to replace EVERYTHING within 10 years. Often times if something isn't taken away by liquidators, it goes right in the dumpsters. That includes all the packaging for new items: Styrofoam, plastic, wood crates, etc. Typically only cardboard, which has its own dumpster, is the only material that'll be recycled. The prevailing attitude is "oh well, if it can't sell, toss it" and "that'll add too much time to the job". I've tried to take some personal time to salvage what I can, but it is overwhelming. Also, a lot of the materials that we replace are made way better than the items we install due to manufacturing costs.
I salvaged perfectly good commercial high-quality flat-roof insulation 2x4x8 panels (some fiberglass and some styrofoam) from a construction dumpster and the guys on site had a real attitude about it. Managed to get away with quite a haul, used it to build a cabin, got enough to fill 2x6 wall and roof frames.
From a Built Environment Sustainability Administrator in Minnesota, THANK YOU. I plan on sharing this video widely, for personal (shared value purposes) and professional reasons!
Great job. Canadians are doing some fantastic eco-friendly things lately. In Australia, developers sell old homes, especially if they are on stilts to people who want a traditionally built home but otherwise I don't see as many salvage yards as there should be. It's the way of the future. You can still have a modern looking home with the body of it built with resalvaged beams.
I'm amazed and very proud of what you're doing to help save so much building materials from the landfill. The more you can inform people of the actual percentage of waste can only help to find more ways to get to the point of nearly zero waste. Thanks for being the people to do this. If I can assist in any way, let me know and I will do what I can. I'm retired so I have time but not quite the strength I used to have. But helping in this area would be so beneficial to the world and that's what I'm interested in for sure!
🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉 St. Louis City, MO in the u.s. would be a great place for a company like this. We have so much interesting architecture and a lot of it is rotting away or gets demolished/ends up in landfill. Great city for rehabbers as well. Many historic buildings still very much salvageable.
It's always interesting to see north american house-construction... here in Germany houses build of wood are very rare. The same goes for the interior with cabinets and stuff. There is so much less wood and so much more concrete/Brick/Stone in our houses, which makes deconstruction so much more difficult. Great work you're doing!
The particle board & fiberglass insulation (currently going into landfill) could be shredded and packaged in long flat plastic bags & used for insulation between wall studs. Please do this.
It's a great idea. But take precautions if you get involved in this. Deconstruction can be dangerous just like construction. I was doing deconstruction work in a house when it collapsed. I heard a loud creaking sound and then something hit me and slammed me face down on the floor. I looked up and saw a big hole in the outside wall. I immediately leaped through it like a frog. The edge of the roof hit my feet as I was going out of the house. So I missed being crushed by less than a second.
Thank you, this is long overdue, as engineers are still taught buildings have a lifespan of 50 years and I cannot fathom all the waste resulting. Interior designers with their silly fashions contribute further to the waste.
In the early 70’s I used to deconstruct old abandoned barns and recycle the the barn wood. It was brutally hard work but I loved it. We couldn’t keep up with the demand so that ended rather quickly!
THIS. this right here is perfection. I've seen "let's get rid of plastic by melting it into bricks!" good, but not perfect. THIS is perfect. if there was an "unbuilding" company in Utah I'd hire on.
Well, nothing is perfect, still issue of chemicals and other things that are part of older buildings, including the wood. But definitely better than landfills...
@@ZeoCyberG Yeah, the insulation is pretty hard to straight up reuse. but as long as it's being treated properly it'll always be better than simply hucking into a landfill with the rest of the stuff that IS reusable.
@@dieterrosswag933 Fact is all solutions have both their pros and cons. Just because Germany do it one way doesn't make it the better choice. Incinerators don't operate at 100% efficiency, more like 25% for just generating electricity, which is much lower than the 55% efficiency for new gas-fired power stations. So it's the less efficient method to generate power and filters doesn't mean there's no contamination of the environment and the filters themselves eventually have to be dealt with as well and you're still ending up with a net increase in carbon emissions. Burying has its problems too but it's lower cost and properly done can lock up everything for centuries. While using it for new construction helps reduce using more of our dwindling resources and instead recycles existing resources to get more use out of it. There isn't a perfect solution, so it's more about choosing the least problematic one and that won't always be the same choice as some benefits may matter more for different applications... Sometimes energy recovery matters more and others saving materials matters more... Especially, for resources we can't just replace anymore or are at risk of running out and the alternative for it may be worse... Unfortunately, complex problems often require complex solutions...
@@dieterrosswag933 huh. I guess if the filters are good enough, to keep everything but...air, basically, then yeah, I suppose? I'd still rather see more reuse and recycling, though, but i suppose CLEAN burning is an option for what CAN'T justifiably be reused.
Wow this is fantastic. We feel that he is doing amazing work. Hopefully he can get it started in the USA also that would be awesome. Thank you Matt and Danielle for sharing his story.❤
We are supposed to teach the 3r's to our kids but adults don't even follow them. The best thing you can do for the environment is to reduce consumption (not recycle). That kitchen they were taking apart in video was in great condition and didnt need an update. Build smaller, with quality materials that will last and stop remodeling just cause you have money and are bored. Btw I work in the renovation industry and the waste that goes on is shocking!
Love, love, love this!!! Every time I watch one of those shows where they're busting windows, and cabinets, and counters I cringe at the thought of the waste. Every time I'm driving down the road and see wood or anything that is recyclable on the side of the road for garbage pickup I cringe at the waste. We should be doing what your company does EVERYWHERE!!!
Great idea..but isn't the problem replacing twenty or thirty year old housing with newer more "Upscale" the real problem. A well built home should last at least seventy years or more.
I am so impressed. I wish I could give a thousand likes. This combines 3 of my "passions" - Construction, Business, and Recycling. I hope to see this expand and become the norm.
Absolutely love this approach to sustainability. Living out here in Hawaii. I always see so much wasted reusable material. I try do my part and build with reclaimed wood from shipping crates. I make Adirondack chairs and planter boxes. Keep up the great work and thank you for sharing! 👍🏽🤙🏽
I'm a big fan of this! As someone who has collected pallets and taken them apart for the wood, or built chicken coops out of recycled wood, it always baffles me to see houses just completely demolished and crushed into dumpsters. I understand that from a cost and time perspective it is often the cheapest method just to dispose of the entire structure, but from an environmental standpoint It is just appalling. I like that you can recover entire shipments of used 2x4's and etc. for reuse, saving forests, transportation, etc. Here in Maryland USA, two big resellers of used building materials are Second Chance in Baltimore MD and Community forklift in Hyattsville MD. This is a business I would be very much interested in getting into. Also interested to see more details on the denailing and refinishing process on reclaimed lumber. Also would love to see policy changes on demolition and using reclaimed lumber.
Very good to know this company is salvaging good materials and appliances. I see so much waste on fixer upper and flip TV shows. It's too bad everyone does not do this.
This is an amazing company! I’m so glad you were able to meld your passion with your job AND help the environment. I would love to be a part of something like that.
Very interesting avenue for reusing demolition products. I do like their view about policies to be reword on that subject. That is definitely the way to do It now and no doubt it is à brilliant idea to avoid less pollution. Thanks for this very informative video!
From experience, denailing is a job that will wear you out. We bought a 200-year old farmhouse and stripped it to the studs. In doing the demo, removing certain structural elements allowed us to salvage enough material to jamb and case 21 doorways, 42 windows and 800 feet of baseboard in the house after remilling and finishing. Seeing how the house was framed in white oak, I couldn't throw it away. My wife thought I was nuts at first... but since we've estimated the savings in the tens of thousands, she is totally on board with the project.
I really like this idea. This Unbuilding industry desperately needs to become more economical. In a city like vancouver, the already inflated lot prices, the builders are always keen to save as much money as they can, especially on building removal. Their new product is where they spend the extra money. This is the way the business works. You would have to be emotionally tied to the building, or naturally concerned with recycling that you are willing to pay the extra cost. I am one of those builders, but the vast majority of the builders are solely money driven. Also, bring investors into the project, almost all of those projects are profit driven. I like this though! I wish it great sucess, maybe we can do business someday.
Inspiring. I have an addition that is to be torn off my house, (failing foundation etc). I will save as much as I can and re-use on site for sheds or whatever! Good work Lads!
Great job. You are not eating the material but you are not wasting the man hours that went into the products. One question. How are the nails removed from the lumber? Thanks for what you are doing.
Its about time! Such waste in Vancouver BC where so many homes were demolished to build bigger; they could have been Reno'd. Sick that people have too much money and want new all the time instead of painting/renovating. I agree, demolitions should be illegal. GREAT JOB!
What a wonderful idea very very intuitive I truly think you were definitely have something there everything you say makes sense as far as structural stability.
This is fantastic. I hope unbuilding becomes the standard very soon. I hate the amount of waste that comes from demolition and remodeling. This is so much better
I live in Georgia and like he talked about, you can deconstruct a used old growth stud that has superior structural strength to new wood and the building department will not allow you to use it since it isn’t stamped. I hate how controlled we are.
I love, love, love this! I’m on the other end of things, where I’m building what I’m calling a Craigslist House. Basically, the idea is to build an entire house using only materials purchased from Craigslist, yard sales, estate sales, Facebook Marketplace, or the ReStore. I don’t understand our obsession with new here in the US. I love stuff that has character to it. Anyway, excellent video. Well done, my northern cousins. 😄
@@danielwalsh9137 You have to process and sort out used material and in the end it is often only in short supply. It is cheaper to buy a new one because you have to adapt less, search less, are faster and it looks better. Not necessarily better for the environment either, as you need covered storage space, transport and workers to organize to sell it. With some things, like used high-quality kitchen furniture, it can be profitable, as someone i know, did it in Germany.
