Who says you cannot re-use materials in a new build?

The ability to reuse materials in a new build is an often-discussed topic. Many lament the fact that there are so many seemingly good building materials with more life left in them that don’t seem to be able to be used again. There are of course plenty of examples of using recycled materials for decorative features and the use recycled native timber for floorboards is not uncommon.  

 

Bradley Guy is an architect and academic with a whole career behind him spent on working with ways to get more recycled materials back into use. With a catalogue of published articles and recycle build projects behind him, he has become well known and highly respected in architectural and sustainability circles.  

In 2021, Brad and his partner Lori moved into their new home in Gainesville Florida. With Brad’s background, this build was never going to be a standard design or group build project. He started with the deconstruction of the existing house on the site, carefully deconstructing the cladding and framing for later use.  

 

His design was purposely made to integrate these materials into the build. These materials can be seen clearly in the new framing, the cladding, and features like the soffits. Bringing a portable timber mill onsite allowed Brad to re-dimension timber as needed. A profiling machine was also used to create shiplap weatherboards and tongue & groove.            

 

The floor slab of the existing house was retained with the design made to fit within that and the footprint expanded by creating an annex to the existing footprint. A key question often asked about use of repurposed materials is what about contamination. Where timber with suspected lead pain has been used, this has been encapsulated with urethane and used facing inwards.  

The recovered framing can be clearly seen in these photos, that dark wood contrasting with the lighter new materials.

 

Ensuring internal dimensions coincide with the dimensions of new building products has assisted in keeping site waste down. Brad has also created a workshop building made of a combination of recovered materials and timber milled from 3 trees that were cut down onsite to make way for the new build.

 

Describing the expected performance and specifications of reused materials in the submitted plans and sticking to them in the build has been key to the successfully complying with Florida’s building code.

 

Brad has clearly proved that some of the myths around reusing building materials are just that.

 
All but the first two photos in this story were taken by Bradley Guy.