20 Nov 2016

How to build your home using reclaimed materials

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Aidan Bell, Co-founder of EnviroBuild, explains how reclamation is becoming an increasingly possible option for self-build projects.

Reclamation is nothing new in the self-build trade; but in recent years, it’s begun to draw plaudits from beyond its traditional restoration and heritage markets.

Its rise in popularity can be put down to two things: availability and affordability. New recycling and processing technologies now mean that a far wider range of materials can be recycled and given new leases of life in construction and put to use again in the circular economy, whereas before they might have ended up as landfill.

More choice when it comes to reclamation has benefited from and, also helped achieve, lower costs. Not only are there more possibilities now; they don’t cost the earth anymore either. Commercially speaking, sustainable reclaimed products are starting to appear in most areas of construction as a real viable alternative.

The thing they all have in common is that they’re recycled, made from reclaimed materials, and then recyclable at their end of their lives. Our eco-friendly, recycled polymer decking is just one example which combines recycled HDPE and reclaimed wood, while our recycled plastic lumber supports are made from 100% recycled plastics, the majority of which couldn’t be reclaimed using conventional recycling processes. These types of products are helping to make ‘the dream’ of a low-impact build a reality for more and more homeowners.

www.envirobuild.com

Look Book: Reclaimed materials

There are endless possibilities when selecting reclaimed materials for your self-build, but the selection doesn’t have to end at the building specification stage. There are many materials that can be used as decorative features throughout the interior of your self-build.

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Recycling the past for the future

John Taylor of Steptoe’s Yard – a supplier of top quality, affordable reclaimed stone and Yorkstone – explains the benefits of using Yorkshire stone as a reclaimed building material choice.

Not only are ‘reclaimed’ building materials good for sustainability and the preservation of the environment, reclaimed Yorkstone provides a beautifully natural product which creates that non-artificial, ‘like it’s been there forever’ look.

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Reclaimed Yorkstone is suitable for a number of applications, from small DIY landscape works, such as a small garden wall, right through to the construction of your dream home. Reclaimed stone can come in a variety of styles. For example, our reclaimed stone range comes in a variety of finishes and styles and includes pure random stone (as in a field barn), Yorkshire point, ‘pitch-faced’ stone (much like the terraced street houses of Yorkshire’s local mill and market towns), ‘punched-faced’ (a high-quality product often seen on higher-end properties, but also good quality for cottages etc.) or plain coursed walling stone.

We can also provide reclaimed building stone and walling stone which is ‘backed-off’ to a specific bed width, and suitable for modern cavity wall construction, this saves time and produces no waste on site.

www.steptoesyard.co.uk

Knock on wood

Here, Andres Felipe Uprimny, Head of Marketing at The Reclaimed Flooring Company, explains what to look out for when selecting wood as a reclaimed building material.

What to consider
There are various grades of reclaimed wood, all from different time periods and from different backgrounds. It is important to consider wood infestation, chemical contamination and wood durability when specifying reclaimed wood for a self-build project. It is also worth considering the quantity of timber available against the expected delivery date for the project. Unless reliable supplies are established for a particular reclaimed wood, where the grade and specifications have been carefully considered, it is likely that every batch of wood will be completely different.

Top tip
Because for the most part, reclaimed wood comes from trees at least 200 years old, the grain is tighter and the wood more durable and stronger. These trees were ‘slow grown’, unlike today in our globally-managed forests where trees are generally grown a lot faster and so their growth rings are farther apart.

www.reclaimedflooringco.com

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