Rehabber’s Rehab

We checked today into waste removal for all the demo’d drywall, 2×4′s and who knows what else we’re going to have. This is the dirty side of a project, but this is the part that can quickly turn it from manageable to overwhelming. It is also all of the dirt and dust that gets to me the most quickly, when I can’t keep anything clean and am running run into stray boards all the time. It is what makes me hate these projects sometimes because things are ALWAYS messy, and you can’t even have a bowl of cereal with out rinsing out the dishes first.

Waste management is important to us from an environmental standpoint as well, as this has the largest initial impact. So we want to deal with our refuse not only quickly and safely, but also as enviornmentally as possible.

How to dispose of the cabinets is an easy one. They are some type of metal, non-magnetic, so we are assuming they are aluminum. Our plan is to take them to a nearby scrap yard. Not only does this allow our cabinets to be recycled, but we will also get some cash back as well. I’m hoping for enough to pay for a new range top in the kitchen.

Build me a cat castle!

To get rid of the old carpeting, Matt has told us that it is now possible to recycle it. There are two places in the Chicagoland area that we can take it to, and so we will probably cut it into smaller more manageable pieces and drop it off on our way out of town someday. For a list of carpet recycling centers and more information, visit the Carpet America Recovery Effort.  Other uses will be to make a new cat scratcher for our cat Ink, and maybe a kitty palace.

To get rid of the other debris, I was unable to find a good resource for this in Chicago, not surprising since the recycling seems to be pretty low on the city’s priorities, and it has little to no residential program as it is.

Our plan is to keep all of the wood waste either to reuse again in other projects, or cut it up and use it for fuel in the wood burning stove on Rice street. Helps to keep the heating bill down, and makes great hot apple cider in the winter.

The some of the ceramic tile I might take and use to make some tile mosaics for the garden, or maybe a table top or two, however you can only stand so much bright yellow and gray tile, most of it will probably just get tossed along with the drywall, linoleum and other miscellaneous things.

We looked into renting a dumpster, prices seemed to range from $375 to $600 depending on how long you need it for. We decided most of the dumpsters would be too large, and too expensive.  Also we would have to deal with the village to get permission to keep one on the street.  We also looked into waste pick-up, which can run from 100 to 300 dollars depending on how much you have.  Our final decision is to wait and see how much we have, and hopefully we will be able to get rid of it over time.  If there is too much we will probably go ahead and schedule a pick-up.  Fortunately we have a concrete pad out of the way in the back so we can keep it all outside to help keep things clean.  Hopefully this does not piss off the new neighbors too much.

We hope our recycling efforts will not only help our efforts in creating a green home, but it is also going to save us money since we will have to pay less to have less debris removed.  Also we stand to make some money by scrapping some of the metal materials.

If anyone has any additional recycling suggestions we’d love to hear them!