News from the Field

Each month, we highlight one of the contractors we've worked with recently, to provide an example of the type of work we get to do and the kind of people we meet along the way.

We have worked with Flip Builders since 2001 and continue to do a lot of amazing projects with their crew.  The last project we salvaged for them was a condo remodel and we were able to save more material for reuse than they took to the landfill!  Flip uses Second Use because they like not having to throw away material and saving their clients money in the process.  Salvage also offers them a way to further integrate sustainability into their work.

(posted April 7, 2010): Second Use is currently salvaging materials from a home designed by architect Paul Thiry, who was known as the father of “Northwest Modernism”.  The home sits dramatically along the beach in the Normandy Beach neighborhood of Seattle.  The homeowners have worked closely with housemovers, and Second Use partner, Nickel Brothers since last year to find another lot for the home, but were ultimately unsuccessful in finding an option to relocate the structure.  The size and weight of the massive concrete home proved to offer too many obstacles to potential buyers, even though the owners offered to sell the house for $1 and extended their project deadline on several occasions.

Paul Thiry is known throughout the Northwest and the world as an architect who pushed the boundaries in design and construction.  This home was built in 1962, the same year as the World’s Fair was hosted in Seattle. Thiry was the lead architect for the fair and designed several important pieces that still remain in the city.   Thiry also designed Seattle's Museum of History & Industry, the Frye Art Museum and buildings on the University of Washington and Western Washington University campuses.  Sunset Magazine featured the home on its cover in 1967 and described it as  "a gull poised for flight”.

Second Use field crews are still finishing up work on the house, but material should begin to arrive in the store as soon as April 7th.  The material will include teak paneling, teak and walnut cabinetry, mid-century hollow-core doors, and glass railing.  

Click here for more information on Paul Thiry and to see examples of his work.  Below are some photos from the jobsite, which highlight the materials we expect to save.  Click here to see some of the inventory from this job.

Here's a great video of the home:

(Posted 5/22/2010)

The intent of this blog is to show where will be going, and what will be getting... sometimes we get so busy that there's little time to provide a "heads up" - 

Last couple of weeks, felt like the field crew was hopping from one kitchen strip-out to the next, some of those materials are still in stock - some are still on a truck, parked at our storage facility, waiting for the unload... Good selections of contemporary cabinets, appliances & plumbing fixtures.

Friday we brought back a nice haul from a 1920's house on Bainbridge Island; fir flooring & beadboard most notably - 

To view other materials from this project Click Here

We start salvage work on a pretty cool house Monday:

The whole house is full of these beautiful mahogany doors and millwork + quartersawn oak flooring!

Later in the week: pallets of new contemporary light fixtures from a local distributor, a mid-century modern salvage job & PB's going to the dentist to get his teeth fixed... Yo.