HR 2284 The Responsible Electronics Recycling Act - The Right Thing To Do

H.R. 2284, The Responsible Electronics Recycling Act, would prevent the export of non-functional or shredded electronic scrap to developing countries. This is an important bill and one that I think should be passed. For starters, it would result in more U.S. based jobs and it would also mean less material containing toxics being sent to places that have lower environmental and labor protection standards than the U.S.

Back when I was doing a large scale electronic salvage project, I sold large amounts of scrap to a Taiwan based company. I was unaware at the time, the effect that material was having overseas. It wasn't until several years later that I read Bill Moyers' Global Dumping Ground: The International Traffic in Hazardous Waste that I realized what I had done. In fact, the fellow I sold my scrap to is mentioned in the book. I'm not sure if the environmental and human abuse overseas is as bad now as it was then, but I'm quite sure that conditions are below U.S. standards.

You might take a look at H.R. 2284 and if you feel like I do, urge your representative to vote for it.

www.RecyclingSecrets.com for Free Home Based Salvage and Recycling Information Including: Metals, Deconstruction and Used Building Materials, Gold and Precious Metals and E-Waste. Check out: How to Make Money in the Home Based Salvage and Recycling Business

Deconstruction and Used Lumber: Succeeding in the Home Based Salvage and Recycling Business: Techniques and Ideas - Part 2

In Part 1 I discussed how I was able to get this old house to tear down. This is the continuing story. I only work at it 2-3 hours per day. For those few hours I always come home with at least $150 to $250 worth of lumber at retail value. Some will end up being worth less and some more. Much of the lumber is around 100 years old. Most is old growth and much is 1/4 sawn as well.

It was a real struggle to get the roofing planks off. They were not only covered with many layers of composition roofing, but shiplapped as well. With shiplap, you have to start at the top and work your way down.





I gambled and decided to pull down the ends of the roof hoping I wouldn't break too much lumber. My gamble paid off.



I'll be adding more photos and video as the project proceeds. I expect to end up with many thousands worth of lumber, lumber that you can't even find in yards today.

www.RecyclingSecrets.com for Free Home Based Salvage and Recycling Information Including: Metals, Deconstruction and Used Building Materials, Gold and Precious Metals and E-Waste. Check out: How to Make Money in the Home Based Salvage and Recycling Business

Succeeding in the Home Based Salvage and Recycling Business: Techniques and Ideas - Old School and New School, Part 1

Recently a fellow contacted me and said that my eBook on salvage and recycling was a great autobiography but was not relevant. His example for me to follow was to check Craigslist and type in "junk" and "scrap" and I would see that everyone is in the salvage and recycling business. I responded telling him that the techniques I used for obtaining, working with, reusing and selling salvage are very relevant and that I use them most everyday. I also told him that I would appreciate any tips he could offer in the way of relevant ideas. Once I hear, I'll pass them on to you all.



Here's an example. Recently I blogged about a house that I am in the midst of deconstructing. I didn't get it by watching the craigslist listings and hoping that I was the first one to respond and then hoping that if I was, it would still be there when I got there. I have tried this method a few times and in my experience using craigslist and other online tools works at times, but also can be a real time waster.



In this case, I had done what I always do - hand out business cards, put flyers on bulletin boards and small ads in local papers. Several months ago I purchased some oak flooring from a fellow - he had seen my flyer at the local market. Later he told a friend about me, we connected and I am now tearing down this great old cabin. He said that he had been trying for months to find someone to give it to. Did he list on craigslist? No - he doesn't use a computer. I find that there are a whole lot of people out there that are still "old school" and depend on what they read and who they talk to for the information they need - they don't even think much about the internet. Also, some just don't want the hassle of strangers calling them, coming to their place...



I do think that craigslist can be a good way to sell material and I've done some of that successfully, but more often, word of mouth has worked for me and folks tell other folks about me and before long the material is sold - sometimes before I even have it torn down and available for sale.

I've included some photos of this project that I began on May 4, 2011. I only work it 10 or 12 hours per week. Early on I removed the aluminum roofing, wiring, brass... and found other recyclables around the property. I shopped this around at scrap metal yards and was able to sell the scrap for $409. More than enough to pay for a couple of runs to the dumps, gas, lunches etc.



Over time I'll go into the scrap metal part of it in more detail telling how I deal with dealers, find honest ones, sort my metals for the best price.

Also, in time, I'll discuss the tools and techniques I use in deconstruction, how I store my wood, how to price it and more.



This building is 20x25 feet. The inside walls, outside walls, roof and ceiling are all old growth ship lap lumber - much is premium 1/4 sawn. I figure, even at today's low prices for lumber, I'll net out at about $4,000 in what the same amount of wood would cost me at retail. If I were to sell, some of this would bring more than retail, some less. More about this later.

For now, enjoy the photos and remember to check out my eBook, How to Make Money in the Home Based Salvage and Recycling Business. It's full of tips and ideas that I use all the time to succeed in this business. Just one good idea is worth more than the price of the eBook.

Continued in Part 2.

www.RecyclingSecrets.com for Free Home Based Salvage and Recycling Information Including: Metals, Deconstruction and Used Building Materials, Gold and Precious Metals and E-Waste. Check out: How to Make Money in the Home Based Salvage and Recycling Business

How I Get the Material I Need and Make Money Tearing Down Old Houses

Last week a friend of a friend told me about an old house that the owner wants torn down. I went over and took a look. It's small - about 24 feet by 18 feet - single story home. It was built back in the 1930s and is in very poor shape, but the lumber is good.

I did some figuring on its value - the cost for materials at today's prices and came up with the following:

• The house is all douglas fir. It has shiplap siding that can be used as is or planed. The subfloor, ceiling and inside walls are all solid 1x12. It's a stick frame house so there are lots of 2x4 in walls and roof. There are 2x8 floor joists and the roof is solid sheathed in 1x12 lumber. All in all I come up with about 4400 board feet - today's value on the West Coast is about $1600.
  
  
• I actually want to use quite a bit of it to enlarge my shop at home so I'll be using a sawzall and taking portions of walls intact, but if I were to tear down the entire building piece by piece, I figure one person could do it in 4-5 days. 2 good workers could do it in 2-3 days. So, if I were to hire labor to do it, I'd be looking at about $800 -$1,000 cost for lumber valued at $1600. Note though that this is used lumber, but also of much better quality than is available today. If I tore it down myself, the cash out of pocket would be much less.
  
  
• The house has heavy corrugated aluminum roofing over the solid wood sheathing. Scrap value of this is about $200. The wiring is the old style single wires on posts - very easy to strip - worth about $150 - $250.
  
  
• And then there are the fixtures, switches, hardware, windows, doors... worth many hundreds of dollars.
  

The way I figure it - it's a good money maker. Most likely enough in scrap metals and miscellaneous non-lumber items to pay the labor costs so the lumber is basically free and can be used (what I'll do with most) and/or sold quite readily. I could price it for about 25% less than market value and it would sell quite quickly - in these times, everyone is looking for a bargain!

So, check out your friends, your town, start looking around. I'm in a very lightly populated county of only 20,000 people and I find more deals like this than I can handle - mainly just through word of mouth.

If you want to learn more about this and how I got into and stay in the salvage and recycling business, check out RecyclingSecrets.com and my ebook, How to Make Money in the Home Based Salvage and Recycling Business.

Best of Luck

Mike

www.RecyclingSecrets.com for Free Home Based Salvage and Recycling Information Including: Metals, Deconstruction and Used Building Materials, Gold and Precious Metals and E-Waste. Check out: How to Make Money in the Home Based Salvage and Recycling Business