Building a Home from Recycled Materials

Despite the adage, one man's trash usually is another man's trash, too.

However, with a bit of resourcefulness, some creativity and a lot of work, you can use landfill-bound items to create humble abodes and eclectic spaces.

In a time when being green is in vogue, building houses with recycled items -- from granite to license plates -- and furnishing them with gently used cabinets and refurbished appliances is practical and economical as well as environmentally sound.

Recycling Psyche

Although it appears to be a recent trend, using recycled items to create living spaces isn't new, says Dan Phillips, founder of Phoenix Commotion, a Texas-based building initiative that constructs homes with recycled and salvaged materials.

"People have been doing this for hundreds of years," Phillips said. "Look at any Third World country. The difference is, we have building codes so our houses don't fall down."

Since 1999, Phoenix Commotion has completed 24 houses and studios for single parents, underserved populations and artists. Costs are kept low by using apprentice workers who learn marketable skills in the process. At a cost of $30 to $40 per square foot, Phillips' houses are a bargain.

The modern movement toward reuse, which originated in the 1960s in towns in Oregon, Washington and New Mexico, has grown slowly over the years as individuals and organizations such as Phoenix Commotion have learned how to use what Phillips calls a tremendous amount of waste generated by construction.

"To do what I do, you have to be able to understand what causes waste in the building industry," Phillips said.

He takes what homeowners have been trained to see as flawed and in need of replacement, and instead of hiding those imperfections, he emphasizes them, resulting in visual and perceptual transformations.

For example, if you see a wall of windowpanes and one is cracked, you might want to toss out the whole thing and put in a new one, he explains, because it rattles the pattern that your brain is accustomed to.

"But if we took a hammer and added cracks to all the windows, then we have a pattern," Phillips said, offering a hypothetical solution as an illustration. "It's all psychology ... that recognizes a pattern instead of parts in a pattern."

The vision of the perfect American dream house fuels many homeowners' desires. Sprawling developments that offer affordable versions of that dream feature models that have been re-created countless times by architects, developers and marketers, Phillips says. The quest for perfection and disdain for cosmetic irregularity contribute to the waste of viable materials.

"I feature those warped things, because repetition creates pattern," he said. "We need to reconnect with those really primal parts of ourselves and make some decisions. If we reconnect with who we really are, that's thrilling indeed."

What Can Be Recycled?

Trying to figure out which recycled materials are appropriate for reuse? Here are some tips from the California Consumer Energy Center:

Many building materials are available in recycled form. Steel and aluminum building elements are highly recyclable, as is heavy timber.

Products such as doors, cabinets, glass and metal can be salvaged and reused. You can cut your costs significantly by using these salvaged materials, and their quality is high.

Where possible, use local materials to reduce transportation and environmental costs.

Renewable materials include wood, wool, plant fibers and other resources that can be regenerated within a few decades or less. Sustainable wood products made from trees that are faster-growing, such as birch and especially bamboo, are becoming more readily available.

Making Use of the Used

Nearly any material is fair game as long as it's obtained before it hits the landfill, Phillips says. Items such as carpet, plastic, vegetation and wet trash that are susceptible to mold, decay or other organic damage are not viable.

All Phoenix Commotion's houses include 80 percent recycled material plus brand-new components such as fasteners and wires. Most goods come from the immediate region, including an 18-wheeler load of granite that he recently received.

"I always suspected you could build a whole house from what you find in a landfill," Phillips said.

A roof made of license plates, a porch constructed of tree branches, a bathtub for two with an exterior built from lumber scraps, and floors made entirely of wine corks are among Phoenix Commotion's projects. To add flair, traditional glass-door panels are used as windowpanes, and typical foyer light fixtures are used anywhere except in foyers.

One house features a pattern of Budweiser cans on the exterior and a shower with patterns that resemble bubbles fizzing in a pint glass. Irregular, lumpy tiles made from dismantled toilets provide a unique type of crown molding; a recycled beer tap becomes a faucet handle.

The benefits of building homes from recycled materials are economical as well as environmentally sound.

"I've never been in the red, always in the black. I don't make a lot of profit, but my business model is to keep stuff out of the landfill and also train skilled workers," Phillips said. "It's the perfect time to do this, in a down economy."

Inside Job

If you are happy with your current house but need interior revamping, providing a home for gently used or refurbished appliances and furniture will rescue them from the landfill.

Remodeling, real estate transactions and the urge to replace the old with the new constantly provide inventory for organizations that collect used items and sell them to the public.

In recent years, more customers have purchased used household items, says Sarah Harper, vice president of the board for Stardust Building Supplies, a Phoenix-based nonprofit that sells used and even some new discarded items. The revenue from its retail locations supports its Angels on Call program, which completes free home-improvement services for people at or below the poverty level.

"We take anything out of the home that's useful, anything that's not broken," Harper said. "Because we are a nonprofit, homeowners can use it as a write-off for their taxes, and it helps save the landfills."

In the first half of 2011, Stardust diverted more than 664 tons of material from landfills, Harper says.

Doors, windows, faucets, sinks, cabinets in decent shape and working appliances are among the items Stardust will haul off for free. The public can purchase them at a huge cost savings. For example, a refurbished toilet that would sell for $200 at a home-improvement store carries a $20 price tag.

In a lagging economy and troubled real estate market, organizations such as Stardust are seeing a lot of material coming from houses being remodeled. More homeowners are upgrading their houses instead of purchasing new homes.

Some high-ticket items are being removed from homes, such as granite countertops installed just a few years ago, likely around the time of the housing boom.

"People are recycling. The desire to be green is a big part of it, but savings is also part of it," Harper said.