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ReUse Action Staff

Featured Apprentice: Naya

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Like gardening and weeding, de-tiling and sorting tiles are some of the best ways to get to know someone because of the hours spent with a repetitive task in good company.  Naya and I first bonded while sitting in a room sorting tiles as she told me her experiences as a black woman in construction.  Like Iris from our last group of apprentices (who just got a job at the snack shack, hooray!), Naya is the only woman in the current group. When I asked her why she was in construction and what she wanted to get out of it, … Read more

Featured Apprentice: Robert

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I first met Robert several years ago, but now have had the pleasure to get to know him over the course of 15 weeks at the Hotel.  Fondly referred to as “google” by the crew, Robert is an amazing source of knowledge and meticulous to the core.  Because of his memory and his matter of fact attitude, the crew often turns to Robert to find out answers to the questions that come up in their conversations.  They also rely on him as master time keeper since both Michael and I are notorious workaholics and need to be told when it … Read more

Featured Apprentice: Kashawn

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When filling out an application at CPG the other day, Kashawn turned to me and asked me what qualities he had and what he was good at. Yes, he has muscle and can lift just as consistently as the other crew members, but those are not the qualities that first strike me.  I replied: 1.”Your ability to see something’s wrong before it happens,” for it is often Kashawn who sees when a tub won’t fit through a doorway or if the pallet jack is cutting a corner too hard. 2. “You consistently show up to work.” This is one of … Read more

Featured Apprentice: Darell

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Unlike Vern who is a big guy and at times seems to possess a superhuman strength, Darell is of smaller build.  Yet the crew calls Darell “Superman,” because what Darell doesn’t have in size, he makes up for in attitude.  There is no task too big, no tub too heavy, no pile of tile too high, and it amazes me how Darell’s faith in his ability to overcome and to get a task done makes him such a star apprentice. Here’s what Amanda, our green demo project manager, has to say about Darell: “Over the past couple of weeks I … Read more

Featured Apprentice: Vernon – Seeking Employment Opportunities

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We’ve had three months of wrestling tubs, delicately sorting tiles and holding up traffic as we carted materials out of the building on a pallet jack, and now our time is finally ending at the Lafayette Hotel.  We’ve also reached the end of nine weeks with our current apprentice group, and while it’s sad we’ll no longer see them everyday, we’re happy they’re moving on in pursuit of full time employment. Since the very beginning when we took on our first apprentice group from the Outsource Center, part of our commitment to our apprentices has been to do everything in … Read more

Alternatives to Toxic Pressure-Treated Wood

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I heard an analogy recently that “Pressure treatment is to wood what embalming is to humans.” If that analogy is accurate (and I think it is), it’s all we need to know to understand the dangers of using pressure treated (PT) wood.  Pumping toxic chemicals into wood–or into bodies–to extend the preservation lifetime has negative effects on the environment those chemicals will eventually come in contact with, not to mention health effects associated with workers handling such toxic chemicals.

But . . .  you have a porch to build.  And now you don’t want to use PT lumber?  Luckily there are many alternatives.  Below is not a 100% complete list, but only a quick and dirty list of what’s available these days . . .

Pressure-treated minus toxic chemicals

Kebony

The kebonization process soaks wood in a specific alcohol that is a waste byproduct from sugar cane and the alcohol functions as a resin that guards the cell structure of the wood. Unlike PT lumber, there are no precautions beyond normal to work with this wood or to handle clean up.

Accoya

Very similar to Kebony, but instead of using a byproduct of cane sugar, acetic acid is used.  The process of acetylization transforms the cell structure of the wood so that it is does not shrink or expand a lot and is thus minimally affected by changes in moisture levels.  The company argues that this feature makes Accoya more dimensionally stable than conventionally pressure-treated wood.

Glass fortified lumber

Lumber infused with sodium silicate (liquid glass) and heated up so it forms a glass-like cell structure, protecting the wood from fire, rot and insect damage.  The process increases the strength and hardness of the wood and is good for ground contact applications.

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“My version of energy efficiency is to conserve my own energy”

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“Nowadays people are talking about net-zero houses . . . My feeling is there’s a lot of overkill in a net-zero house. My version of energy efficiency is to conserve my own energy. It seems to me they are designing for the three coldest days of the year. Designing a house so it will keep you warm without any heat at minus 40 might be overkill. I say, design for 345 days of the year, and the other 20 days just burn some junk mail in the woodstove. I still have my farm out west, and these days I try … Read more

Urban Café Style Gardening

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Coffee Beans BagsWith more than 17,000 vacant properties in the City of Buffalo, one would hope we could transform a larger percentage of those lots into productive space, even if only for a few growing seasons. Other cities, like Detroit, are figuring out ways to turn formerly residential land into small farms or large gardens that grow food for their soup kitchens, congregations or the needy.  The problem is that dirt you put a house on isn’t the same kind of dirt you grow tomatoes in.

What are some solutions? Most urban gardeners don’t have the patience to remediate soil over several years, so we either have to dig out the dirt and replace it with truckloads of soil OR truck in lots of soil to fill raised beds.  Another way is to make your own dirt.

Urban Café Style Gardening 2I’m trying a combination of strategies with The Garden of Stewardship over on East Eagle. The garden is on the property of Sheehan Health Network.  It was a big fenced-in grassy area. We cannot dig into the ground because it’s a very thin layer of dirt covering an awful lot of clay.  The grass/weeds are using what little dirt there is.  So, I decided to smother the grass and build our soil on top of it.  I am calling the strategy, the Urban Café Gardening Method to acknowledge the fact that all the materials we’ll use are found readily in cities–cities with coffee drinkers anyway!  Here’s how you can replicate it in your space.

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