Western New York's Largest Supplier of Reclaimed & Surplus Building Material

Building Material ReUse

Articles about reusing and repurposing used building materials.

REUSE Materials From Your Construction Project–
IMPROVE Your Bottom Line With Deconstruction & Salvage

by

The removal of construction materials from both commercial and residential buildings is called deconstruction or more simply salvage. Both terms describe the careful removal of quality materials with the explicit purpose of reuse. The use of reclaimed materials has become quite popular in commercial redevelopment. Examples of reclaimed materials used in new designs can be seen in WNY at Canalside, Five Points Bakery on the West Side; the new Thin Man Brewery in the Elmwood Village; and Aroma Cafe on North Forest in Amherst, to name just a few. Almost every new project is hoping to achieve a unique and … Read more

BIG SALE, Saturday Only 9am – 4pm

by

ReUse Action is open for reclaimed material sales on Saturdays, 9 AM – 4 PM at OUR NEW LOCATION: 980 Northampton Street, Buffalo 14211 Cash or Credit Card Sales. All Sales Are Final. All Items Are Sold As Is. Cash and Carry. No Refunds, No Returns, No Holds Please be prepared to take your materials with you at time of sale. All items subject to prior sale. LUMBER Blowout Sale! Dimensional, antique, and FIREWOOD! We have SO much lumber to move along . . . time to make room for Spring inventory. Here’s just a sample. SATURDAY ONLY! You will be happy … Read more

Mirror, Mirror, on the (Curb?)

by

We need mirrors! The funkier the better – in fact, we’ve found the very best mirrors are found on the curb, across the city, abandoned by their ungrateful owners. Rusted Grain crafters have been making lots and lots of picture frames and we want to add some mirror excitement to some of them. We’re calling on our ReUse Explorers to spot curbside mirrors and grab them for us. We’ve found you can’t hesitate, you need to pull over quickly & safely and load up with free mirror! We’ll take pretty much anything, but if the glass is broken, only take … Read more

People ask us . . . Why Do You Do What You Do?

by

From our About page: Question: People ask us . . . Why Do You Do What You Do? (WDYDWYD?) Answer 1: Jobs! We’re committed to creating local and green jobs for the Buffalo community. More importantly, we feel these jobs should leverage the waste in our society to create opportunity. We’re interested in a critical analysis of our economy to identify wasteful business practices that damage our communities and our environment, and opportunities that exist for new ventures. We’re determined to find solutions and to implement alternatives that put people to work. Answer 2: Innovation! As we look at the … Read more

Saving the Country Club!

by

ReUse Action’s Restoration crew began a project to save this “Country Club”, built in the 80’s and greatly in danger of being lost.  The building boasts huge timbers and locally milled hemlock lumber. Unfortunately, years of neglect has resulted in severe deterioration to the southwest wall. It’s our hope the new owner will be able to provide the necessary push to get this building to the point where it can be utilized and appreciated for years to come. Here are some initial photos of the building it was found Friday. The top photo shows the building, completely finished with locally … Read more

ReCycle Your Kitchen . . . and we’ll take all the debris too!

by

Between Christmas and New Years ReUse Action took on a kitchen demolition for the Phillips Family on Lafayette in the City of Buffalo.  Kitchens are one of the most specialized and individualized rooms in a house.  Often the kitchen is the first room to be renovated by new home owners, because of the diverse tastes of folks and because they’re such high use areas.  So, lots of cabinets get removed and many end up on the curb and in the waste stream. Brandon and I, with the determined support of the homeowner, took on the task!  We carefully removed all … Read more

Wood Sash Windows – Why Rebuild? Why Not Buy Vinyl?

by

ReUse Action is now repairing and rebuilding wooden sash windows. We offer services from re-glazing, glass replacement to full reconstruction from scratch. Give us a call if you’d like to know more. Why not simply replace with vinyl windows? Most energy research shows that leaky windows are responsible for most of the heat loss in our houses. This is a difficult subject to find objective facts about because the replacement window industry overwhelmingly dominates the discussion. A typical vinyl window advertisement highlights the following: 1. Low-U (or high-R) value of the gas-filled double pane glass 2. Low-E glass 3. Maintenance-free, … Read more

A ReUse Resolution . . .

by

In 2012, we resolve to keep more reusable materials out of the landfill, than ever before . . . You can help – call the ReUse Action TIP line, whenever you see building materials heading for the curb, OR if you know of a building project that will be tearing out the old, to make way for the new, OR you know of a pending demolition . . . WE WANT TO KNOW.  CALL 716-884-DEMO (3366) or EMAIL tip@reuseaction.com. If you think it’s urgent (and it often is), you can also TEXT A TIP directly to Michael at 716-949-0900. Everyone … Read more

Back from the mill!

by

Last week we took a shipment of 2x lumber stock to a mill in Arcade, NY Brauen Custom Millwork.  It is very exciting to be able to track the life of this wood–from where the lumber came from to how it was processed and finally to the end product.  This lumber came from the demolition of the John Deere Factory in Syracuse, NY, was tracked and coded by D-Build, brought back to Buffalo by the Green Demo Team to Action HQ, shipped to the mill, and is now being used in Rusted Grain’s woodshop.  We will be using this lumber … Read more

+ More