Just hit 500 board feet of reclaimed lumber from Edmonton alleys

I've been grabbing old pallets and scrap wood from behind shops in the Whyte Ave area for about 8 months now. Yesterday I stacked all the usable pieces and measured them out of curiosity. Turns out I have over 500 board feet saved from the dump, mostly oak and pine. That's like $1,500 worth of wood if I bought it new from Home Depot. Has anyone else calculated how much they've saved by scavenging building materials around the city?

3 comments

3 Comments

simonh7416d ago

Buddy of mine tried the same thing near the stadium area. He grabbed this massive oak beam from behind a reno site, looked perfect with some cool old nail holes in it. Spent a whole weekend pulling nails and planing it flat, then built a coffee table for his wife. Table looked great for about three weeks until the wood started checking bad and the whole thing split down the middle. Turns out it was from an old porch that had been sitting in a puddle for years. He still jokes about it whenever someone mentions free lumber.

grace_allen15d ago

Man my buddy saved a bunch of old fence boards and his whole shed floor rotted out in two months.

sage_ramirez4210d ago

My neighbor three houses down did the same thing with pallet wood. He stacked it for like six months thinking it was gonna be free shelving, but the whole thing just disintegrated when it got damp. Had to chuck it all after a week of rain, @grace_allen.