Home Projects That Give New Life To Salvaged Wood, Metal, Concrete, And Brick
If you're tossing around a few home improvement ideas and really want something unique, you should consider looking into brick salvage and reusing construction materials. Not only will you save money on material costs, you'll end up with results that are anything but cookie-cutter boring as well as have a lot fun stretching your creative wings. Here's just a sliver of the projects you can accomplish with four commonly salvaged materials.
Salvaged Lumber
Salvaged lumber has been trendy now for several years for very good reason -- it looks great, is generally less expensive than its counterpart milled from new timber, and is durable, strong, and full of character. Most salvaged lumber is sourced from buildings such as old barns and warehouses that were crafted decades ago from lumber that was milled from the dense heartwood of old growth trees -- some of it's even over a century old, and it will stay good for at least another hundred years.
Salvaged lumber makes an excellent flooring material, and many small-batch furniture makers, artists, and other craftspeople are using it to create one-of-a-kind pieces for use in the home. Salvaged lumber is being used to create headboards, for instance, as well as tables, chairs, and cabinetry. If you're an oil painter or a watercolor artists, you might try using an attractive piece of recycled wood in place of a traditional canvas.
Salvaged Concrete
There isn't enough room to list all the uses for salvaged concrete here, but some favorites include raised beds for gardening, retaining walls, walkways, and backyard fire features. If you're artistic, you could use salvaged concrete to custom make your own garden statuary, or you could fashion a bird bath to keep your fine feathered friends hydrated and clean. You can also use small, gravel-sized pieces of salvaged concrete to create extra drainage in low lying, damp areas of your yard -- simply dig a small trench in the part of your yard where excess water frequently pools, and fill it with concrete bits, using them to hold a PVC drainage pipe in place.
Salvaged concrete is easily obtainable and often offered free from demolition sites, and some construction companies may even deliver it to your home for a small charge.
Salvaged Metal
Salvaged metal can be used in a wide variety of both practical and creative projects. You can use it to fashion a metal fence, for instance, or make a metal sculpture for your yard and garden area or a metal wall hanging to display on an interior or exterior wall. You can use recycled metal to make a trellis for a climbing rose, honeysuckle, or other vining plants, design and create a set of unique wind chimes to hang on your patio, or build a bird cage and buy a fine feathered friend to live in it. You can make a wine rack, a newspaper rack, or a bicycle rack. Get the family together in the backyard for a day of artistic fun with a bunch of salvaged metal and watch the magic happen.
Salvaged Brick
Prized for its classic appearance and characteristic durability, salvaged brick is a popular material for use in many home improvement projects. It can be used to create an old-school garden path, for instance, for those wanting to provide their English cottage-style garden with the perfect finishing touch. Perhaps best of all, salvaged bricks are the ideal material for those who want to build custom made wood-fired pizza ovens in the backyards. You can also use them to build planters, retaining walls, outdoor or indoor fireplaces, or even use them to line interior or exterior walls.
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