Recycled timber all the way!

When our neighbour rang us up one day and said ‘I’m helping demolish a shed, do you want the hardwood frame for firewood’ ….. he knew all too well that we were going to say ‘ABSOLUTELY!’.

Within an hour there was a HUGE load of hardwood dumped in front of our shed. Little did we know that there were another 2 large loads to come. When we took a better look at the timber, we realised that much of it was too good for firewood and we could use it to service so many projects around the farm. Thus began the long and overwhelming task of sorting through this mountain of timber in 2 piles – recycling pile and firewood pile. Now that it’s done, we can say it was well and truly worth it and a win-win… they didn’t have to pay tip charges and we added to our recycled timber collection and woodshed!

Of course, this wasn’t the first load of recycled timber to come our way. My stepfather works in the building industry and has been a great source of used and free building materials. Our front fence is a dedication to him as he claimed a whole lot of hardwood timber from a demolition job for us that was destined for the tip. This managed to build our version of a 30-meter “picket” fence which was also….. free!

This new load of timber has already been earmarked to build a lean-to on the side of our large shed (stay tuned) but has been handy in a few smaller projects too. It has already become planter boxes and a study desk for the kids. The planter boxes were an easy project and all it involved was some blue plastic drums we had collected (for free off gumtree of course) and we cut a decent hole in the base to ensure good drainage. Using bugle screws (our screw of choice) we fixed the recycled timber to the drum. Of course with hardwood, pre-drilling the holes for the screws is a must otherwise the timber will split. And there you go, a free rustic planter box. As you can see, the grape is absolutely loving life!

Collecting wood is an obsession for me. Our shed is filled with oregon beams, basketball court flooring, lining boards from the old Dennison Railway Station, floorboards from an Inverloch woolshed and a heap of hardwood garden stakes from an old mill in Rawson that was shutting down.

These timbers have filled our home with a mish-mash of timbers that if they could talk, would tell a thousand stories. We’ve used them to make furniture, tables, clad ceilings and walls. Why buy new timber when there is so much that could be reused and recycled? It just doesn’t make any sense. When you can – choose recycled timbers!!!

Seed you soon!