#salvage – Second Use Building Materials and Salvage

Salvaging Basketball History at Rainier Beach HS

Jessie — Tue, 22 Apr 2025 16:02:23 +0000

RBHS Gym Pre-Salvage

Every piece of bleacher board was lovingly extracted by hand by our skilled salvage team.

For over 30 years in the salvage business, Second Use has proudly rescued tons of reusable materials from local Seattle schools. These materials not only avoid ending up in the waste stream but also carry with them the history and memories that continue to enrich our communities.

One of the best parts of these jobs is discovering what makes each school unique. So when our resident basketball fanatic, Coach Em, spotted Rainier Beach High on the schedule, we knew we were about to get schooled—in the best way! This place isn’t just a high school, it’s a launchpad. With a stacked list of alumni who’ve gone on to light up the NBA, Rainier Beach is the stuff of hoops legend—and that’s just scratching the surface of what makes it so special.

Notable RBHS alumni include NBA stars like Nate Robinson, Jamal Crawford, Dejounte Murray, Doug Christie, Terrence Williams, Kevin Porter Jr., and MarJon Beauchamp. And if basketball isn’t your thing, the school is proud to count former NFL players Trent Pollard and Alameda Ta’mu among its grads.

Kevin Porter Jr. after the 3A Championship in 2016. Photo by Drew Perine

We’re proud to be part of the Rainier Beach High School Replacement Project! Once completed, the existing campus will be transformed into a brand-new, four-story facility spanning approximately 297,000 square feet. The new school will provide permanent space for 1,600 students in grades 9–12 and feature a regional Skills Center and a district data center. The project aims for LEED Platinum certification, reflecting a strong commitment to sustainability. Completion is scheduled for late 2026.
Learn more at: RBHS Replacement Project

Looking to score unique materials from the Rainier Beach project? Check out what’s currently in stock on our website! These one-of-a-kind items won’t last long — grab them while you can: Shop Available Materials

New Massive WA State Salvage Project

Jason — Mon, 26 Feb 2024 22:23:31 +0000

Our Salvage Team just kicked off a large project for Washington State – the first part of a master design plan that will re-envision an historic hospital campus that opened in 1871.

Second Use was engaged to remove a maximum amount of the reclaimable materials from 11 buildings on the existing campus. The structures span many decades and represent various construction styles and building practices – so a complicated removal. This project caps a year of collaborative work to gain the access needed to save these resources, and to make these materials available to our Tacoma and Seattle communities – This is core to our mission at Second Use.

We anticipate several tons of material will be diverted from the landfill, and include: bleacher boards, maple & pine bowling lanes, fir flooring, cabinets, doors, windows, vintage lights, and plumbing fixtures along with a sundry of industrial artifacts (tools, appliances, office and shop equipment, decorations and more).

New items added daily! See current salvaged inventory for sale >>

Historic Materials: The Lodge at St. Edward State Park

Amanda Harryman — Mon, 09 Aug 2021 21:11:09 +0000

The Lodge at St. Edward State Park opened in 2021, after spending a lot of time (and money) updating the 1930s-built Seminary building that had gone largely unused for a long time. They were dedicated to keeping as much history within the walls, as well as keeping the exterior of the Nationally Registered Historic Building in place. But after completing the build out of the hotel in the main seminary building, there were a lot of excess materials that they didn’t have a use for. They wanted to make sure these materials would get a new home, and we were happy to help with that mission.

Materials currently available at Second Use from Saint Edward

The Lodge at St. Edward State Park

Seattle Times article regarding the project. (May have a paywall.)

Salvage Job: 1910 Tacoma Mansion

Amanda Harryman — Wed, 28 Jul 2021 22:31:39 +0000

Our Tacoma salvage crew completed a BIG job in the summer of 2021. A mansion built in 1910 in Tacoma’s North End (just outside the North Slope Historic District) is sadly going to be coming down. Luckily, we are able to save a bunch of the great old materials from it before it happens. The house had three stories plus a full basement and had been converted to a triplex. There was evidence of a few remodels, but a lot of the original materials remained. Someone had already started to remove the items when we were brought in, so job one was to haul those out. Next we worked on the window sashes and other trim and fixture pieces. Lastly, we got to work on those old locally produced fir floors. These items all go back to our Tacoma store and are sold to the community, many of it ending back up in other historic Tacoma homes.

You can see available materials from this location here.

Historical Materials: Lincoln Hardware Displays in Tacoma

Amanda Harryman — Thu, 05 Nov 2020 20:14:33 +0000

Due South of Second Use Tacoma sat a local favorite in Lincoln Hardware. A true mom and pop, it had been run by three generations of a local family. The current operators, all siblings, decided to retire this year. They did it on their own terms and timeline, and were not forced to close by any external pressures. We wish them all a very happy retirement!

Display and aisles of Lincoln Hardware in Tacoma before the owners retired and closed the business.

Second Use was very happy to help them find new homes for some of their custom built display units. We are using some of the units in our own Tacoma store, and it makes our crew happy to have that bit of Tacoma history living on at our store.

But we also have several units available for the legacy to continue with you! Maybe you will find one with some hand written information about what used to be on its shelves!

Read more about Lincoln Hardware’s legacy in this great article by local historian Kim Davenport.

Free Pick Up Thursday: Every Second Thursday of the Month

Mary Anne Carter — Thu, 03 Jan 2019 21:26:36 +0000

Second Use is offering free pick ups for qualifying materials throughout the Tacoma area on the second Thursday of every month! To be considered, please fill out the form here and give us a little bit of info about your project, as well as the date you are interested in. We are currently scheduling for the next three dates:

Thursday, 1/10/19
Thursday, 2/14/19
Thursday, 3/14/19

Unsure if your material qualifies? Check out our acceptance policies here.

Thank you for considering Second Use for your next project!

Customer Project: A Plethora of Projects

Emma Kates-Shaw — Thu, 01 Nov 2018 00:30:27 +0000

We’re grateful for customers like Jacob G. who incorporate salvage into every corner of their lives and homes! Check out some of Jacob’s inspiring projects below!

We love these industrial lockers as pantry storage! Check out similar lockers we have in stock here!

And this vintage icebox transformed into a rad liquor cabinet!

Jacob turned this lovely glass sink into an outdoor bird bath!

How gorgeous is this live edge entry bench?? Check out some of the beautiful spalted maple live edge we’ve got in stock here and here!

These theater seats make awesome entryway seating!

Thank you for your commitment to the salvage lifestyle, Jacob!

Have a 2U success story of your own? We’d love to hear from you! Send us an email at customerprojects@seconduse.com with pictures and a brief description of your project for a chance to be featured on our blog/instagram and $5 store credit!

Customer Project: Door Upgrade

Emma Kates-Shaw — Wed, 31 Oct 2018 19:01:13 +0000

It’s no secret that changing the exterior appearance of a house can make it look and feel brand new! Second Use customer Rachel gave her house a gorgeous update using two doors from Second Use, and the results are stunning!

Before:

Rachel’s grey brick home mid- paint job, with the old doors still installed.

Here’s a look at the old doors Rachel took out:

And the ones she got from Second Use, stained and ready to be installed!

After:

Rachel updated the exterior of her brick home with a fresh, modern coat of white paint, which pairs beautifully with her salvaged glowing fir doors from Second Use! Rachel replaced both the front and garage doors.

Beautiful work, Rachel! Thanks for sharing!