Recently we worked with Seattle Children’s Hospital, Habitat For Humanity and Sellen Construction to salvage materials from a 130 unit condo development as part of the hospital’s expansion.

Our receiving dept. is busy processing the materials as I type. Second Use project manager Seth D’Ambrosia is happy to report that all 100+ 1940’s era light fixtures and globes made it back to the shop unscathed.

Last week the field crew worked for the first time with Gordon Construction, salvaging materials from a 1980’s home in Sammamish, WA – as well as deconstruction of a shed on the property.

The photo above shows the  kitchen”before” and “after” the strip out.

Here’s some action shots from day 1:

Cast-iron tubs on the top floor are the bane of my existence, it’s almost never worth the time, trouble and shocking low-back pain.

But sometimes, still – even at my advanced age… I can’t help it:

…I’ll never enjoy a hot soak in this beast, but maybe you will..?

Back next week to help get it down 3 flights of stairs. Ugh.

On Monday we’re going to strip-out materials from an Italian restaurant that’s served it’s last picatta – a nice load of stainless kitchen fixtures, dining chairs, lights, etc…. maybe even the menus.

Last couple of weeks, felt like the field crew was hopping from one kitchen strip-out to the next, some of those materials are still in stock – some are still on a truck, parked at our storage facility, waiting for the unload… Good selections of contemporary cabinets, appliances & plumbing fixtures.

Friday we brought back a nice haul from a 1920’s house on Bainbridge Island; fir flooring & beadboard most notably.

We start salvage work on a pretty cool house Monday:

The whole house is full of these beautiful mahogany doors and millwork + quartersawn oak flooring!

Later in the week: pallets of new contemporary light fixtures from a local distributor, a mid-century modern salvage job & PB’s going to the dentist to get his teeth fixed… Yo.

To view items from this job, Click Here

Brad & Jeff picked-up approximately 1000 sf of 6″ composite decking material Tuesday, should be on the floor tomorrow – And Flynn was out making the “East Side Sweep” picking up a variety of high quality building (and building adjacent) materials….

Later this week we start a demo project in a nice old lake front house from the 1920’s – Materials we expect to salvage include: 500 sf of maple flooring, cabinets, doors, vintage sinks, lighting and hardware.

Oh, and yard art… plenty of yard art!

On Monday, we salvaged a sweet birch & ply cabinet set, with this matching vanity.

We’re tired of waiting for this era to come back in style…

This is sexy…

The time is NOW..!

Click here to see the kitchen set from this job

Monday, we head south to begin clearing out a middle school gym in Sumner, WA – Look for flat grain bleacher boards to start hitting the sales floor Tuesday.

Maple gym floor sections to follow.

Ongoing Projects:

Monday we also finish up work on our Belltown Hotel Project which has been sequenced over the past year, we continue to carry a back stock of quality materials from this job, Click Hereto view some of the inventory.

Another school project we’ve been working on since last year is Chief Sealth High School in West Seattle – currently we’re receiving thousands of clean glass block, and they’re priced to move at $2 each.

Tuesday we return to the Paul Thiry House… this time with a fork lift, to hoist this sweet custom cabinet off the second floor balcony:

…no other way to get it back to the store, believe me… we’ve tried.

To view some of the materials still available from this unique project Click Here & Click Here

Finally:

There’s a number of contemporary kitchen strip-outs scheduled for the next couple of weeks – stay tuned for details, and click the New This Week link on the side bar of our Current Inventory web page… New materials arrive daily – many of which the field crew know nothing about… For real.

Second Use is currently salvaging materials from a home designed by architect Paul Thiry, who was known as the father of “Northwest Modernism”.  The home sits dramatically along the beach in the Normandy Beach neighborhood of Seattle.  The homeowners have worked closely with housemovers, and Second Use partner, Nickel Brothers since last year to find another lot for the home, but were ultimately unsuccessful in finding an option to relocate the structure.  The size and weight of the massive concrete home proved to offer too many obstacles to potential buyers, even though the owners offered to sell the house for $1 and extended their project deadline on several occasions.

Paul Thiry is known throughout the Northwest and the world as an architect who pushed the boundaries in design and construction.  This home was built in 1962, the same year as the World’s Fair was hosted in Seattle. Thiry was the lead architect for the fair and designed several important pieces that still remain in the city.   Thiry also designed Seattle’s Museum of History & Industry, the Frye Art Museum and buildings on the University of Washington and Western Washington University campuses.  Sunset Magazine featured the home on its cover in 1967 and described it as  “a gull poised for flight”.

Second Use field crews are still finishing up work on the house, but material should begin to arrive in the store as soon as April 7th.  The material will include teak paneling, teak and walnut cabinetry, mid-century hollow-core doors, and glass railing.

Click here for more information on Paul Thiry and to see examples of his work.  Below are some photos from the jobsite, which highlight the materials we expect to save.  Click here to see some of the inventory from this job.