Re: Finally pictures of my newest project.
The lumber I get is kind of an unusual story. My dad drives truck. One of his regular stops is right next door to a steel manufacturer that makes farm equipment. He noticed that in the back they had a large dumpster, one of the construction sizes about 20 feet or so. It was full of wood scraps. He asked one of the employees what it was from, he told him it was packing from the flatbed trucks. Cheaper to throw it out than to keep it. The 2x4's are the tops of the trees so they are not completely square, and the 1/2 inch plywood sheeting is in 4x4 squares. Dad being the scavenger he is (runs in the family) thought it would be good firewood. He talked to the trash man that dumps the container. It cost them a lot to dump at the landfill, so dad has him dump it at his farm. So once a month or so he gets a pile of lumber dumped in his yard. <br /><br />So far I have built my deck, which I will post a picture of, my sister built a second floor on her house, I built a garage for a friend, and dad has built a few small buildings for his birds he raises. He also bundles and sells it at auctions. He also gets good pallets he sells to Nebraska Pallet, good oak 4x4 posts 2x2 stock, and often chunks of sheet metal.<br /><br />I never thought of auto parts stores for dumpster diving. Have been to the goodwill dumpsters when they clear their inventory. Good stuff there!
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<br /><br />The best part of this is the cost. All of the 2x4 lumber and a majority of the 1/2 inch sheeting were free! The flatbed trucks that haul steel and sheetmetal use this wood for shipping. I then collect it from the dumpsters and use it for these projects. You can see a little of my deck on the one shot.
