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I've hugged trees. But I also wanted a beautiful wooden house.
Home, habitat, jobs. How to cut it?
I love wood in all forms, standing as trees, carved as masks, strewn about as driftwood. I love the sharp pine smell, the musty red cedar, the soothing balm of cottonwood. I love the rings in the grain, the leaves littered on the forest floor and the web of bare branches in winter. Over the years, I've flung my arms around trees and attempted several times to protect them. After all, here I am on the mystical islands of Haida Gwaii, amidst the inspiration for Bill Reid's poetic ode to the cedar tree.
Then again, like young adults from a variety of species, I want to build a nest. But that seems to mean I must be complicit in the massacre of majestic trees. I'm wanting knotty, without feeling naughty. Especially after my partner and I, seduced by the silvery sheen on Skidegate Inlet and a stunning view of islands and mountains, bought an old house in Queen Charlotte.
It was a conventional stick-frame house, built with skookum hand-milled timbers by strong, healthy men. But it had some issues. We lamented the tiny windows built into little gables on the view side on the upper floor. Anyone over six feet tall had to lower his or her head to get up the staircase. And the pink vinyl floor covering had to go. So like the rest of the western world, we decided to renovate.
Renovating, as I soon found out, is a wicked waste of wood. I was wracked with guilt.
Adventures in destruction
Deconstructing something that has already been built, no matter how carefully one goes about it, leaves waste. And there was lots of it. Oh, sure, we saved things, salvaged what we could. Even from the rotting deck made of spruce boards, some so punky I could rip them off with my bare hands. With these, my job was to hammer the nails out of reusable boards and stack them in neat little piles for later.
So that afternoon, when I saw the hired hand ripping the bevelled cedar planks off the side of the house, I went ballistic.
The poor guy. "What the @*$#! are you doing?" I demanded, watching the boards being ripped off and thrown to the ground, cracked and jagged.
He was up on a ladder and had been all smiles until I opened my mouth.
He was acting under instructions. My partner had told him to tear the stuff off. The flashing underneath had been done wrong, so water had been pouring in behind the siding for years. Besides, we decided to raise the roof on the front side, so we could make better use of the upstairs and actually have a room with a view. That meant the siding had to come off around the godforsaken gables anyway.
"Remember the rotting hole under the window?" he said to help me feel better about such a barbaric waste of wood. "Once the siding is gone, there will be no more surprises." I conceded.
But the renovation was a never-ending series of surprises. The more we tore apart, the more we found wrong with the bones of our 35-year old house, and the more waste we created.
Some of the changes were purely aesthetic. We took down a wall between the small kitchen and the tiny living room to open up the space. Thus some of the pine panelling in the living room had to be peeled off. I know I said I love wood, but once we got going, all four walls were clean of the stuff and it was all garbage. We justified the waste with our desire for white walls. It helps counteract the grey days we so often live through on the islands.
And we tried not to squander. Our woodpile became the source of several backyard barbeques -- hot dogs may not be the lap of luxury, but no flame was wasted during the burning spree last fall. Several salvaged two-by-fours went back into the reconstructed rooms. And it's amazing who comes out of the woodwork to spirit away other discards, like the shadowy fellow who gathered up our old fiberglass pink. (Makes a great insulator for the skirt of a jerry-rigged trailer, I hear.)
Shake rats
It wasn't until we started putting the pieces back together again that guilt turned to pleasure.
First it was the soffits. I'd never heard of them before, but now I'm sure I've got the most beautiful in the entire northwest.
It only took several hundred board feet of cedar. That, and two weeks of labour. Planed and turned into tongue and groove with the help of a table saw and some old strips of plywood, the pieces fit nice and tight under the roofline. With perforated metal strips incorporated, we now have a properly vented roof.
Next came the shingles, cedar, of course. Forty-six (or was it more?) bundles for a double course.
I felt good about using these. They're sourced by people called shake block cutters (also known as shake rats) who are looked down on for being scroungers...as if recycling's a bad thing. These guys make use of trees felled in the 1960s and 70s that were left there to rot, and use only a chainsaw, a pick up and a couple of pals. (Okay, and a helicopter to fly out the bundles.) Brian Bussiere, who comes third in a generational line of "blockers," operates the shake and shingle mill in Masset. He says 90 per cent of the cedar blocks they buy come from salvaged wood. The shingles are mostly shipped south and then on to markets on the eastern seaboard where "shingle style" was all the rage in the late 1800s and is coming back into vogue. We plucked our few bundles out of the export stream and paid a guy for the seven straight days' labour of hammering them up.
Then there are posts and beams framing our grand entranceway. The carpenter insisted we couldn't have an ugly doorway. In the original house, there wasn't much of a vestibule, meaning we would have marched right into the living space with our muddy boots. He built us an addition, complete with overhanging roof (more pretty soffits), six-by-six posts and wide plank fascias, all from the venerable cedar.
We rebuilt the stairs, using pieces of bird's eye hemlock. Although hemlock is starting to sell again these days, there was a huge crash in the market in the mid-1990s, during which the light, pinkish wood became known as trash. Our window trim and baseboards are made from island pine, another local tree disparaged by the market.
Pulp friction
This is where the real guilt-free thing comes in. Most of this wood came from Abfam in Port Clements, the island's only mid-size mill. It's the kind of place where you can go and pick out your clear pieces and get a special order or two sawn up. Some of the cedar came from another local guy, Tim Fennell, who can remember which tree each one-by-six in his pile came from. These people have families here, and try (against tough odds sometimes) to make a living. As Jim Abbott, proprietor of Abfam once told me, he's in his line of work for the way of life, not just a job. "Somebody says I'm local, I've worked here for 20 years. And I always say, when your job goes away where do you go? A lot of them say Nanaimo or Chilliwack," he said.
The floor still makes me cringe. It's tight-grained old-growth Douglas fir, and it's beautiful. I called our friend in Quesnel, who milled it up, then personally drove 1,000 kilometres, then took the ferry across Hecate Strait, to deliver it to us in the spring. Knowing full well my desire to be green, our friend with the sawmill just laughed when I asked if it was ethical. It shouldn't have been cut, he said. "West Fraser couldn't put it through their mill, the logs were too big."
"But if I hadn't have turned it into flooring, it would have become pulp," he added to make me feel better. Then to further soften the blow, he described how the beautiful wood may even have been reduced to newsprint for a no-good newspaper.
Not to mention that he created several jobs too. "Too many," he muttered looking at his bottom line.
At least, he said, really trying to cheer me now, it's not laminate. Or some petroleum product. Nor did we buy from a large corporation.
Tree living
At one point in my life, I volunteered at Greenpeace. I took the Sierra Legal Forest Watch training. I am aware of the vulnerability of our ancient old-growth forests, but I live in a community where forestry is a fact of life and, especially if you count the wildlife studiers, the carpenters, the small plane operators and other peripherals, many people on the islands have made a good living thanks to the trees.
It's never simple. Now I worry that salvaging fallen cedar from the '70s is destroying wildlife habitat. But if I'm going to use it, I prefer to buy wood from the neighbours, people I see at community dances or in the grocery store, people who have invested theirs and their families' lives here.
Bamboo may regenerate in three years, as opposed to the 100 it takes a tree, but most of it has to come all the way from China, then up from Vancouver or wherever, before it could be incorporated into my home.
Don't get me wrong. I'm not trying to justify unsustainable cutting practices in the old-growth forests on these islands or anywhere. Islanders, Haida and non-Haida alike, are working to gain more control over the resource, and have gone to great lengths to have their voices heard about the problems.
Use it or lose it
One of the things everyone talks about is encouraging small value-added industry, to help make the local economy viable. I can access my construction needs on the island, that's a small part of the solution.
I don't have any claim to the forest resources of the islands like the Haida. But I like to think I have a healthy appreciation for the fine uses to which they put such beautiful wood. The new Haida Heritage Centre at Qay'llnagaay in Skidegate is a wood lover's delight. Three hundred local trees went into the construction of this stunning cultural gathering place, museum, tourist attraction and modern office space in one -- a facility expected to open in spring 2007.
For just one four-foot-wide, 40-foot long plank used for the fascia -- the horizontal surface immediately below the edge of the roof -- CEO Robert Dudoward said they needed to find a tree seven feet in diameter at the base. For a four-foot diameter column, a five-foot tree was found.
It took a while (no thanks to years of steady cutting by corporations like Weyerhaeuser), but they found the monumentals they needed and Dudoward is unapologetic. Had the trees not been used in the Haida Heritage Centre, these massive specimens would have been exported off the islands, he says.
"What better place to leave evidence that these trees existed," he says.
And that's what makes me feel best of all. We may have used our fair share of wood in the renovation, but once complete, the building that has taken over two years of our blood, sweat and splinters is going to be around a long time.
Related Tyee Stories:
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MJK
6 years ago
You did good
Nice article, Heather. You used a local (well, except for the flooring) renewable resource. Unlike the Hardi-plank or vinyl-sided houses which have high manufacturing and transpoortation costs. Not to mention the recycling problems years down the road.
Hey, how about a 100-mile diet for our houses?
Enjoy your lovely wooden home. I'm envious.
Fiat lux
6 years ago
As a strong
As a strong environmentalist, woodworker and forest owner, I can assure Heather that theres nothing wrong with selective logging, as it improves the forest. The same as organic food growing we have to rely on to survive.
In this area there are several woodlot owners, including our friends and next neighbours, the Krimmer family, who have received the highest degree of certification for enwironmentally friendly logging.
The harm is done, when huge machines clearcut large areas, then the corporations announce that they have "reforested" so many acres, not mentioning that most of those seedlings die within 3 years, Then they "reforest" again and announce the new, "increased" acreage.
But then big business has always relied and survived on lies, fraud and deceit to "increase efficiency", which in modern language means legalized theft from the environment and public.
Most of the small local mills have been destroyed by government policies giving unlimited privileges to the corporations, but I can still buy most of my lumber from a small, 2 man mill, using environmentally friendly logging on their own woodlot and small, portable mill.
Ed Deak, Big Lake.
doggone
6 years ago
Well said
As a renovator/carpenter and having logged and Shake bolted (Blocked) a bit it is interesting to read the sentiments of one "owner".
In fact I had a close look at a dwelling for sale in Queen Charlotte City last September. I built my own house in a manner similar to what I saw there but I would never do that for wages.
I also attempt to recycle as much wood as I can but with even the labourer costing 15 - 20$/hour (and cleaning up and storing used wood time consuming) we generally waste too much.
We actually walked around the Haida Heritage Museum: what better place for some of the trees from the Island considering that they will be felled anyway. The only better place would be "on the stump" but that does not seem to be an option. By the way the "Tourist Information Centre" in QCC is the best in the world so far. Thanks to the lady there.
robertmcclelland
6 years ago
Regarding waste wood. Few
Regarding waste wood. Few people know this, but when you're doing a major renovation project that produces a lot of waste hardwood, you can often get a local manufacturer of shipping pallets to come out and haul it away for you. They then recycle it into their product. They'll pretty much take any piece of hardwood lumber that's at least 4 feet in length and is free of nails and screws.
doggone
6 years ago
every fibre is precious
A few years ago I made a cone shaped roof for the bird feeder out of heavy fir bark knocked off firewood - just cut the slabs into a triangle and stitch it together with some silicone caulk and a few long screws.
You do need a good sized chainsaw and a screw gun and some caulking. It has stood the test of time: the post rotted off and the little hat fell on the ground someday I will plant another post - in the meantime we scatter bird feed in the toppled hat.
My point is:
We are wasting wood for the same reason the dog licks his balls: because he can! This applies to a lot of other resources.
Uh oh. Herself just got back from work.
Later
granthams
6 years ago
waste wood
I go to the local dump on a regular basis and salvage wood. There is a mountain of wood there that is free for the taking. There is construction wood there, hardwood for woodworking projects and I am heating my house with tinder dry old growth fir. i.e. old 2 x 4's. I know of someone who built an addition to her house entirely with material from the dump and it is all to code and you would never know it to look at it.
doggone
6 years ago
The other thing
I've been renovating and building houses for too many years.
I have also had the opportunity to see how much (or at least some) of the rest of the world house themselves.
In most places I have visited there is NO waste. Especially wood will be salvaged and salvaged again. Rocks that were initially part of Hadrian's wall appear in fences and house walls anywhere near the original wall. Mexican workers denail every twisted twig and stack it carefully for re use.
We see massive logs floating up on our beaches and regard them as an eyesore. If the beachfront owner (or the wind and tide) float them again we regard them as an "Hazard to shipping".
Years ago I proposed scooping all the detritus floating about in the Gulf Islands and Barging it down to Mexico. Someone apparently tried it and could not get past the "red Tape"
I'm still working on the "point" of my posts
woody
6 years ago
CHEAP LUMBER
Years ago a friend of mine built a large addition onto his house, the lumber he had used for this project was all purchased from a lumber salvage business. While searching in the salvage yard for the proper dimensional lumber, the yards operator approached him, and queried him as to his lumber needs, upon which the operator pointed out a vast lumber pile of rough cut dimensional lumber. It was very apparent that the lumber had been piled there for some time. My friend asked what the price was for the complete pile. The price quoted to him was more than fair, he told me, he would have gladly paid triple the asking price ,the operator stated though, he wanted it out immediately as he required the space for incoming inventory. My friend soon had the lumber home and started on his addition. As he worked with the salvaged lumber he became very aware of a peculiar odor emitting from it, when the lumber got wet from the rain, the odor was almost overwhelming. Now with his addition 95% built, he called up the salvage yard operator to seek out his assistance, in regards to the odor in his lumber. The operator explained, this was why he sold the lumber to him so cheap, due to its fishy smell, he had thought the lumber may have come from an old demolished fish cannery. He stated, several weeks back the person that had sold him the lumber came to his yard looking for an insulated door. He took this opportunity to question him about the smelly lumber. It was explained to him by the lumbers previous owner, he had wanted to build himself a small house on his 20 acre property, but the cost of lumber was to high. Fortunately for him there was a stand of trees on his property, he purchased a small used sawmill and cut all his own lumber he noticed that the lumber had a fishy odor, but assumed, when the lumber dried out it would quit smelling, and for the most part it did..But when it rained on the lumber, the smell came back. Before he had a chance to use the lumber, he was given a very high offer for his property which he accepted. The new owner told him to keep his lumber as he had other plans for the property. Strange, he had stated to the lumber salvager, as to why the lumber smelled so fishy, especially when it got wet. The lumber salvager asked, what species of wood was it you cut that lumber from? Pussy Willow he replied.
maestro
6 years ago
Woody woody woody; You
Woody woody woody;
You forgot to mention how they got the BARK off.
maestro
6 years ago
At various construction
At various construction sites, one would notice Disposal Bins marked " Wood Waste Only ".
At a GVRD seminar, I met a person who ran a company that recycled this wood.
Apparently, they would process this leftover lumber etc. from construction sites into the equivalent of Hog Fuel and shipped it to a Pulp Mill via barges to run their boilers.
However, I believe that Pulp Mill is now closed, and I am not sure if his recycling business is still around either. My discussion with him indicated that even one mill closing would create surplus fuel on the market.
RickW
6 years ago
However, I believe that Pulp Mill is now closed
Yes, moved to the States no doubt. Can'tr have actual manufacturing of any sort here, ya know.......
maestro
6 years ago
Actually, it appears many
Actually, it appears many Pulp Mills in North America will have dubious viability.
Technolgy has changed to the point that many Pulp mills exist in more offshore locations and not reliant on North American wood pulp.
doggone
6 years ago
Pussy Willow?
The only plant I call that is a low bush. Never seen a tree that could be milled. One species: Alpine Fir smells like urine and has the nickname: Piss Fir. It's not a bad construction material but it "rags out" when drilled.
Recycled wood:
We have a couple of resources near Nanaimo: Restore and Demexx. They are an immense resource but by no means free. One type of recycling that I have been involved with often (site preparation and foundation construction) is: House moving. Rather than trashing the existing house it is picked up and trucked to another location. The latest one is priced at about 80 thousand dollars for 1700 square feet. The site prep, repair, foundation, services and cost of land are not included. Only houses worth moving are available, but we have found places for some very good houses.
The older house tends also to have better material (the wood, not the wiring, plumbing and insulation) and if it shows it has stood the test of time it is a good option.
maestro
6 years ago
Recycling wood " Legally
Recycling wood " Legally "
The apparent " rule " for recycling wood ie 2 x 4's - 2x 10's etc. into structural buildings (unless one live outside bylaw enforcement area/ jurisdictions) was that:
(i) the lumber must have its original GRADE STAMP...or
(ii) it must have an Engineer's stamp to recertify it ie for GLULAM beams etc.
ALSO: I hate OSB, Plywoods not bad, but Shiplap in my view is far better for various reasons.
woody
6 years ago
STICKY FLIES
maestro
The fella that built his addition using recycled pussy willow lumber wasn’t the brightest bolt in the box ,but this next guy was even duller.When Richmond was switching over to sanitary sewers from septic tanks,there were quite a few outhouses sitting about. My brother not wanting to see all this good aged fir and cedar rot or go to waste, set out to salvage all he could .On the under standing,for his dismantling the out houses and removal of the lumber, his obligation in turn was to fill or cover the sh!t hole, my brother being the asshole that he was, this job was well suited to him. With all this free lumber stored every where ,he required his own property , he acquired some 5 acres in the bush some where south of Langley. He built himself a shack out of this salvaged outhouse lumber. The shack not only looked like a sh!t house, it smelled like one as well, it was a house fit for assholes . Now with his castle in place he required a mate, he knew a foreign girl on Lulu island, she lived on the other side of the tracks (tram tracks) if you get my drift. His new wife thought herself as being of high esteem, as she walked about in her shack, her nose held high, the air passing though her flared her nostrils, she would suck in all those sh!t house flies. Noticing these advantageous attributes, I thought of going out with her sister ,but noticed on many occasions when she entered an out house, all the flies would vacate, this frighten me off for some reason..
*Foot note for those who are not familiar with outhouses, outhouse flies are inherent with sh!t house lumber*
doggone
6 years ago
Out houses
Wow, Woody what kinda brother have you got there? The centrepeice of my small window view here in the computer room is the old outhouse. The door has fallen off and it has not been used except to store garden tools for a number of years. But I like it there. Every property should have one and condos can build "Pit Latreens". If the system breaks down you may not be fortunate enough to flush.
The smell: with some maintenance an outhouse smells very little. Septonic (specifically for outhouse use) lots of water and burning the paper instead of dropping it in the hole helps. Stir now and then. (burn the stick too). Compared to the other options: massive sewer systems, septic tanks and fields or just holding your own the rickety old house looks pretty good
maestro
6 years ago
Holy Sh!te: How about
Holy Sh!te:
How about recycled outhouse holes...
I know a guy who used to dig the hole out and put the stuff into buckets and take it to the dump.
The epitome was seeing a GOV'T Drawing of an Outhouse design at a wrecking yard in 100 Mile House...it was a draftsman/engineers' drawing with all the details ie measurements , specs etc. ..."BUTT" in the "end" it looked no different than something most people built. Typical Gov't.
So Woody, ...I'm guessing you still send your brother Xmas cards eh?( What's his name on THE TYEE LOL). Otherwise good story, as you were also being a bit "knotty" with the p*ssy willow double- entendre, .....c'mon ,admit it !
woody
6 years ago
were tight as nuns
maestro asked,
.
Answer to your first question,Oh, of course I send him Xmas cards, why were as tight as 65 year old nuns.
Answer to your second question, I would doubt very much that he subscribes to the Tyee, only if there was a possibility that there was a buck in it for him,no this guy is out living the good life, trying to impress people with his bull sh!t, and trying to relieve them of some of their funding.
maestro
6 years ago
Back on topic: Common lore
Back on topic:
Common lore in the recycling industry was that in the Vancouver West End, many of the old beautiful Victorian residential single family buildings were hand- demolished.
Just about everything was sold - off...the wood etc. was prime for re-use . Many farmers grabbed it and built barns etc...
I met a fellow who ( probably close to 60 years old now ) whose job was to smash the beautiful stained glass windows to salvage the lead that held the glass together.
Old red brick from buildings and chimneys was popular and are becoming popular again.
The Vancouver Macaroni Grill(once Hy's) is an example of some of the beautiful houses that once did exist.
I remember that once "Cats"/bulldozers were used to demolish houses. In the early 1980's I recall seeing one contractor undermine a house like a tree , push it over, then slowly burned the debris pile...this was only 2 blocks from Downtown Richmond.
Demolition became more mechanized but the irony is its efficiency -by -default(Ed /Fiat Lux may like this) is filling the Landfills at a rapid pace. Demolition and construction debris accounts for HUGE % of landfill. There is talk that this will end, and the demolition debris be used for other means than landfill.
The US has taken asphalt shingles and ground them up and used in road asphalt. Cement is also being ground up for road base. etc. etc.
doggone
6 years ago
I had some "hazardous waste"
Working on a rennovation in West Van a couple of years ago. I carefully separated the Drywall and took a load down to the "Recycling Centre" They charged a small fee and directed me to throw the stuff out on a pile of computers and arm chairs. I guess they know what they are doing. Went back and loaded up the ceramic tile and bits of wood and returned to the "Centre": even smaller fee but the same pile of computers and armchairs and my drywall bits. I do not want to cause trouble for the people who are running these stations. We are not "recycling" we are throwing things "over the bank" as we have always done. If "The bank" has to be moved up to Ashcroft so be it.
doggone
6 years ago
I had some "hazardous waste"
Working on a rennovation in West Van a couple of years ago. I carefully separated the Drywall and took a load down to the "Recycling Centre" They charged a small fee and directed me to throw the stuff out on a pile of computers and arm chairs. I guess they know what they are doing. Went back and loaded up the ceramic tile and bits of wood and returned to the "Centre": even smaller fee but the same pile of computers and armchairs and my drywall bits. I do not want to cause trouble for the people who are running these stations. We are not "recycling" we are throwing things "over the bank" as we have always done. If "The bank" has to be moved up to Ashcroft so be it.
maestro
6 years ago
Doggone it!!! DOGGONE.....
NOTE: We can discuss this in more detail later, maybe even another related TYEE topic in the future.
At a GVRD seminar on landfill waste..I met a demolition contractor who resonated informed "skepticism /cynicism" at the same meeting .
(I love types like him !!! )
I talked to him after the meeting, and he commented(HIS words) that what we recycle in blue boxes often ends up at the Landfill /dump....one always has to be wary of BUREAUCRATIC Definitions ie recycling = ???.
He said much of the blue box items get first diverted into other non landfill stations, often baled and compressed, then taken to the Landfill/dump.
HE, (again HE) claimed that we are being ripped - off re: the Blue Boxes...being charged for a service that effectively only temporarily diverts many of the items from the dump..or as Doggone says..."over the bank".
Perhaps this " blue -box recycling " should undergo FAR greater scrutiny.
Me3
6 years ago
shaggy dog stories
"Pussy Willow" indeed, Woody.
It will be a long time before I forget that one. :-)
darcy.mcgee
6 years ago
How is this a problem?
Wood is a renewable resource.
Humans need shelter.
Wood is an effective method of constructing relatively permanent, long term shelter.
This is not a problem.
G West
6 years ago
from P J O'Rourke
Fully 87% of our paper stock," says Jerry Taylor, comes from trees which are grown as a crop specifically for the purpose of paper production. Acting to 'conserve trees' through paper recycling is like acting to 'conserve corn' by cutting back on corn consumption." To cap this argument Taylor presents a National Wildlife Federation study shooing that recycling 100 tons of newspaper produces 40 tons of toxic sludge. "Thirteen of the 50 worst Superfund hazardous waste dumps were once recycling facilities," says Taylor.