I confess , I”m a Keepaholic
My too small garage and my way too small shop as well as every other place I dont have room for more stuff is filed with all kinds leftover building materials, light fixtures , electrical , etc,etc, Some of it actually gets used if I dont forget that its there.
I was doing pretty good though, actually sorted & organized some of it, even threw away some of the lumber that had the thickest dust on it.
Then the other day I demo’d an 8 x 7 room that was paneled in 1 x 6 T&G cedar, customer says “can you save it ? my brother wants the cedar” I say “sure, if you dont mind paying me to carefully pull each nail so I dont damage it” She says “Aw nevermind, just rip it down”
End of the day, I end up with a pickup full of nail embedded cedar, some cracked, most with the tongues and/or grooves broken off, to be hauled to the dumpster. somehow though it ended up in my shop where I spent an hour resawing & pulling nails (OK, maybe 2 hours)
Anyone else have tyhis problem ?
Replies
Yup, and I can't offer any advice. I blame everyone else for throwing out good stuff.
Rez And JohnT8 are your guys here. And Junkhound is their Godfather.
Pop, lock, and drop it.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ChIdFwQwoYM&feature=related
Dad has it bad.
People accuse me of it. But I don't think I have it as bad as dad.
I am no psychiatrist but I think keepaholism is related to Obsessive Compulsive Disorder.
Do you like to do quality work or are you a Git-R-Done person.
People with OCD who hoard things do it for a variety of reasons, they may feel compelled to do so for some reason and can't stop themselves, or they may have an irrational fear that throwing something away will cause harm to themselves or others.
Most people who collect stuff probably do it for the reasons edwardh1 mentioned: they hope it can be used or come in handy when thy have time, or it reminds them of pleasant times from the past (that is, they don't want to throw away or sell something of their grandmothers even if they will never use it or even ever look at it)
Also, some people don't mind living around a lot of clutter. Personally, I'd rather get rid of scrap wood and keep the garage clear, even if it means I occasionally regret throwing out something I could have used.
Edited 3/1/2008 12:22 pm ET by snap pea
The solution to the wood scrap saving syndrome can be as simple as moving to a cold climate and heating the shop with a wood stove...works for me anyway.I do save most leftover trim, longer than firewood length, though. ;o)
Yes, burning works also, as long as it's gone forever. Out of sight, out of mind : )
I think we do it for the same reason we get fat. Our ancestors battled drought, plague, war and currencies that became worthless. At http://www.godlikeproductions.com somebody is claiming the end is near.Mom, I have a job farming, it just doesn't pay.
Edited 3/1/2008 3:39 pm by daFarmerDave
As long as it's just useable building materials yer ok.
A lot worse vices in the world.
The psychiatrists that say yer nuts are the one's that kill themselves so whadda they know?
Peach full,
easy feelin'.
It's ok as long as we don't see your house on the 10pm news while the animal control people are hauling out 75 cats.
Just wait until the SPCBM hears about your stash .
They can't get your Goat if you don't tell them where it is hidden.
I grew up on a small family farm where we saved stuff 'cause we might be able to scavange parts later. Dad was a youngster during WWll - nothing was thrown out.
I think it might be an inherited trait. Seems like stuff I've thrown out, I could have used somewhere down the road.
I would offer a different perspective on it.
my dad was a child of the depression--grandpa worked for a while on the WPA etc.
Dad hoarded lots of useless stuff--which i think came from a fear--he might be poor again someday.
there is a weird mentality going on there-- i remember when my dads' company forced him to take early retirement-- my mom responded by putting a brick in the toilet tank "to save water"
ultimately--it shows a lack of respect for the people who survive youmy dad passed away about a year ago-------it will take another 2 years to plow through and throw out all the #### he " saved"6 kids--and we all take turns sorting through the debris----believe me, if you want to be remembered fondly by your offspring----don't dump the result of 82 years of packratting on them
best wishes, Stephen
ultimately--it shows a lack of respect for the people who survive you
I think your take on why they(your parents, and mine as well) saved everything is right on, direct result of going through the depression.
My mother hasn't thrown away anything that has even the slightest chance of being used again. I'm constantly throwing stuff away that she thinks worthy of saving.
I wouldn't call it disrespectful though, matter of fact I cant think of one thing in my mothers life that I'd call disrespectful towards me or my siblings, just the way their minds work, they came from a different era then we do.
I do see that I have some of the same traits though, every once in a while I have to do a little house cleaning myself. I do catch myself saying every so often, "my kids are going to think I was crazy for keeping some of this stuff" They can always start a burn pile when I'm gone, wont matter to me!
Doug
Doug,
Reminds me of a short story or article from a long time ago.
An older woman had a cigar box labelled " string too short to be saved " -- full of You guessed it -- really short pieces of string.
Does Rez have anyone to clean up when he's gone ?
Walter
" my dad was a child of the depression........ Dad hoarded lots of useless stuff--which i think came from a fear--he might be poor again someday."
My parents are the same way. Drives me freakin' nuts.
Six of us used to fit in their farm house. Now you can barely walk through much of the house for all the krap that's in there.
When they're gone, I swear I'm gonna get a 30 yard dumpster in there and start tossing stuff in it....
How do you throw away a garbage can?
I do it all the time, my garage has a corner dedicated to what I brought home.
But I make adirondack chairs out of the redwood siding and posts, made tables out of the Mahogany I demo'ed out of a wall.
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This is one of the Mahogany tables I made out of free wood.
I'm always on the lookout for furniture grade wood to bring home.
Woods favorite carpenter
nice...
but we know you did that just to tease the cat...
Life is not a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in a pretty and well preserved body, but rather to skid in broadside, thoroughly used up, totally worn out, and loudly proclaiming<!----><!----><!---->
WOW!!! What a Ride!Forget the primal scream, just ROAR!!!
My plan worked out great!
Woods favorite carpenter
Nothing wrong with a homeowner keeping extra building supplies around. Trouble starts when a builder starts keeping his leftovers at home and creates a monster.
Or he starts keeping tiny hunks of drywall and an endless supply of plastic bags from the bigbox.
If you're a remodeler/renovator I don't see how anyone can function without having a go-to stash of old supplies to pick from
or you make endless runs to a store every day and then end up with subquality material half the time anyhow..
Unless you're just a modernist apt renoer who's greatest thrill is a paycheck for fixing a drywall hole somewhere.
resized pics from 101530.9 below.
Peach full,easy feelin'.
Big pleco, little oscar, and a curious cat?
jt8
"Worry never robs tomorrow of its sorrow, it only saps today of its joy" --Leo F. Buscaglia
Yes sir
Woods favorite carpenter
I just had a BARN handed to me, just haul off. What a deal
Tobbacco barn that took a 'nado hit. a few sticks of wood in the 30x70 (Approx) pile....LOTS of good wood.
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I can now get it home and make a place to store all the next goodies I find..
Spheramid Enterprises Architectural Woodworks
"Success is not spontaneous combustion, you have to set yourself on Fire"
Them old barns are great lumber. Full of straight grain, strong stock.
I resawed a beam one time and made a table out of it, great stock to work with.
THe saw dust smelled like the occupants of the barn though. LOL Woods favorite carpenter
The roof and rafters/purlins landed 1/4 mile away.
The failures were neat to find..mostly tenon breaks or mortice cheeks blew out..some tenons still have the pegs in the holes intact.
Afew of the 8x8 bent posts snapped clean in half at the joints.
Sadly all the frame is mostly Yellow Pine, the drying bars are YP and Cedar poles, but all the boxing ( or siding) is oak..I jad hopes of Chestnut and White oak timbers. But free is free.
Doubt I can save any metal from the roof, that that didn't land in the pond, is wadded up like gum wrapper.Spheramid Enterprises Architectural Woodworks
"Success is not spontaneous combustion, you have to set yourself on Fire"
That yellow pine is great lumber to make furniture out of, in a heartbeat I would make something out of it.
THe smell of working with it is great, relatively straight grain, very stable.
Yellow pine is one of my favorites, you have a gold mine there, I am jealous. Woods favorite carpenter
Come on down and help yourself..we share.
Chainsaw, 4' bar, sledge and a truck with straps is all ya need.
Going at it as soon as the cow pies and snow dry up. In an absolutly georgeous location an hour east of me.Spheramid Enterprises Architectural Woodworks
"Success is not spontaneous combustion, you have to set yourself on Fire"
I'll be headed down Memorial weekend, probably too late. Woods favorite carpenter
Ya never know, Im not as fast as I used to be.
The farm is cattle now, less tobbacco being grown all the time it seems, so I don't know what the re-build will be , if at all.Spheramid Enterprises Architectural Woodworks
"Success is not spontaneous combustion, you have to set yourself on Fire"
people keep stuff the experts say cause
- they want to use it later when they have time
-it reminds them of pleasant past timeswhen my best friends mom died, after a children walkthru for the stuff they wanted, - he rented a dumpster and filled it up
Tore one down once for a friend, and found floorboards in the attic were up to 36"+ wide locally sawn lumber, not great stuff, but where else do you find 36+ lumber?
used to have the problem until i started living by a rule someone else taught me years ago:
if you can't put that "free" item to use the same day you bring it home, then put it down.
carpenter in transition