There was a time in our society when our man-made things were maintained, patched, repaired, improved upon, handed down and—only when there was absolutely no life left in them—discarded. I remember seeing photos of men using cardboard or paper inside their shoes to cover the hole at the sole. A restoration of sorts; patching the affected area, knowing that the rest of the shoe was still in good condition and would last a little while longer. The point of this thought is that there was a mindset to use something to its full useful life, then make repairs to restore it for another lifespan before discarding said item to the waste stream. I believe this mindset was born of necessity and, when times improved and man prospered, it was forgotten about, giving way to consumerism frenzy. This new trend of “What’s new? I want it,” is also evidenced in our built environment. Think of the Las Vegas Strip, where buildings are literally blown-up and the next new structure is erected.

In March of this year, W&C published my article “Strip Away Your Perception of EIFS,” where I was telling of the sheer number of buildings in the U.S. (it’s 111 million) and how recladding them instead of blowing them up is a good way to use and reuse a building. You know, a piece of cardboard to cover the hole in the sole. However, recladding the exterior isn’t the only avenue to a good renovation/remodeling. So come with me as I walk you through the renovation potential that is the cardboard-over-the-hole of buildings: reduce/reuse/recycle.

There was a mindset to use something to its full useful life, then make repairs to restore it for another lifespan before discarding said item to the waste stream.

The Interior of a Building

Let’s begin with our interior walls. In any remodel or renovation, there will be walls that need to be removed. The trend to create an open concept has been all the rage for some time now. In the older buildings, there may be cement plastered walls, hand-wrought gypsum applications or, in newer structures, gypsum wallboard. Reducing the amount of waste that is hauled to the dump should be forefront in one’s mind. The gypsum should be removed, taking care to leave the studs in the walls with their integrity. Then, they can be deconstructed and reused elsewhere. In addition, what about the removed gypsum? There are recycling locations that pulverize it back to its original state, chunky and powdery, where it can be recycled into many different uses.

Moreover, those floors we are walking on, they too have the potential to be reused or left in place, over which another flooring material can be applied. Floor tiles have a big recycling potential in that, if they are removed in whole pieces, they can be sold or given to reuse centers for someone else’s renovation. They can also be used for DIY projects like coffee table inserts, coasters, centerpieces, serving trays, trivets, craft projects or mosaics, to name a few. Carpets can also be reused. If they are still in good shape, they can be re-laid or cut into squares for re-application. If they are just too worn to tolerate, they can be recycled. There are ever-growing facilities that take old carpets, do their recycling magic and convert them into new things. Go to Google and search “Carpet America Recovery Effort” for more information.

Cabinets, doors and countertops have a very large potential for reuse. Every workshop around could use these items. Cabinets to hide all the tools, glues and booze, countertops that become working surfaces to be banged on and drilled into, and doors trimmed to fit another opening or cut into dimensions for woodworking projects, or too, converted to a working surface. Treehouse materials, anyone?

The Exterior of a Building

Finally, let’s step outside to review the building’s cladding. Ah, the skin of the structure, the tired and worn-out surfaces, exhausted from years of keeping the outside from getting inside. As I have touted numerous times in numerous articles, EIFS to the rescue. The idea is to leave the tired surface in place and cover it with a new cladding. Back in my mudslinging days, we used to re-stucco existing buildings. Sometimes it was a rescrub (that’s a fancy term for a new coat of cement or acrylic finish product), other times a lath applied with hand-nailed fasteners driven into the old stucco, sometimes hitting a framing member, sometimes not. Fear not, once the stucco was applied, the bond of new to old was sufficient, enveloping the lath and making the cladding stable, relieving the nails of their duty. It was a new face, offering some R-value but mostly just another few decades of beauty.

Then, of course, my favorite re-clad choice, the silent savior, the lightweight giant, the versatile cladding called EIFS. Not to delve too deep here, but this is an easy-choice option in that it can be adhered to most surfaces, with glass being a near-standalone exception. EIFS also offers an energy-saving R-value. I recently read that existing older buildings, like prisons and schools with cement or block walls and little to no insulation, are looking for ways to keep the interiors temperature-stable, fending off our rising summer temperatures and winter chills. I’ll go ahead and say it: EIFS is the answer. A new EIFS cladding is a renovation must-have because it does a lot more than look pretty.

And I would be remiss to leave out the viewing fenestrations called windows. Some renovations will include just a replacement of the windows. Upgrades from a single-pane, aluminum-frame ’70s throwback, heat and cold conduit, to a double- or triple-pane, insulating beauty. Of course, removal and replacement always involves a careful integration of the new window with the existing WRB and subsequent surrounding patch. Back in the ’80s or so when pop-outs were all the rage, it was easy to remove a window, stab in a new one and patch the surrounding stucco, then apply a decorative band (a pop-out), which would bridge the “cold joint” and ensure a weather-tight cladding. Nevertheless, when EIFS was the re-clad of choice, combined with new windows applied to an existing cladding, the original cladding patch was forever interned behind the insulation of the system. No cold joints, no visible transitions, just new windows and a kickin’ cladding.

Thinking of the Future

I challenge the renovation and remodel community to think like the population of yesteryear. Renovations and remodels should always be given careful thought to reuse as much as possible, reduce waste going to the dump and, through thoughtful selection of products, improve the performance characteristics of your beloved building. Let’s maintain, repair and improve our existing buildings to hand them down. In addition, like the old pair of shoes, cover the hole in your soul.

Images courtesy of WWCCA.