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Comment by abeppu | Hacker News Reader

... is that generally true? What are those other applications?

Like, if I want to put in new stone counters, in general I'm picking a kind of stone I like, and the firm measures or makes a template of my use, and cuts from a slab, right? If I have a really small job, perhaps it's possible to get a deal from the offcuts of some prior installation. I don't think it's generally an available option to e.g. get measurements and then peruse a list of countertops removed from recent local renovations where the dimensions are strictly larger than mine, and have my counter cut by trimming their 11' linear counter to my 10' space. But given that widths/depths are often determined by (standard) cabinet or vanity measurements, I feel like this ought to be doable, and these materials could have a straight-forward series of multiple uses.

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There are two opposing extremes of building philosophy.

If there's an architectural design up front then there's a need to source materials that fit the plan, as you describe.

The opposite approach was taken by a friend of mine who was, for a decade, a prolific builder here in Australia .. he continuously had two or three houses on the go in staggered completion (clean builds and|or significant rennovation) that all sold well for their design, uniqueness and craftsmanship.

His starting point was salvage yards, looking for cheap big statement pieces; bay windows, big wall cabinets, doors, window sets, impressive looking ketchen sets, big counter tops, etc.

The next step would be to design a house plan that fitted around quality salvage and well suited the site for views, access, etc.

His arc in life was art school in Victoria followed by | interleaved with a salvage job that dismantled entire (small) towns ahead of dams, flooding, other projects - they prepped wooden houses for moving elsewhere, disassembled structures to "flats", reclaimed historic bridges, etc.

Then came the building that built up his cash reserves, then a big rural property with sheds, glassblowing studios, metal work, etc.

It's unclear if William Morris would've approved of this approach to an Arts & Crafts career, but I certainly do.

The running joke in the arts & crafts circles I was tangential to concerned the difference between an artist and a craftsperson; Craft people have to pay their bills ... :-)

Seems like there are lots of companies willing to sell you reclaimed marble slabs:

https://www.google.com/search?q=reclaimed+marble+slabs&oq=re...

I'd imagine this stuff is pretty local though because shipping heavy stuff like marble too far wouldn't make much sense.

Do some businesses exist which deal in old slabs? Sure. Though the large majority of results I see in your link are pretty small.

But more importantly there are a lot of kitchen and bathroom renovations (and I _think_ renovations outnumber new construction by a lot ...) so one might think that almost as many countertops being removed as installed, and that a large portion of these could be serviced by recycled ones. The comment from danans asserted that these materials are "usually" reused -- which I am doubtful of.

In Boulder CO there are incentives to deconstruct rather than demo houses. The materials are sold at a local yard. They send a weekly materials alert:

https://imgur.com/kFax0eK

Could you share the name of the yard?

https://resourcecentral.org/materialsreuse/

It's like a Home Depot for used building materials/kitchens/toilets/plumbing/electrical etc. Think of carefully deconstructing a 50s ranch built to GI bill specs and carting it off somewhere to sell it.

It's part of "recycling row" where they have a single stream recycling plant and drop off, "CHARM" for hard to recycle stuff like computers and a hazardous waste place for paint / lead / solvent etc.

https://ecocycle.org/services-and-facilities/zero-waste-faci...

Stone countertops haven't been in super wide usage long enough that there is a huge supply for used. But if getting one replaced there's certainly a market for a stone counter. Even the sink cutouts for real stone can sell for a good bit.

A lot of stone countertops though are actually cheap composites where the slab is mass produced. Like how you can walk into an apartment complex and they all have granite countertops with nearly identical patterns.

> A lot of stone countertops though are actually cheap composites

That still call themselves granite? Quartz is the well known man-made composite, but it tends to be a little more expensive than granite, not less.

I don't think they call themselves granite - caesarstone is one I've heard of.

Caesarstone (AFAIK) is just a brand of quartz countertops. As the previous poster said, quartz is usually more expensive than the cheapest granite, on par with mid or high-end granite in pricing.

"What are those other applications?"

For starters, Travertine is highly popular in jewelry. When a rockhound passed away here where I live, his custom house was being demolished by the new owners and they invited the community to come rescue any thing they could. I rescued a bunch of the travertine slabs to use as teaching material for new rock cutters.

As a private person wanting to decorate your own house in a fancy way you are something of an edge case. If your contractor came to you and said "this material has a questionable provenance but it's 20% cheaper and will look 99% as good" you might be likely to decline. Many businesses, faced with the same opportunity, would be delighted.

Really? As a private person I’d jump at that opportunity.

You must be an exception within an edge case.

Even our local Habitat for Humanities Restore wouldn't accept used natural stone countertops in good condition. The guys manning the donation drop off didn't know the reason.

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