BUnse, when you get to your new place, add photos. I’m sure it will be terrific.
I haven’t made much progress in awhile, except with papers, but I did clean kitchen yesterday. My fridge hasn’t looked so clean since last Passover.
First, a question: is there any way to dispose of old, now unusable lumber other than into a dumpster?
Second, a story that might make you laugh: I decided yesterday to start hauling out of the wooded area of my backyard the remains of a treehouse that my ex-H disassembled years ago but left where the pieces dropped. I live next to a nature preserve, so the “natural” look in the backyard is mostly fine, but in this situation, the brush is an obstacle to easily moving the pieces of lumber. In the early evening, after I had picked up a lot of branches and dragged a few long pieces of wood, I was going back for more when a small branch hit me in the face (it didn’t cause injury or even particularly hurt). After the split-second shock, I realized that my glasses had disappeared! I looked for them for a moment but discovered I couldn’t see well enough. So I went to the house, fortunately found an old pair, went back out to the yard, got down on my hands and knees, and, after 10-15 minutes, found my glasses. I can laugh a little about it now but it was very stressful at the time.
SO glad you found your glasses @rosered55 ! And good yard work!
“is there any way to dispose of old, now unusable lumber other than into a dumpster?”
Our town has an area where you can dump that kind of stuff and it gets mulched.
Can you burn it?
Most towns don’t allow burning of yard debris (at least in NJ). Some towns collect old lumber to mulch. I usually pile larger branches in a hidden back corner of my yard and then every few years, when the pile gets too big, hire somebody to use a chipper to grind it all down.
The city collects branches (up to a certain size) and leaves left by the curb. The city waste composting site does not accept lumber, unfortunately.
We needed to get rid of a kids wooden play fort that we had converted into a mighty fine chicken coop. We had several interested people, who in the end could not figure out how to haul it away. I didn’t know what to do! Rent a dumpster?!
My D suggested I get out the chainsaw and hack off a bit each week and put it in the regular garbage. I scoffed at the idea initially, but sure enough, that’s exactly what I did. It took me a good part of the summer, but it’s gone! Yay!
So, yes, barring other good options, piece by piece can work.
LOL, Midwest! Mr. disposed of an old toilet in a similar manner - hammered a small piece off each week and put it in the trashcan. Buh-bye, Kohler!
Ex-H took the chainsaw. I’m kind of scared of them, anyway.
Summers coming, burn a little each week while enjoying a glass of wine or cocktail! Invite some friends over, buy a firepit! I have to buy wood to burn at our summer place, but have tons of wood to get rid of at home. I won’t carry it in the car because of bugs.
Just do not burn anything pressure-treated!!
We’ve donated reasonable sized lumber (not small scraps), and old but working bathroom fixtures removed for a remodel, to our Habitat for Humanity ReStore. There may be other local salvage / resale stores in your area?
I got a lot of extra paper picked up with the trash and recycling this week. If I use the old “paper only” bin, it gets picked up along with the regular recycling bin. That was about two bags. I also got two bags of usable clothing ready for donation…but then the doorbell rang… 4 large (23 x 23 x 23) cartons from my mom, who is downsizing, and sent along things my kids could use when they have bigger apartments!
@rosered55 , is there a neighbor who might haul stuff to the local dump for you in return for first choice of any discards in good condition or maybe for some home baking? I’ve had good luck doing that, especially when I could be flexible about how quickly the stuff was taken.
I often see folks post requests on Nextdoor for someone to haul stuff and there are quite a few teenage boys with pickup trucks living nearby (some of whom have the use of their parent’s trailers) who charge just $10 - $25 plus the dump fee. There are at least half a dozen widows in our neighborhood and they keep the high school kids busy with all sorts of chores, which benefits both.
So last time I moved (lots of years ago) was the “wood pile” in the garage. Perfectly decent lumber that took up space for umpteen years because “we might need it”. Nope. Never needed a scrap. Just a horrible mess when it came time to move and was in the way for all those years.
Fast forward…Dad (now 94 but just a few years ago) had a smaller but very significant collection of wood in a shed for “when he’d need it”.
Took a bit of real convincing that the actual space was more valuable, less hazardous, and guess what? Home Depot wasn’t far away.
rosered55–learning to use big power tools like chainsaws is very empowering.
I suggest it for everybody.
I paid to have my wood piles in my garage and shed all carted away by my landscaper. He was happy to take the stuff- it included some old patio blocks also.
Does this count?
Now that the weather here is finally gorgeous, I put on two layers of latex gloves, got a big plastic garbage bag, and picked up the winter’s worth of three dogs’ poop. Yay!! A clean back yard!
(Dogs have been instructed to hold it in until next winter.)
You get triple bonus points for that, @VeryHappy!