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Show Sun Advocate Section B Wednesday, July 2, 1980 Salvaging can reduce home building costs Zauner equal. For me it wasnt just a matter of cutting costs, he says. The only way I could get the look In the San Francisco Bay Area, as I old wanted was to elsewhere in the country, the cost of buy lumber has escalated alarmingly. materials. Some twenty years ago Grbich Architects who design custom homes faced a 30 percent increase in bought a view lot high in the hills lumber costs last year, so they of Oakland. Hes been gathering up the pieces of his dream house ever started searching for some resourceful alternatives to the use of warm since. Doors from wrecking sites, leaded glass windows from flea wood for interiors. markets, rustic toilets and tubs from Amateur builders equally perthe dump and hundreds of other turbed by price increases have were pieces gradually begun to turn, in increasing accumulated. solution: innovative to an numbers, Two years ago he took a sabbalumber to the use of second-han- d build projects ranging from tool tical from his teaching job and sheds to complete homes. Avoiding commenced the first construction of his life a the conventional lumber yard, they project house aided only by have become scavangers. family and friends and an occasional Others have turned to an industrious breed of salvage expert whose hired hand. y Now his Victorian business is taking down old buildings in nestled a house, abungrassy canyon find dealers by hand. These dant caches at abandoned military studded with oak trees, stands as an installations, or maybe on site at the inspiration to all amateur builders. demise of an old Victorian or two. Grbich estimates it cost him roughly But it is judged by a local Generally they are able to sell the $75,000. to be worth maybe $200,000 realtor a for third the scraps they glean on todays market. price of new lumber. An architect friend drew up the By Phyllis 2800-square-fo- ot three-stor- plans warned Cost savers spend their evenings and weekends at wrecking sites, and backyards, store salesrooms rummaging through stockpiles of boards, windows, doors and bits of Victorian gingerbread. They go to this trouble for two reasons: they save money, and they achieve a for Grbich. Close friends against the hazards of construction, sketchof broken marriages tales horror ing and financial ruin. In time, these same friends came out to the building site and helped pound nails, tape wallboard, and spread paint. I didnt know much when I Grbich says. And I dont started, Birth of a Home Builder know much now. But I know a little bit more now than I did then. You tell yourself, I dont know if Im going to be able to do this. Then you do it. Thats how you build a house. For Mike Grbich, a high school art teacher turned homebuilder, the charm of seasoned wood has no A New Old House His goal, he says, was rustic architectural quality that comes to wood only with tne passing of time. to build a house with NEW old house modern comfort but warmth. Perhaps nothing better illustrates the achievement of his purpose than a the beams and posts in the massive living room. Four 2 x 12s were nailed together to make the sturdy support, the sections locked in place with heavy metal plates scrounged from a shipyard. The peeling paint was sandblasted off after the posts were in place. The result is a wonderful mellow look that is underscored by of distressed the imperfections wood. Grbich used old lumber for the joists, posts and beams, and for the final flooring. Outriggers were built from old railway trusses. Maybe one of the best features of used lumber, says Grbich, is that its like kiln dried wood. H youre working with new green lumber it can warp, and the sheet rock is likely to crack. On the other hand, he admits, old lumber presents a problem too. Its really tough to drive a nail into it. New lumber has moisture in it, and the nails slide in like butter. All the doors in the house are recycled. The kitchen door is an ornate gumwood model he picked up at a flea market for $10. An upstairs door, almost hopelessly decayed when he found it, was purchased for $5. The brass hardware alone was worth that, and I figured if I could salvage the wood it would be a bonus. He partially rebuilt it, and now has a door that probably could not be bought anywhere at all. The garage doors, probably the fanciest in Oakland, came from an old Victorian mansion. They were designed by Chris Prang and were restored to their former elegance simply by removing paint. In order to hasten the process of removing old paint (often in multiple layers) from these ornate doors and other recycled pieces, Grbich installed a large vat in the backyard which he fills with caustic soda and water. Recycled Windows Every window in the house is a a from masterpiece Without building. exception, these old windows display the distortion that is the mark of early glass. One thing youve got to keep in mind when you use old windows is that you must plan the house around the window, not fit the window in the house youve designed. Grbich still has a few leaded glass windows left over from his zealous pursuit of rummage sales, but he figures be can always sell them or trade them for something else he needs. He traded a lamp he had made for the most beautiful window in the house, a delicately shaded stained glass panel from a church built in the 1850s. Although individual resourcefulness can locate bargains in doors and windows, the backbone of the movement to recycle lumber is the specialist who carefully dismantles buildings and sells them by the board foot. Supplies come from demolition of buildings at military installations, shipyards and abandoned government sites. The buildings come down the way they went up, every nail by hand George Taylor of Berkeley has been at it for twenty years. He carefully strips nails from old timbers, then ships cured wood to customers from Oregon to Baja, Mexico. 1T "You're too nice of a witch," cry the evil witches to Pegora in CEU's Theater Workshop for Youth presentation, "Pegora the Witch." to r), Members of the cast are (standing David . Waddell, Natalie Merrill, Jamine Acklin, Heather Young, Kelli Gurner, Charlotte Faucett, Kim Pitts, Jen fer Smith, Rona Roper, Laurie Mathis, Brenda Staley, Ann Marie Waddell and Jodi Porter. Seated is Jennifer Torgerson. I BSSSu CLUB NOTES V j Beta Sigma Phi Xi Alpha Zeta announcing year its chapter of Beta Sigma Phi is new line-u- p for the coining 1980-198- 1. Heading the team as president is Janet Patterick. Those under her direction are Kaye Powell vice president, Bernadette Paluso - recording secretary, Carol Marra - corresponding secretary, Joan Taylor - extension officer, Sharon Busby - treasurer, Tonya Bruno sunshine and Nancy Thompson - social -- -- committee chairperson. Also included are Carol Marra - ways and means committee chairperson, Charlotte Young - service committee chairperson, Kaye Powell - membership committee, Betty Wheeler - secret sisters, Kayla Hanna historian and publicity, Tonya Bruno - city council president. Back up members for the committees are Jeanne Taskar, DeeAnn Wilson, Necia Erramouspe, Marilyn Bell, Julia Craft and Betty Bugel. Xi Alpha Zeta meetings are held the second and fourth Wednesdays of each month at the home of a member. Annual parties are the Halloween Party, Thanksgiving Dinner, Christmas Cinner and Progressive Dinner. Xi Alpha Zeta has a year - a - round service project at the Carbon County Nursing Home. Two members are assigned a month. They arrange for a special birthday program to be presented and those people with a birthday that month are given a gift. The month of June was special because the Coal Country Squares were the program. Arrangements were made by Kaye Powell and Janet Patterick. June 12, 1980 marked a special treat for members of Xi Alpha Zeta. The members left Price and headed for a day of shopping in Provo. The group enjoyed a supper at Marie Calendars in Provo. They then left for American Fork where they attended the Utah Pageant of the Arts. This proved to be a interesting and educational experience. We Have Never Priced It LOWER This YEAR! -- Girl gallon Regular $17.99 Sears Best exterior Utex has beautiful sheen. 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