What construction scraps do you save / trash?

[Krugerrand]

I'm sure this is different for everybody based on so many factors. I'm cleaning out the garage and am convinced that I'm saving too many scraps that are too small. So, I'm curious about what works for others. How big must something be for you to save it?

hardware cloth
plywood
2x4's
cattle panel sections

Feel free to add other things I may have missed or creative uses for smaller pieces that could salvage them from the going into the trash / scrap metal pile.

Thank you!

 

[Callender Girl]

You mean some people actually throw things out? At the risk of slipping into hoarder status, I keep EVERYTHING -- the smallest chunks of all the aforementioned materials and then some. You never know what might come in handy!

Little pieces of plywood make great patches or shims or can be used to prop doors or write on when I need to record a measurement and don't have paper close by. Small leftover pieces of vinyl floor covering can be tacked down in coops for easier clean up.

I can fashion plant protectors from small pieces of hardware cloth and chunks of cattle panels either get wired into fences where ruminants have poked their heads through or become functional trellises for the veg garden.

Some discarded gutter metal was recently flattened out and hung over a coop ventilation area to keep out rain and snow.

Show me something of little to no value, and I will work fervently to find some way to use it!

 

[Silexian]

For dimensional lumber. I don’t keep anything under 4 ft long. By the time I rummage through shorter pieces. Trying to find one that will work. I can cut a longer piece to exact length. Then move on to something else. Plywood, I don’t keep anything smaller than 2 ft by 2 ft. A larger patch is usually stronger and better looking than a smaller one. 2 ft by 4 ft is the smallest piece of cattle panel I will keep. Again, if I need smaller pieces, it is faster and easier. To just cut them to exact size out of a larger piece. Since doing so. I do not have near as much clutter taking up valuable ($10 to $15 per square foot) storage space in my buildings. If it does not add up to the cost of storage and labor, to use it. It is not worth keeping.

 

[southwestclucker]

You mean some people actually throw things out? At the risk of slipping into hoarder status, I keep EVERYTHING -- the smallest chunks of all the aforementioned materials and then some. You never know what might come in handy!

Little pieces of plywood make great patches or shims or can be used to prop doors or write on when I need to record a measurement and don't have paper close by. Small leftover pieces of vinyl floor covering can be tacked down in coops for easier clean up.

I can fashion plant protectors from small pieces of hardware cloth and chunks of cattle panels either get wired into fences where ruminants have poked their heads through or become functional trellises for the veg garden.

Some discarded gutter metal was recently flattened out and hung over a coop ventilation area to keep out rain and snow.

Show me something of little to no value, and I will work fervently to find some way to use it!

same here, McGyvers of the world UNITE!!!

 

[southwestclucker]

same here, McGyvers of the world UNITE!!!

I also shamelessy ask my neighbors for their "trash"

 

[igorsMistress]

You mean some people actually throw things out? At the risk of slipping into hoarder status, I keep EVERYTHING -- the smallest chunks of all the aforementioned materials and then some. You never know what might come in handy!

Little pieces of plywood make great patches or shims or can be used to prop doors or write on when I need to record a measurement and don't have paper close by. Small leftover pieces of vinyl floor covering can be tacked down in coops for easier clean up.

I can fashion plant protectors from small pieces of hardware cloth and chunks of cattle panels either get wired into fences where ruminants have poked their heads through or become functional trellises for the veg garden.

Some discarded gutter metal was recently flattened out and hung over a coop ventilation area to keep out rain and snow.

Show me something of little to no value, and I will work fervently to find some way to use it!

This would be our answer too. You never know when one of those little bits might come in handy. And not just construction materials.

 

[aart]

I'm saving too many scraps that are too small.

I have boxes full of small scraps.

 

[Callender Girl]

Ah, @Silexian, while your approach makes some practical, economic sense, my extremely frugal upbringing -- we reduced, reused and repurposed LONG before it was fashionable -- won't permit me to do the same.

 

[WI chickens]

Ah, @Silexian, while your approach makes some practical, economic sense, my extremely frugal upbringing -- we reduced, reused and repurposed LONG before it was fashionable -- won't permit me to do the same.

Especially with current lumber prices.

I'm with you, I save everything. Small pieces of plywood for gussets, small pieces of dimensional lumber get made into biochar when they are too small for anything else, and on and on.

 

[Daisy2453]

I agree and try to keep anything I think might come in handy however just recently my husband got into a cleaning mood and trashed all my stash out of his workshop. Needless to say I have sense had to search all over for a small board.