What construction scraps do you save / trash?

[WI chickens]

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.

Time for a divorce...

 

[DickMidnight]

im sure i’ll be in the minority, but i keep nearly nothing. i hate clutter.

like @Silexian, if a piece of lumber isn’t 4ft or so it’s getting tossed. i’ll keep the remainder of the roll of hardware cloth of course, but offcuts are thrown away.

 

[Silexian]

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.

My parents were raised through the depression. They kept everything. Growing up on a farm. We had to make do a lot. Some of what they kept came in handy. Some of it is still just taking up space after the 50 some years I have been alive.

 

[Isadora]

My husband spent years saving every scrap from every project he ever did. His family didn't have much money growing up so that was the only thing that made sense to him. He only more recently came around to the conclusion that he hardly ever used the little bits and bobs he saved and that it was taking up valuable space, not to mention he usually didn't even remember what he had on hand. He's a contractor and now he only saves left over material if it's sizable or if he has a specific use in mind for it.

 

[raingarden]

I'm sorry, but it's just so much easier to throw scrap into our personal junk collection instead of carting it off to the dump.

 

[Rise722]

I have found (by experience) that if you throw something out, it will be EXACTLY the thing you need the next time you're working on a project. I keep ALL of it, for just that reason. I have learned to use small pieces of lumber for blocks, or wedges; small pieces of wire for attaching something that just worked loose; small pieces of pipe for that time when I only needed a little and didn't want to run to town...you get it....I have an organized area, utilizing these items, so they don't get to be just "junk" lying around. There is a shelf for some smaller pieces of wood, a bin for others, a barrel for smaller lengths, a box for others, hooks to hang the wires from, and on it goes. You'd be surprised how often you will go to these areas and thank yourself for making it easier.

 

[saysfaa]

It has varied tremendously from keeping everything to keeping almost nothing. Because how much space I have has varied. And how much stash I already had. And whether there is an expected project coming soon. And whether I expect to move soon or have just moved. And how lately I visited people who kept everything; or worked on settling the estates of such people.

The most helpful guidelines:

If you can't find it when you need it, there is no point in keeping it until you need it.

If you can't get to it when you need it, there is no point in keeping it until you need it.

Allow a given amount of space for a category of stash.

I do keep small, even tiny, scraps of wood and wire and such between projects - but no more than will fit in a certain box. They are often very useful but I can't think of a time we could use very many of them.

 

[AnnPann]

oh my gosh, i love to use “trash”. especially bricks, pavers, and cinder blocks. even my dad brings me his scraps and i put it to use, or pile it up until i find a way to use it. that said, i have room for it, but when things get too crowded, i reassess, and clear out things i’ve had for too long and never used.

as expensive as hardware cloth is, i can’t let it go. how do you store it and not get attacked by a sharp edge every time you walk by it? i’m talking pieces around 3’x3’- too small to roll up.

 

[southwestclucker]

oh my gosh, i love to use “trash”. especially bricks, pavers, and cinder blocks. even my dad brings me his scraps and i put it to use, or pile it up until i find a way to use it. that said, i have room for it, but when things get too crowded, i reassess, and clear out things i’ve had for too long and never used.

as expensive as hardware cloth is, i can’t let it go. how do you store it and not get attacked by a sharp edge every time you walk by it? i’m talking pieces around 3’x3’- too small to roll up.

I prop against the wall (shed, garage) behind scrap boards or something like that

 

[Callender Girl]

I've even taken to hanging the small pieces of hardware cloth from hooks Very High up on the wall -- so I reduce the changes of forgetting where they are and running headlong into them.