What construction scraps do you save / trash?

[DickMidnight]

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.

this assumes that one has a “personal junk collection”

 

[rosemarythyme]

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 let it attack me.

And a 3x3 piece is more than enough to stick on top of a bucket to sift some run compost when I'm in sudden need of potting soil and don't have any.

 

[WI chickens]

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.

You can use some of those small pieces of wire we hang onto for that...

 

[AnnPann]

I let it attack me.

Thats where I’m at - and the HWC is winning. I was going to store it up high, but then when I need a piece off the stack… it’s all going to get me at once. LOL. I have more than normal bc I just took apart my Omlet Walk-In run. For now all that scrap is in the yard next to the shed, at least until my husband runs out of patience.

 

[Nodakj]

Time for a divorce...

Nope that can be saved too !

 

[RojoMarz]

Count us in on the saving...we have what we refer to as "the Lumber Yard". At one time, the owners (me and DH) had nice orderly stacks of scraps. Then the owners hired Rocky (a Jack Russell Terrier). While his security skills are wonderful, his organization and follow thru is sorely lacking. He is continually reorganizing the Lumber yard to make sure there are no intruders. But, he never restacks anything.

 

[Sally PB]

I have boxes full of small scraps.

Me too, for wood. When I need small pieces of wood, I go through that first. Little tiny bits become kindling for the woodstove.

 

[U_Stormcrow]

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.

14 1/2". If its smaller than 14 1/2", (the gap between 2x4s set 16" oc) its useless to me.
Otherwise, I agree with the above. and if I tidn't constantly find myself building new (narrow) shelves, mostly for plants and shallow storage, 24" would be my number.

 

[Krugerrand]

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.

Thanks to all who have replied. I got a little side tracked over the weekend and didn't get to respond.

I think this is the approach I'm aiming for. Some of these smaller scraps are just getting overwhelming, and space is running out ... or better stated has already run out. Finding and getting to things is becoming a problem. I'm trying to limit what I keep.