Green Building Materials Options for Your Construction Business
Posted on: 14 November 2017
As a small-scale civil engineering building contractor, you must come up with strategies that will make you competitive in the local industry. It is especially so if you are dealing with small structures such as tree houses or decks. One way you can achieve a competitive edge is by recycling materials. However, with so many options out there that can substitute traditional building materials, it can be hard making a choice. This article highlights some of the materials you can recycle and use for some of your small-scale building contracts.
Paper
Although online media has continued to advance, print media has not suffered that much. There is a significant amount of newspapers, cardboard, and magazines that go to waste every single day. With the right recycling treatment, it is possible to produce log like rods from waste paper. You can then chop them up or saw them to construct a deck. You can also use paper logs as trusses for your front porch. One advantage of paper recycling is that you can seal and make the logs water resistant and fire retardant. Paper recycling for building planks and logs is low cost because of the ready availability of timber.
Plastic Bags
One of the most stubborn materials to recycle is the plastic paper bag. Since they come in all sizes and colors, separation is a nightmare. The best way you can use the clutter to your advantage is by collectively recycling plastic bags into brick molds. To achieve this, you need to set up an oven where you will heat the bags. Then, you will force the molten bags into a brick mold to create plastic bricks. However, you should note that the blocks should not be used for weight bearing purposes because they are relatively light. Instead, they are best used as room separators or as patio blinders.
Bottles
The bottling industry has been snowballing rapidly, which has seen the production of glass bottles increase exponentially. With glass bottles coming in all shapes, colors, and sizes, the possibilities are endless for your construction business. For example, if you have the block-like shaped glass bottles, you can cement them together to build a colorful wall for a client. For instance, a glass wall would be high for a pool bar table, and these opportunities can expand. If you can work your way around more curvy bottles, then you can come up with unique designs for bottle structures.
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