What to do with your DIY leftovers
Wednesday, 29 June 2011 5:24 PM
Even the most seasoned DIYer will sometimes end up with leftover materials, from spare wood and tiles to extra cable or half a tin of paint. Nick Williams discusses the best ways to get rid of excess home improvement materials without resorting to dumping it at the local tip – you never know, you might even make some cash.
1. Gumtree.com
Gumtree is often the first port of call for people selling off old furniture, but few of us think to use it for other purposes. However, it’s a great way of getting rid of unwanted DIY products, with currently listed items ranging from spare tiles and screws to full kitchen cabinet sets – there really is a demand for almost anything. A word of warning though: while you do want to make some money, you were originally going to take it all to the dump so don’t get greedy: charge too much and you might not sell it at all.
2. Freecycle.org
Freecycle allows you to list items that you want to give away for free based on the premise that it’s better for something to go to a new home than be thrown away. In my experience, demand for even seemingly random items tends to be high and it’s a great way of getting rid of things without even having to leave the house. You’ll need to register to each group (location) before you can start to view or post items.
3. Return unused items
If, like me, you have at least one extra bag of screws or tube of sealant left over at the end of most DIY projects, don’t put them back in the toolbox – take them back to the shop. I know it can be tempting to hoard such items telling yourself that at some point in the future you will need them, but in reality new projects will almost always require slightly different components. DIY isn’t cheap either; by not getting your money back you are practically throwing it away.
4. Recycle
Recycling doesn’t just relate to putting your green box outside the front door with your week’s supply of wine bottles and cardboard – it’s about making a conscious effort to reuse things. The first place to look is in the home: can any of these materials be put to use elsewhere? Could you use the leftover paint from when you redecorated the kitchen rather than buying a new colour? Of course Freecycle is also a form of recycling, but reusing your own bits and pieces can require a bit of an attitude shift. I keep wood and half-used cans of paint because I know at some stage I will use them for another project. What could you use again?
Nick Williams is marketing assistant at Yale Composite Doors. Each one of Yale’s front doors meets the strict ‘secured by design’ requirements as well as achieving U values as low as 1.0W/(m2.K).
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