Siding and Roofing

The siding is up now and our client has opted for HardiPlank, a fiber-cement siding that is supposed to last 50 years.....we'll see. I'm always suspicious of such claims for products that haven't been around for 50 years. That said, despite its high embodied energy (see definition below), it's often touted as an environmentally sound choice for its longevity. The cost runs about half that of wood, but wood is renewable and has low embodied energy. Nothing is free.....

The roof is corrugated metal, another high embodied energy choice with a long projected life. Metal roofs are, however, proven to be long lasting, and the can be recycled essentially forever without any product degradation. Again, wood has the least amount of embodied energy associated with it, but it probably won't last 50 years.

Embodied energy (sometimes referred to as “embedded energy”) can be defined as a measure of the total energy consumed by a product during its life or complete life cycle.  It includes all the energy used during mining or milling the raw materials, manufacturing the raw materials into a product, transporting the product, and installing the product, as well as finally removing or recycling the product.

Source: 50to50Wiki

Sheathing/Windows

At this stage of construction there was a great opportunity to include a lot of re-used material in the shed. As with many used material "scores", it was a matter of being at the right place at the right time when I stumbled upon the sheathing for our project  (it had just been unloaded at the REstore). These 2' X 8' sheets of 5/8" AC plywood were once part of a bleacher assembly at a local school. Finished with years of lacquer on the smooth side, these panels give a semi- finished look to the interior (wad after wad of gum had to be scraped off before it could be used!).

The lower windows were another REstore find. These old leaded single pane beauties give a dignified look to the structure. I was relieved we didn't have to use white vinyl sliders; they just have no soul. The small clerestory windows were made in the shop from new Douglas fir and used glass from the REstore. They let in a beautiful light during the morning hours.

It's always a great pleasure to re-use materials that may have otherwise been destined for the landfill. The re-use ethic is thankfully growing in popularity, but it still seems to be the rule that entire buildings be bulldozed and hauled to the dump rather than disassembled and re-purposed. Someday......