MATERIAL REUSE IN THE LANDSCAPE: THE FEASIBILITY OF REUSING WOOD IN LANDSCAPE CONSTRUCTION AND DESIGN by CHRISTOPHER PAUL MCDOWELL (Under the Direction of Katherine Melcher) ABSTRACT Wood reuse is an effective technique for reducing human impact on the landscape and additionally has much untapped potential in bringing economic, environmental and cultural benefits to the field of landscape construction and design. This thesis examines whether reusing wood is a practical design tool for landscape architects and construction professionals compared to conventional methods. The objective of this study is to gain experiential knowledge through the construction of common landscape items followed by a review of landscape design and construction professionals. The study concludes that reusing building materials scored highly in all categories of design criteria in comparison with the conventional products; however, there are numerous issues that thwart its mainstream use and numerous changes must be made for major reform to take place in the construction industry. INDEX WORDS: Materials Reuse, Reclaimed Wood, Sustainable Landscape Construction, Deconstruction, Recycling, Industrial Ecology, Construction Ecology, Life Cycle Assessment, Closed Loop Systems, Waste Management, Green Building MATERIAL REUSE IN THE LANDSCAPE: THE FEASIBILITY OF REUSING WOOD IN LANDSCAPE CONSTRUCTION AND DESIGN by CHRISTOPHER PAUL MCDOWELL B.A. University of Cincinnati, 2007 A Thesis Submitted to the Graduate Faculty of The University of Georgia in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree MASTER OF LANDSCAPE ARCHITECTURE ATHENS, GEORGIA 2012 © 2012 Christopher Paul McDowell All Rights Reserved MATERIAL REUSE IN THE LANDSCAPE: THE FEASIBILITY OF REUSING WOOD IN LANDSCAPE DESIGN AND CONSTRUCTION by CHRISTOPHER PAUL MCDOWELL Major Professor: Katherine Melcher Committee: Douglas Pardue Pratt Cassity Steve Smith Electronic Version Approved: Maureen Grasso Dean of the Graduate School The University of Georgia August 2012 DEDICATION To my family, friends and everyone who ever supported, encouraged or helped me along the way. iv ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I would like to first thank my thesis advisor, Katherine Melcher, for her assistance in this project as well as other academic consultation and advisement in the past two years. I would also like to thank reading committee members Douglas Pardue, Pratt Cassity and Steve Smith, whom also have provided guidance and input in addition to this thesis project that has helped me a great deal through the process. I would like to also thank all the faculty, staff, community partners and fellow students that have assisted in the Material Reuse Program and its implementation in the past year, because much of this work would not have been possible without their help. And finally I must thank my family for their immense support through the years. v TABLE OF CONTENTS Page ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS............................................................................................................................v LIST OF TABLES...........................................................................................................................................ix LIST OF FIGURES..........................................................................................................................................x CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION.....................................................................................................................1 Background .....................................................................................................................1 Thesis: Reusing Wood in the Landscape...............................................................5 Structure...........................................................................................................................8 Delimitations...................................................................................................................9 2 LITERATURE REVIEW ......................................................................................................... 10 History and Significance of Timber, Demolition and Reuse in US............ 10 Industrial Ecology and the Biological Component of Waste...................... 23 Construction Ecology................................................................................................ 26 Value of Reuse as a Design and Construction Tool........................................ 27 Value of Wood as a Sustainable Construction Material................................ 29 Value of Wood in the Landscape.......................................................................... 32 Value of Wood Waste as a Resource.................................................................... 34 Value of Reusing Wood in the Landscape......................................................... 35 Barriers and Limitations to Reusing Wood in the Landscape .................... 38 vi The Implications for Conventional and Reused Lumber ............................. 41 3 METHODOLOGY................................................................................................................. 45 Testing the Built Product......................................................................................... 45 Framework.................................................................................................................... 46 Wood Waste Types .................................................................................................... 46 Design Criteria............................................................................................................. 51 Quantifying Reuse...................................................................................................... 55 Data Collection............................................................................................................ 65 Evaluating the Project .............................................................................................. 65 Study Participants ...................................................................................................... 66 Limitations .................................................................................................................... 67 Experiential Evidence................................................................................................ 67 4 IMPLEMENTATION............................................................................................................. 69 The Building Project.................................................................................................. 69 Pre-planning ................................................................................................................ 70 Standardized Display ................................................................................................ 73 Material Harvesting ................................................................................................... 73 Material Selection and Application...................................................................... 75 Non-Reused Materials............................................................................................... 84 Comparison: the ‘Lowes’ Model............................................................................ 85 Evaluation Data and Findings................................................................................ 87 5 STUDY FINDINGS ............................................................................................................... 98 Interpreting Data........................................................................................................ 98 vii Results by Item............................................................................................................ 99 Results by Zone.........................................................................................................104 Overall Performance ...............................................................................................106 Analysis ........................................................................................................................106 6 CONCLUSIONS..................................................................................................................109 Building on Existing Research..............................................................................109 Key Components to Reusing Wood in the Landscape ...............................111 Opportunities for the Future: Closing the Loop...........................................120 Future Research ........................................................................................................121 REFERENCES…. ......................................................................................................................................123 APPENDICES A Study Survey (Sample)...................................................................................................128 B Study Survey Results ......................................................................................................131 C Study Supplemental Data Sheet................................................................................151 D Embodied Energy Calculations ..................................................................................152 E WARM Model Calculations...........................................................................................153