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Salvage Lumber Success in Petaluma: $700,000 in three years
Source: SF Gate How Heritage, others are salvaging success
Carolyn Said, Chronicle Staff Writer
Stories pour forth like water from a spring as Michael "Bug" Deakin leads a tour of Heritage Salvage, his building-materials-recycling yard in Petaluma. "Those are hand-hewn beams from an 1890s barn in Quincy, Calif.," he said, thumping the stack with a cowboy-boot-clad foot. He hopped up onto a parade float made from recycled chicken coops. "Petaluma has the Butter & Egg Day parade in April and we try to build something different for it every year." Around the corner were wide planks milled from the remains of a 1911 Hunts Ferry warehouse in Maupin, Ore. "Old-growth virgin redwood - it doesn't exist anymore," he said. "The talking stories of these materials is something we're missing in these days when everyone is texting and shortening," said Deakin, 60. A trim, garrulous man, he clearly savors the history aspect of salvage. "For me, it's the song of the wood that I'm so happy to be learning. I go out of my way to find out and record the story of the buildings that all the wood comes from." Spread over 3 acres next to the Petaluma River, Heritage Salvage has about 350,000 to 450,000 board feet of wood reclaimed from dilapidated farm structures, wind-felled trees, demolished old houses and other sources. To keep off the rain, many stacks of wood are covered in brightly colored billboards that Deakin buys in bulk. "They're UV protected, more durable than tarps - and it's something else we're keeping out of landfill," he said. Cutting landfill use Reducing landfill accumulations is a huge environmental concern, and salvage yards like Heritage are key in diverting used building materials, which by their nature are among the bulkiest waste. Since passing a landmark waste-management law in 1989, California has gone from recycling just 10 percent of its trash to finding other uses for an impressive 58 percent, according to the Integrated Waste Management Board. These days much of the recycled material at Heritage basically "walks into the yard" as farmers, builders, arborists and architects contact Deakin when they need something demolished or removed. "It's like a treasure hunt; I love the first couple of days in an old chicken shed; you find all sorts of things that people stored in there," he said. Besides selling materials to builders, carvers and homeowners, Heritage crafts custom pieces from the reclaimed wood. Gather Restaurant, which opened this week in Berkeley's David Brower Center, has an array of furniture and fixtures from Heritage.
"The entire concept of the restaurant is how can we really push the limits of what sustainability and consciousness look like," said Ari Derfel, Gather co-founder. "We looked at every single solitary architectural and construction detail for the most sustainable option. Being able to go to Bug's yard and say, 'Hey, I want to make tables out of the most local wood from our bioregion and not have to use any virgin wood' is a tremendous service to the community and the world. To find redwood from an old water tank, Doug fir from old bleacher seats, redwood from old wine tanks, is just amazing." One of nine children, Deakin grew up in British Columbia with a dad who worked for Kootenay Forest Products. "He always brought home scrap wood, and taught us how to be backyard carpenters and backyard mechanics," Deakin said. After a teenage job doing yard work for a nasty neighbor, he resolved to be his own boss when he grew up. He built pleasure fairs and film sets in Southern California, but fell in love with Occidental when he passed through it en route to the Rolling Stones concert at Altamont. He bought a house there and started doing custom building. A few years ago, he built a Tuscan-style guesthouse for a client who wanted him to use old wood. "I put an ad in the Farmers Forum advertising for old chicken sheds and barns because we've got a zillion of them out here," he said. "I got 42 responses." He used one for the guesthouse, and followed up with the others, stacking the wood in his yard. After his sister complained about all the stacks, he rented the land that became Heritage Salvage. Steady sales The company now has nine employees, many of them artists who relish the chance to handcraft furniture and other pieces from the reclaimed wood. Annual sales have held steady at about $700,000 for the past three years. Profits generally get plowed back into the business. Deakin dreams of extending his model to help create jobs for at-risk youth. And he hopes to open a second Heritage Salvage in San Francisco to help with the city's Zero Waste by 2020 goal. "All the pieces exist everywhere - old buildings falling down," he said. "Finding a new home for all that old wood is a really green job." Key sources In addition to Heritage ( www.heritagesalvage.com), the Bay Area is home to a large complement of other companies that recycle building materials. E-mail Carolyn Said at csaid@sfchronicle.com.
Michael Meuser bootstrapped his way into the salvage and recycling business in the early 1980s. He began with building deconstruction and scrap metals and then moved into electronics, computer and telecommunications scrap where he learned to recover gold and other precious metal. Michael tells his story, provides resources and offers his advice at his website, RecyclingSecrets.com, and his blog, Recycling Secrets Blog. Also, you can follow Michael on Twitter. Return to: RecyclingSecrets.com
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