Judging from the huge amount of post-bureacratic flotsam at my local Habitat for Humanity store, there’s a lot of potential in turning office furniture into building materials.
You should also check out his hilarious low-fi, DIY GoPro.
For more thoughts on building Greenlandic kayaks, Hartley suggests taking a look at Yostwerks.org.
Adding 2x4s to the ends of a pallet.
Los Angeles is famous for its flotsam and jetsam. Mattresses, rotting couches and headboards accumulate, forming urban coral reefs under the blistering sun. It’s difficult to figure out a use for these objects other than as art. For utilitarian needs, such as building walls, we must turn to the many pallets that also litter our streets.
Sketchup model by Ron S.
But pallets can be tough to work with. The wood splinters easily making disassembly a tricky proposition (watch the Garden Fork TV pallet breaker video if you want to go down that route). Famed internet pallet guru Michael Janzen, of Tiny Pallet House, proposes leaving your pallets whole and adding a 2×4 to the end to make them into a kind of building block. The 2x4s can be new or salvaged from broken pallets.
With the added 2×4 you can construct walls, fences, compost bins etc. It’s an elegant solution to the pallet conundrum.
Sketchup model by Ron S.
Cutting pallets and staggering them with whole pallets adds to structural integrity in a wall.
Not all pallets are equal. Some are odd sizes and some are made out of better wood than others. For a wall building project like the one in these Sketchup illustrations, it would be best to find a stack of similar pallets.
Have you built with pallets? Tell us what you’ve made in the comments.
Sawfish, an unsinkable, lightweight, foam kayak (23 lbs). Free DIY kayak plans, the hardware store boat https://t.co/0Cr6dIM31s
— Root Simple (@rootsimple) August 2, 2016
Having a lot of fun playing with the True Size map of the world. Definitely worth a peek: https://t.co/Zp93jA5jSf
— Root Simple (@rootsimple) August 1, 2016
9 building materials made entirely from waste products https://t.co/I9msD5K0M7
— Root Simple (@rootsimple) August 1, 2016
Almost Every Kind of Wild Fish Is Infected with Worms https://t.co/R9SaFzHexe via @munchies
— Root Simple (@rootsimple) July 31, 2016
It's so hot in #boyleheights, mattresses are spontaneously combusting out in the streets #laheatwave #itshot pic.twitter.com/igJ80ehpxv
— Erick Huerta (@ElRandomHero) July 30, 2016
Thank you American #Architecture Profession for your foresight and contributions to the #urban form in the USA! pic.twitter.com/sGucLhJX4p
— Erik Griswold (@erik_griswold) July 30, 2016
Dragon anatomy for beginners.
Yes, you did read that correctly.https://t.co/F06Qanht14 pic.twitter.com/FJzwhiQzJK— Medieval Manuscripts (@BLMedieval) July 30, 2016
Good Night
Heidelberg, Cod. Pal. Germ. 466 pic.twitter.com/ldauWNgffo— Damien Kempf (@DamienKempf) July 30, 2016
The Oostvaardersplassen, an attempt to rewild a very unwild place in the Netherlands.
In case you can’t get enough of our podcasts, let me suggest two other podcast episodes that will definitely be of interest to Root Simple readers and listeners:
WNYC’s Radiolab released an episode, From Tree to Shining Tree which features the mind-bending research of Suzanne Simard. Her work shows that the root systems of forests form a sort of neural network, perhaps even a kind of plant consciousness.
The always worthwhile and thoughtful Ideas show has an episode on Rewilding, the tricky notion of returning landscapes to a “natural” state. One of the examples in the show is an attempt to rewild a region in the Netherlands that was reclaimed from the sea in the 1960s. I’m very familiar with this place from a bizarre, failed project I was involved with that attempted to create a monumental land art piece with explosives. Someday I’ll tell that crazy story, but let’s just say that this part of the Netherlands is probably the most dull landscape in the world. The Ideas show begins with the story of Ecologist Frans Vera introducing wild animals to this very artificial place. The show goes on to explore what “wildness” means. Spoiler: that’s a topic that will never have a neat conclusion.
Around this time of year we field a lot of questions about paper wasps, likely because the nests get larger in the summer. The most popular nesting site for paper wasps around here is in the eaves of a house. When the nest is by a door people tend to get uneasy.
Take a chill pill
Don’t panic! Paper wasps are extremely docile and rarely sting. Most importantly, paper wasps are a beneficial insect. They eat beetle larvae, caterpillars, flies and nectar (making them pollinators). They are your friends in the garden. Right now I have a large colony living in the eave of our front porch right over my favorite chair. I’ve sat in that chair, with my head a mere four feet from my paper wasp buddies, for many hours and have never once been bothered.
Biology
Like honeybees, paper wasp are social insects. A mated queen lays eggs. But the similarity ends there. Paper wasp nests range in size between a dozen to 200 individuals. A honeybee colony can be made up of 60,000 workers or more. And honeybees only gather pollen and nectar. Paper wasps feed their young with protein (other insects).
What a paper wasp sting feels like
About the only way you can get stung by a paper wasp is to grasp one. I did this inadvertently once when I reached behind a fence. Keeping bees, I’m well aware of what a honeybee sting feels like. The paper wasp sting was, initially, sharper than a honeybee sting but the pain dissipated quickly.
Paper wasp control
If you don’t want a paper wasp colony next to a door or window it’s best to get rid of the colony early in the season. You can knock it down with a stream of water from a hose or with a long pole. Make sure you have an exit route planned! They will no longer be peaceable after you do this.
Most importantly, after you knock down the nest (a good while after, of course, after they’ve calmed down), oil the location where they were with cooking oil or furniture oil so they can’t attach a new nest in that spot. You can also buy poison at the hardware store but who’s a fan of poison!? It’s really unnecessary. If you have a bee suit you can put it on and remove the colony with a gloved hand. But the best option is to leave them in place so that they can eat all those nasty flies, beetles and caterpillars. A wasp colony makes your yard a healthier, more balanced place.
Also, as you decide what to do with the nest on your house, keep in mind the fact that the colony will dissipate come winter. They will produce a young queen who will move elsewhere, and the remaining workers will die off. In other words, if you can wait until cold weather, your wasp problem will solve itself. Then you can knock down the old nest and grease the area so they don’t revisit that spot.
