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Oxford couple puts archtectural salvage items back to use
OXFORD, Nebraska -- Fred Ridpath says he's torn down houses all his life.
Fred's wife, Jane, says her grandfather tore down a barn and used the wood to build the house that her parents lived in. Jane says with a grin, "We come by this salvaging honestly."
Fred and Jane Ridpath, of Oxford, Nebraska, are salvaging about 70 percent of each structure they dismantle. They feel good about the high percentage ... that they can then offer good, reusable building materials for recycling or repurposing. They're preventing viable, valuable architectural artifacts from being bulldozed and hauled to the dump, Fred says.
"We're doing our part to keep the whole planet from becoming a landfill," Jane says.
Fred and Jane respect the older houses they dismantle. "We love the character of old houses," Fred said. "It's most heart-breaking when we see old houses bulldozed," Jane said.
Fred started his most recent salvaging endeavors reclaiming the recyclable metals from houses that the Village of Oxford intended to demolish. Before they can tear anything down, the structure has to be inspected, and asbestos removed, Fred said. "I don't mind the inspections. We (he and Jane) do it by the book," Fred said, explaining that the inspections keep him safe and prevent him from "draggin' something home" to Jane or to their dogs and cats.
From any old house, the couple can salvage doors and interior and exterior door frames, windows and interior/exterior window frames, trim, doorknobs and hardware, cupboards and shelves, floorboards, light fixtures, wainscoting, siding. "We can't salvage shingles, plaster, drywall ... concrete. Pretty much anything else we can salvage," Fred said. "My Saws-All is my best friend," he chuckled. And patience ... patience to pull nails and screws.
Although it takes a specific piece of equipment that he doesn't have, concrete and bricks are recyclable, Fred said. Crushed concrete can be used to pave driveways and alleys. He said that crushed concrete can even be used instead of poured concrete to bury posts in the ground, to keep wooden posts from rotting and metal posts from rusting. "It allows the water to drain away from the post," he explained.
Although Fred and Jane have their architectural salvage in storage, Fred insists he is not a hoarder. "Some times I see something that I know I don't want -- I'm not a hoarder. Hoarding drives me crazy! -- but I know someone else can use it," he said. He laughed and continued, "I don't have time to mess with it all. If I do mess with something, then I'll probably keep it ..." As has happened with old keys he has found over time, and has framed on the wall in the dining room. Fred explained, laughing, "I don't 'collect' anything. It collects around me."
Fred and Jane are careful with the salvage items with which they decorate their own yard or what they store outside. "It can drive me crazy after a while," Fred said, laughing. "If it gets to be too much, it looks like yard junk, not yard art."
Fred and Jane have sold their salvage on eBay and craigslist, and at flea markets and in antiques/collectibles shops. They're members of a Facebook group called "Nebraska Architectural Salvage and Juntique," and list their items with others who salvage and repurpose. "If it no longer works for its original purpose, do something else with it," Jane encouraged, as fellow junktiquers do. "And the more rustic, the better. If the paint is chipped away, all the better."
Fred and Jane have personally used the cast iron legs of an old sewing machine cabinet for the base of a table, fashioning the table top from the end of an electric wire spool. They plan to use chunks of slate that Fred discovered as flooring in an old garage to extend their patio.
An old scale fell through the floor of an old barn; Jane painted the base a misty garden green and plans to display a plant on it on the patio.
They've seen a stained glass window attached to the back of a buffet that was missing its mirror. "It fit perfectly, and looked great," Jane said.
They sell doors for table tops, shelves and bed headboards.
Old ladders have become pot racks and quilt racks.
Square nails are fashioned into jewelry.
"We can see the potential ... we can see what it can become," Jane said. As an example, Fred has dismantled a mobile home, and is using its dimensional lumber to design and build decorative fences.
"And pallets. Pallets are popular," he said incredulously. "Lots of people are calling us wanting pallets," he chuckled. Fred admits, "Some are oak, and it's beautiful stuff. It's hard on the machinery and tools, but they're making great projects with them."
And outhouses ... outhouses. People want the whole outhouse, most to use as garden or yard sheds to store tools and lawnmowers.
Jane and Fred can see the potential within a piece of salvaged architecture, either for its original purpose or for something else.
"It's a passion for us," Jane said. "We hate to throw anything out."