Conference 7.286::home_work

Check the back issues of Popular Science - they had some items on this
stuff lately.

			Steve

    TOH had an episode where the featured a 'plastic' house...
    
    I think the idea is intriguing. Water damage would be minimal when
    the pipe in the wet wall breaks. Carpenter ants would have no reason
    to stick around, or termites for that matter. Dry rot? Nah...
    
    Edd

re: .0

	I seem to remember hearing about a manufacturer in Leominster
that was making the 2x4s

	2x4s are 1.5 x 3.5 inches

	1x3s are 1 x 3 inches

>    TOH had an episode where the featured a 'plastic' house...

	That plastic house was in western Mass. Pithsfield or Palmer?
    

Fun side
>Carpenter ants would have no reason
>to stick around, or termites for that matter.
    
	I wonder if in 30 years we will start to hear about plastic ants
that eat plastic 2x4s?

		Bill

    
>	I wonder if in 30 years we will start to hear about plastic ants
>that eat plastic 2x4s?

	Just don't let the Andromeda Strain loose near the plastic 2x4s!

	Josh

    Sorry I can't answer your question, but while on the subject I remember
    asking a contractor friend of mine two years ago what materials would
    be prominently used in the "house of the future".  I was shocked when
    he said plastic!  I guess he had heard about this very thing. 
    Interesting.
    
    					Steve

The plastic house is in Pittsfield and I believe is open for tours.

The house was built by GE's plastic division, which has its 
headquarters in the Pitts.

    Actually, there are bugs that eat plastic (PVC?).  I've heard of them
    eating underground (high voltage) power cables on an island in the BWI. 
    Everything is fine till it rains....  <BOOM!>
    
    I stopped by Plywood Ranch and got a really strange look this
    evening...  :+)  Has anyone seen this stuff?  I can get plastic stock
    from various distributors, but it's pretty expensive, and I figured
    (recycled) plastic lumber would have to be a lot cheaper.
    
    Willie

There is a place in Leominster called "Plastics Again" that recycles
plastics.  Don't know if they deal with 2x4s, call them up and ask...

-Mike

    I'd be a concerned about what would happen to plastic lumber in a fire. 
    Several years ago, a local plastics company produced plastic interior
    moldings and trim.  They had to discontinue the stuff because it burned
    like a torch, and gave off toxic fumes in the process.  I know they can
    make plastics fire-retardant, but I think they still give off all kinds
    of nasty fumes as they melt in a fire.
    
    Still an intriguing idea, but, judging by the cost of simple things like
    plastic wastebaskets, I can't imagine a plastic 2X4 being any cheaper
    than the wood version.  "Plastics Again" is a good place to check.  It
    was set up as a joint venture between Mobil Oil and somebody else, and
    is one of a very few pilot plants working on recycling polystyrene.  As
    one of the previous replies said, they're located in Leominster.  They
    recycle the plastics from the NRO cafeteria, so maybe someone in
    facilities here would know how to get in touch with them.
    

    Thanks, I'll give Plastics Again a call.  It's not for use in a house
    (I just thought you house folk would know about it), I want to use it
    as part of the drive section of a teleoperated vehicle I'm building.
    
    I would think it would be more expensive than wood, but in some
    applications (maybe a deck you want to last forever?) it might be
    worthwhile.  Neat concept anyway!
    
    Willie

    Well, as near as I can tell it's vaporware.  I called around and
    confused a lot of plastics places, I called Plastics Again but they
    just make beads and don't know what happens to it after that, I called
    GE Plastics (at 4 different numbers), and while they were really proud
    of their plastic house, they used wooden lumber to put it together, and
    they have never heard of plastic lumber.  Oh well, the money I would
    have saved is going to be eaten by phone calls at this rate, I guess
    I'll just go with 'virgin' plastic stock.
    
    I'd love to be proved wrong, but I don't think it exists.  Maybe I'll
    try to track down the reference to it at MacDonalds...
    
    Willie

>    I'd love to be proved wrong, but I don't think it exists.  Maybe I'll

This is getting frustrating! I "know" that I've heard mention of 
"plastic" wood too! Where? I don't remember. Maybe we've been reading 
too many of each other's notes and that's the source of reference. :-)

To add some fuel to the fire... Within the past week or so I could
have sworn I saw this on TV but I can't remember where, when, which
show, wether it was a TV show or a commercial, but... some one was
talking about plastics and one quick shot was an outdoor scene and
they made a mention of "that pinic table over there" as another
example of how plastics could be recycled. The picnic table looked
quite ordinary, ie. typical 2x construction. 

Charly

>>    I'd love to be proved wrong, but I don't think it exists.  Maybe I'll


>This is getting frustrating! I "know" that I've heard mention of 
>"plastic" wood too! Where? I don't remember. Maybe we've been reading 
>too many of each other's notes and that's the source of reference. :-)

I remember it too. A while back , maybe 3-4 years there was an article in
the Worcester Telgram & Gazette about recycling plastics. It mentioned a
company in Leominster that did such a thing. When I saw the name
"Plastics Again" I felt shure that was the name. I am now just thinking
that since Plastics Again said they didn't do 2x4s, I believe remembering
that the artical said that too and that the beads were sent to a company
that make 2x4s for plastic park bench seats. I noted that the streng of the
plastic was a problem.  I have also wrote replies about the article in
home_work before.

	I am total stumped about the GE house. On this old house when they
were showing the cut out of the wall you can see a plastic 2x4 in the picture.
It is a grey colored 2x4.


		Bill

>	I am total stumped about the GE house. On this old house when they
>were showing the cut out of the wall you can see a plastic 2x4 in the picture.
>It is a grey colored 2x4.
    Maybe just the cut out was "framed" with plastic, so they can brag
    about the plastic structure during tours. The stuff's probably such
    a pain to work with, they figured ah, no one's gonna see the structure
    anyway!
    
    John

    I believe that I saw plastice colonial casing at grossmans recently.
    It came with one end already cut @45'. I'll have to look again to
    verify.

Plastic mouldings have been around for years.  I don't keep my back issues
of Popular Science, but I'm sure I saw an article on plastic lumber there
within the past six months.

				Steve

    I used plastic moulding several years ago.  I'll never use it again.
    
    tony

    
     Call Steve from this Old house and ask him whats the scoop. By the
    look on his face during that spot, I don't think he was a beliver
    either. But they did say they had them, someone that lives local to
    that house needs to take a field trip to that house on behalf of the
    noters here, and take a saw with you to get a sample.
    
     Hey what about that Voice activated computer, didn't anyone tell GE 
    about DECtalk ?
    

re .17

What didn't you like about the plastic moldings that makes you not want to use
them again?

Ed..

    I thought I read something about plastic 2x4's too, and I thought
    it may have been in Popular Science magazine too.... I'll try
    to remember to look over some back issues...
    
    Jean

    If skinny little wooden I-beams are strong enough, then you'd
    thing they could design strong plastic lumber ... maybe make it
    with a honeycomb structure for strength.
    
    I'd gladly use plastic for decking, sheds, exterior steps, etc.
    I wouldn't use it in the house where there'd be a potential toxic
    fume problem in the even of a fire, though.
    
    And just think of the market for special saw blades, drill bits,
    and fasteners!

Re: .12 - TV sighting of "plastic" lumber

I saw it again! It's a TV commercial for either DOW or DuPont. A young
boy his watching his father play in a softball game and he comments
about how bad a softball player he is and then goes on to describe his
father's job as "plastics re-cycling engineer" or some thing like
that. 

The picnic table is one of the examples given of new products and uses
they are finding for re-cycled plastics. 

Perhaps a phone call to DOW or DuPont could yield more information.

Charly

    re .-1
    I'd worry about how slippery plastic would get for deckings, steps, and
    rails for that matter. Then maybe if they gave it a roughed-up finish
    like precast concrete it might not be so bad. Then again, that surface
    could wear off easily. Hmmm.
    
    John

    I'd also worry about U.V. light degrading the material. 
    
    Ray

    I saw an ad in Natl Geog. about 6-10 mos. ago for recycling plastics,
    and I'm sure that park benches and stuff like that we in the ad.  The
    ad was for an oil company/refinery I believe.  I've gone back and
    looked for it, but it seems to have disappeared.  ... or was it
    Reader's Digest?  Hmmmm.  Check the Periodicals at your library -
    there's bound to be lots of articles (mentioning who's doing what).

    It doesn't strictly belong in here, but (to me at least) it's related:
    
    What kind of hardwood would I want to use for maximum hardness, freedom
    from warpage/shrinkage in changing humidity, and stuff like that?  I'm
    thinking of using aluminum channels for the base of my robot, but if
    wood is lighter and cheaper, why not go low tech?  I do feel kinds
    silly drilling and tapping pine 2x4s for 5/8-11, though.....  :+)
    
    Willie
    

  So there I was, catching up on _weeks_ of backlog reading, when I found
  a picture of a 'suit' sitting on a park bench, holding a plastic milk
  carton.  The caption reads:

  "Guy David, president of Anchor Plastics Ltd., of Elgin, Ill., shows
   off a bench made from recycled plastic milk jugs at the national
   Hardware Show in Chicago Sunday."

  This was in the Nashua Telegraph on Monday, Aug. 13.

  So there you go.

And I just saw an old Popular Mechanics (circa 1988) that had a bunch of
articles on homes of the future.  One article was something about GE and
all-plastic homes (I guess they gave up on all-electric).

    re: .28
    
    Thanks, I'll see if I can't get ahold of them!
    
    re: .29
    
    I called GE, they use wooden 2x4s in their "all-plastic" house...
    
    Willie

    
    There's a picture of a park bench made of plastic 'lumber' in the
    latest Popular Science. Can't remember if they mentioned a source.