Scrap / Materials / Free Shit Collecting

[God's strongest milkman]

I live out in the woods. I have had to build some of my own shit, fix up a polebarn, building a big chicken coop and run, building an outhouse, that kind of thing. Tools and fasteners like screws and nails cost money, but they're hard to circumvent. Raw materials like wood costs the most money but they CAN be circumvented.

It's possible to get free wood to construct and repair with, free metal and corrugated sheets and maybe even chicken wire is also possible. The problem is where to get it, online is possible but unlikely because most people will be asking for money because why the fuck wouldn't they? Materials are more expensive than ever, they are gonna want money for them.

The easiest places I have found to get free wood has been pallet factories which tend to throw out their unusable wood into giant piles outside the factory. I've gotten lots of free siding from these piles, as well as wood blocks for fires.

For 2x4's and 4x6's I have had some great luck when it comes to docks being torn up. If you see a crew tearing up a wooden structure and you have a trailer and you put it near them and give them some beer and ask them to put that wood in the trailer instead of into their own machines to then drag them off and trash them somewhere else you will be rewarding them to do less work in the long run and for like 15 bucks you could get hundreds of dollars worth of free wood.

You could also just drive around looking for this shit but it's more efficient to know people who are more likely to have to tear this shit down.

If you know any good places or methods to get free materials to build your own gardens, and animal pens, and buildings, and sheds, and greenhouses and cabins. Feel free to share it in this thread to give others ideas for how to get their own

 

[mold]

Many communities have creative re-use storefronts and warehouses. They exist to divert usable materials from the landfill. I think this one in SF was the first:

https://www.scrap-sf.org/

Some of these places are skewed more towards art supplies but some of them have furniture, whole bolts of cloth, and really good office supplies.

 

[Doctor Love]

Recycling is extremely useful.

Also, copper wire, bags of cement and a lot of industrial goods are just kept out in the open. They're free!

 

[ThinkThankThunk]

Depending on who you run into second hand stores can be a good spot for good stuff in great condition they simply don't have the room or manpower to deal with. I say "depending" because some of the most unscrupulous thieving boomers I've ever had the misfortune of meeting are employed at these places, but if you can find a volunteer they tend to be very nice people who'll let you take whatever's due for recycling or scrap.

 

[Jelli]

Many factories have tons of fucked up pallets they literally can't give away.

They can be pretty useful for making some bullshit, or burning.

 

[Meat Target]

Pay attention to when the trash company does large-item pickup for your neighborhood, and keep an eye out for appliances left at the curb.

 

[The Mass Shooter Ron Soye]

Recycling centers have improperly thrown away stuff that might be in excellent condition and not stinky.

Grocery store bakeries and restaurants might give away used food grade buckets if you ask, which can have a variety of uses.

 

[eatler]

I always recommend hitting neighborhoods that are well off or with large houses (not gated though) durring a trash run, usually there’s always shit that they’re throwing away that can fetch you a decent buck or is leftovers from renovations (seriously rich people renovate a lot)

I’d recommend doing this at midnight though since most people are asleep. I find most people don’t care if you dig things out of their trash though so long as you don’t trash the area.

Also someone mentioned giant corporate warehouses and plants and I can testify to this because my grandfather has stuff that he slapped onto his house and set up his garage with when one of the plants he worked at tossed away a bunch of things during a renovation. I think my grandfather said he save 10 grand (in 70s money) because of that asinine white-collar decision

 

[God's strongest milkman]

A lot of construction sites where something is be renovated or taken doen will have a fuck load of useful stuff that they would be happy for you to take because it saves them money the less they have to trash. But make sure they are cool with it because construction sites are private property.

 

[Roccosmoderndeath1]

Chip drop for free wood chips - https://getchipdrop.com/. Landscaping companies will drop off a truck load for free at your house (it's a literal truck load so make sure you're ready for that much). It's a win/win because they would usually otherwise have to pay to drop it off at a city/county dump site. Timing is up to them, but I do believe you can pay a nominal fee to get put on a priority list.

Garage sales are the best. Figure out what the rich neighborhoods are and find out when their neighborhood wide garage sales are. Churches and community centers often have them at regular intervals during the year. You can find them through Facebook, Nextdoor, or just google [your city/county] garage sales. Tons of people sell brand new tools, furniture, etc for 1/10th the price, and if you come in at the end, people will often give things away just to get rid of them. Spring and fall are the peak times for garage sales. In addition to rich neighborhoods, check out areas near colleges in mid to late May if you're in desperate need of furniture.

Overall, the key is to just ask politely and be friendly. Knock on your neighbor's door and offer them something from your garden to introduce yourself.

 

[Meat Target]

Recycling centers have improperly thrown away stuff that might be in excellent condition and not stinky.

Grocery store bakeries and restaurants might give away used food grade buckets if you ask, which can have a variety of uses.

Recycling is a gyp. With plastics, they sometimes just shuffle it around the country until some local government pays them to dump it in the landfill.

 

[Manimal House]

The easiest places I have found to get free wood has been pallet factories which tend to throw out their unusable wood into giant piles outside the factory. I've gotten lots of free siding from these piles, as well as wood blocks for fires.

I'll add that a lot of factories and manufacturing buildings in general will just leave pallets next to their dumpsters in stacks for the garbage to come pick up. Some places I worked at had to do that to free up dumpster space and sometimes people in trucks would just come swoop on them for the free wood.

 

[Rekeita's Kidneys]

Bedframe gang, perfect source of cheap ass fucking mild steel angle iron

 

[A Man on Fire]

Recycling centers have improperly thrown away stuff that might be in excellent condition and not stinky.

Grocery store bakeries and restaurants might give away used food grade buckets if you ask, which can have a variety of uses.

I thought recycling was a scam.