Man, there was a lot of wood around when they built the pink house at 9805 – 84th Avenue in 1916. It turns out that the pink paint on its exterior is covering cedar siding.

So as part of deconstructing the 100-year old house that the Mill Creek NetZero Home (MCNZH) will replace, I’ve been removing the cedar siding.

The siding is covered in paint that probably has lead in it, so the best way for us to recycle it is to just paint it again. We’ll rip it from 5″ wide to about 3.5″ wide, and use it for exterior window and door trim on the MCNZH. Peter Amerongen’s Habitat Studio crew has a technique that keeps the trim a few millimetres from the surface that its covering so that it dries off quickly, and given that it’s cedar, it should be very durable.

I feel good about being able to save so much of this cedar. After all, cedars are beautiful, gigantic trees, and I’m kind of, you know, a treehugger and all.

Underneath the pink yuckiness is durable cedar.

(cross posted at www.greenEdmonton.ca )