Does HGTV give unrealistic expectations?

I'll give some examples. I do not like to throw thing away if they can be used elsewhere. In renovating we tore down a side chimney and pulling out bricks also from inside the house I asked the contractor doesn't it make sense for some of this stuff like the bricks to donate it somewhere or reuse it rather than just toss in the dumpster...no was the answer it seemed not worth to try to preserve any if this.

They threw away slot of stuff to me I have seen repurposed on TV.

Quality wood cabinets can be repainted or refinished and look great but not all cabinets are worth restoring. We re-did our kitchen probably 15 or 17 years ago (new cabinets) and it was a fortune....initially I was ok with the look but so many things have gone wrong. I doubt this kitchen will last as long as I thought it would, but mostly it will take a good carpenter and doo dad specialist to restore it to good order. The wood is fine, but the latches and buffers are disappointing and definitely need to be upgraded.

(P.S. my old cabinets were installed when this house was built, not nice and impossible to fix.)

Good catch, a lot of stuff is taken away and sold.......no benefit to you.

Isn't this a purely economic question? If old bricks had a monetary value greater than the cost to transport and repurpose them, then wouldn't this happen naturally?

I think things are thrown away when it is cheaper to do so. I think the question is whether people are willing to pay more to have things repurposed even when it doesn't make economic sense.

Re-using used construction materials

It's ratings, mostly. I mean, who wouldn't want to see a hunk of a dude in a plaid shirt and tight jeans taking 16 whacks at a cabinet door? Now, normal construction workers would have just unscrewed the whole cabinet off the wall in one minute without making a mess that others have to clean up. After all, time is money.

But you do realize all HGTV shows are fake, correct?

That's not what I am questioning. Actually what you are stating is the opposite. I am saying that why does HGTV take the cabinet out carefully so they can donate it .... Not some hunk smashing it..

In my situation there was an area where we were removing a brick chimney and inside some other brick. I asked the question can this Bri k be donated..he said it wasn't worth it and they threw it all in the dumpster...we had some of material as well.most went into the dumpster. Now on HGTV they would salvage any brick they could and re-use it elsewhere in the house.

Now I understand these shows are not 100% accurate but it does seem sensible to me to reuse any product that you can. It us probably easier and quicker for these workers to just dump everything.

Thanks ...good read.

I did hear that they dumpster companies do go through to a certain extent the material thrown away...in part to make sure it isn't anything you would be charged mire for like a TV or mattress.

Which HGTV program are you referring to? Cuz I've never seen any show that "carefully" takes out anything.

If you're asking why, in your particular case, the chimney brick wasn't re-used, the simple answer is cost. Breaking down a chimney is easy, removing mortar from brick isn't. It's time consuming. A Journeyman brick layer would laugh at you, a laborer would say they don't get paid to break rocks all day. Chiseling mortal off used brick is just not going to happen in most professional settings.

Now if you, as the consumer, wanted to... Which why didn't YOU take the brick for a DIY project?

That title thread could be a low-key/highbrow Onion headline.

My mantra is reduce, reuse and recycle so I would probably have stacked the bricks and put an ad out on Kijiji - "Free bricks from chimney". Lots of people would love free stuff. They could use them to make a fire pit, or garden paving or edging. Same with cupboard doors - maybe they can't afford to buy new ones, so a little sanding, elbow grease and paint and they have "new" ones.

I don't watch HGTV anymore but many years ago they had some crazy renovation shows where they did a lot of reusing of homeowners' property. Remember the two Scottish guys - one wore an outside floral piece on his jacket on every show, trying to set a new trend, I think. For some bizarre reason, it didn't take.

Just read an article in the NYT about the massive amounts of construction materials constituting about 1/3 of the landfills. Such an unnecessary waste of decent product. Of course, not everything is worth recycling

We didn't take the brick because we are getting rid of all that ..we are not adding brick in any where in our improvements.

Just last night they did this on Fixer Upper with brick and they are always using wood and crisp from one spot to another. Home town has pulled cabinets to donate elsewhere ..Rehab Addict is almost reusing everything, Property Brothers has done this as well from time to time.

To be honest I've seen both where they a sledge hammer and where they carefully remove them to donate. My assumption is it depends on the quality of the cabinets.

Hmm we are going to remove the brick walkways this spring .. No mortar so maybe I could do as you suggested offer it up for the taking.

People in Mexico keep offering me bricks when they find out I am from the US. The joke is about Trump's wall... every Mexican will pitch in with a brick (maybe it is not as funny in English but they think it's funny.

Maybe you should just send your bricks south.

We have a programme called The Restorers where people take items of furniture and such to the aforementioned group who restore and repurpose it and it is then sold.

It's all very well and good as a programme but in the real world it would probably cost as much to restore/repurpose as they'd end up selling it for.