I just read an article about a family in Alabama who built their own house with the wood and stones they could find.

I love this stuff.

As a contractor, Guy knew that most building projects waste a lot of usable materials. “In my line of work, getting rid of old junk and debris is part of the bidding process anyway,” he says. “So if I got a job remodeling a house built in the early 1900s and happened to see a dilapidated barn on the property, I’d just ask the owner, ‘What’s the future of that barn?’ Generally, he’d say, ‘You can have it.’”

In the five years it took to complete the project, Guy collected old wood, tin and other materials from as many as 75 sources; every town in Randolph County is represented. “I got wood from old barns and sheds; some pieces I just found in a field somewhere,” he says. “My company also did a whole lot of work on a church from the 1850s that people claimed was the oldest in the county. I got all the windowpanes, some trim and a few pieces of lumber from that.”

Guy estimates that 85 percent of the house is made from reclaimed materials; the other 15 percent is wiring, plumbing, lights and the store-bought rocks that make up the 30-foot indoor fireplace.

For Guy and Kay, building the house was more than a means to an end: It was an important part of raising their sons, Jeffery, 22; Kyle, 20; and Adam, 18. “I wasn’t about to raise three boys who wouldn’t know how to work and get really tired and sweat and bleed,” Guy says of his sons, who were 15, 14 and 12 when the project began. “This project turned them into three fine young men. It taught them values and character, respect and responsibility.”

Keep Reading