What type of yard should you open????

There are a lot of reasons to stay away from used wood:



1: There's bound to be some pressure treated mixed in. The old stuff contains arsenic.

2: The cellular structure of the wood fibers change over time. Most of the places that i'm working on these days are over 70 years old. The wood structure is so badly degraded that it's all but worthless.You certainly wouldn't want to recycle it into a new building project. ( Decorative old wooden beams excepted.)

3: You never know what those products were treated with. Most of the traditional wood preservative products have been outlawed now because they're so toxic.

4: Wood that's been painted with lead based paints. Nasty stuff.

5: Unless the wood was originally kiln dried it was most likely insect infested. Critters like the Ambrosia beetle, Powder post beetle, and Long horn beetle can have pretty long life cycles and are wood borers in their larval stage. Once they start munching on your house it's hard to get rid of them.

I know some folks are sentimental about saving old houses and old wood but as a guy that works on these old places i don't see the charm. They pose a lot of on the job hazards to those working in the trades.