Scavenging a Home

Now that I'm in home building mode, I've had my eyes open for the organs of the vessel.  Here are some pics of things I've mustered up so far...

A magic chef propane stove/oven.  This came out of the Terry Taurus camper that was demo-ed.

Side view

Top view

I found this old tractor pedal at the farm where my shop is and I think it will make a great custom step for getting up on the frame.  Just need to clean it up, but what a cool shape.  It has a clamp to mount on to a cylinder, so I will probably weld a forged piece of round stock on to the frame of the trailer to hold this stair. 

 

I found this "Old Copper and Brass Faucet" at the Packwood Washington Labor Day Flea Market.  I talked the lady down to $15.  I have to replace the gaskets in the valves and hopefully it will work.  

I found this dual tank propane regulator on an old trailer.  

I pulled this 3 gallon hot water tank/heater off of the Terry Taurus demo as well.  I am going to use it for a radiant heat system.  All I need is pex tubing and a small efficient water pump. 

A small electrical box, with 2 breakers.  

A deep cycle battery plastic box to keep it dry.

A big stainless steel sink, which I pulled out of a kitchen that we remodeled.  

A stainless steel folding shelf.  In small scale design, shelving is key to achieve the most efficient use of space.  The old cutting block that slides into the kitchen counter top is a great example of what I'm getting at.  You can provide a counter top that also houses a cutting block/prep station/spice rack/knife storage.  This stainless steel shelf could be a prep station that folds up and slides into the counter top.


I spent $15 on all that stuff.  A lot of it came out of the old camper, but usually when I start building something, I just keep my eyes open and the parts come to me.  Most of the best resources available come from yard sales, estate sales and flea markets.  Usually when you explain to yard salers what you're going to do with their old stuff they are so excited that you will breathe life into things they do not use, they give it to you dirt cheap or free.

The resources you have at hand influence what you can do.  The ability to find resourcefulness in what others view as useless is the ability to materialize what you do not have.  I stand in front of my big pyle of rusted metal and look at what I have instead of think about what I need.  Whatever I need is almost always right under my nose, I just have to swear and trip over shit endlessly before I recognize it's presence.