Green-Trust.Org

Jim Juczak hates mortgages. When he started building his home in rural Jefferson County, he resolved to stay out of debt.

The house he finished five years later is an 18-sided structure with 3,000 square feet of space. It is mortgage-free.

And much of it is made from junk.

The support beams are salvaged from a bowling alley that was being demolished.

A two-story concrete column that supports the center of the house is made from scrapped manholes.

Windows, interior doors, sinks, tubs and other materials were bought cheap or salvaged for free after being removed from renovated buildings.

And the mortar for the outer wall was made from paper sludge, a waste material from a nearby mill. Juczak had to get a special permit from the state Department of Environmental Conservation to divert the sludge from a landfill.

“Everyone gave it (the permit) with much humor, because this is basically garbage,” Juczak said. “You know — ‘Oh, my gosh! He’s living in a house made of trash!’”

Read more at http://www.syracuse.com/news/index.ssf/2008/10/king_of_scrounge_north_country.html and http://www.woodhenge.org