REPOST: The Life (cycle) of a Bathroom Vanity

As a Board Member of the Fuller Center for Housing of Greater Atlanta, Inc. I have been a part of  a Task Force whose primary goal is to establish a Lifecycle Building Center in Atlanta. It is a collaborative effort between the Atlanta Fuller Center and several other organizations, including Perkins + Will. Numerous discussions have transpired and lots of progress has been made so far, in trying to bring this idea to reality. We are close, but there's still lots of work ahead of us......

 

A LIFECYCLE BUILDING CENTER (LBC) is a community-based warehouse facility which assists the general public by identifying and implementing best practice green building-related concepts. The LBC addresses all lifecycle phases of the built environment – planning, design, construction, use, adaptation, renovation and demolition. The heart of the LBC concept is the creation of a large-scale used building material facility that sells collected material to the general public in lieu of disposal.

 

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The Life (cycle) of a Bathroom Vanity

Re-used vanity/sink/faucet
A few months ago one of our volunteers approached me and said that he had a bathroom vanity that he had just replaced in his home, and before he got rid of it (i.e. sent it to a landfill) he thought the Fuller Center could use it in one of their projects. Duane was hesitant about tossing this vanity because it was still in pretty good shape, and he found that by donating the item, another family in need could be helped.  I asked him if  he could store the vanity  in his garage until we found a project where we could re-use it. I wish we had a space, where, instead of turning away  in-kind donations, we could simple warehouse it and retrieve it when we need it for home repair projects. A Lifecycle Building Center, perhaps?  Think of all the items such as appliances, furniture,  fencing, pipes & gutters, bathroom vanities, glass & mirrors, light fixtures, plumbing fixtures, lumber, trim, siding, windows, doors, kitchen cabinets, door hardware, hinges, cabinet hardware, ceramic tiles, carpet remnants, tools – these are all things that can be re-directed, reused and re-purposed, instead of ending up in a landfill. 
Mrs. Henderson's Home
This past weekend, the Henry County Fuller Center for Housing, Inc. worked on Mrs. Henderson’s home located in McDonough, Georgia.  She is a 66 year old mother and grandmother struggling to make ends meet with the limited resources available. Despite the 35 degree temperature and rain on Saturday, approximately 20 volunteers showed up to assist with the project. While the rain prevented us from making repairs to the rotted soffit, facia boards and some general clean-up around the property, we were able to paint the living room, kitchen, hallway, dining room and bathroom. The team focused on patching holes, installing a new bi-fold door on the Hot Water Closet, install base boards and painting. We also installed 2 new smoke detectors in the house. These were obtained from the Fire Department at no cost. By the way, the paint was also an in-kind donation from the Behr Plant in Henry County. We simply took the 5 gallon container to Home Depot and had them tint the paint.

Dedication to Mrs. Henderson. Members of the Henry County Fuller Center for Housing, Inc.

So, next time you replace something in your home or office, please think twice about whether the items you are throwing away could be reused. Organizations such as the Fuller Center for Housing of Greater Atlanta, and the Henry County Fuller Center for Housing can use some of these in-kind donations for upcoming  home repair projects for families in need.

Shane A. Persaud,President/Volunteer
Henry County Fuller Center for Housing, Inc.
Contact Information:
shane@designpartnerships.com, 678-699-2308

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