The Rural Voice, 1992-11, Page 40Rural
Livin
For the distinctive country life g
Something old/something new
Couple turns recycled materials into dream home
On a country road south of
Brussels stands a house that looks
like a typical Victorian yellow -brick
house of the area ... yet there is
something that sets it apart as well.
"We get plenty of compliments on
the job we did of renovating our old
house," chuckles Dave Rapson as he
sits with his wife Sharon, chatting at
their kitchen table, "so I guess we
must have been successful at what we
set out to accomplish."
What the Rapsons set out to
accomplish at their Grey Township
home, wasn't to renovate an old
house. They wanted the best of a
modern house, with the kind of
classic design of an older home and
the warmth of decades -old materials.
They've ended up with a new house,
light and bright and modern, yet with
the feel of a turn -of -the -century
traditional Western Ontario one -and -
a -half storey home. They did it by
building a house that is made of
about 75 per cent recycled materials.
Bits and pieces of their home
36 THE RURAL VOICE
originated in condemned buildings all
over Southern Ontario.
It was cost, not any environment-
ally trendy philosophy that was
behind the Rapsons' decision to build
a home from used building materials.
They had a very practical need to
save money.
The project began in the late
1970s, before they were even
married. Dave began designing the
house they wanted, even though he
had no training except some high
school drafting courses. He had a
look in mind, a traditional look that
incorporated the conveniences of the
current age. He was careful about
things like balance and proportion
and experimented for a long time
before he discovered the pitch for the
roof he felt looked proper.
"We weren't trying to copy
another house," Dave says. "We just
wanted to build a comfortable, easy
to live in house."
"Some older houses are
disappointing when you get inside,"
Sharon adds. "They can be cut up
and awkward to live in."
The house was built to their own
tastes. They wanted a home with lots
of light and large windows.
After they settled on their design,
Dave began building the house part-
time, on weekends and in the
evenings. "It cut in to dating time",
Sharon remembers.
Faced with a tight budget, it was
perhaps only natural that Dave would
turn to materials recovered from
demolished buildings. He runs his
own company, Total Demolition, that
ranges across Southwestern Ontario,
taking down buildings and recycling
as much of the material as possible.
In fact when he started building
the couple's dream house, he had a
lot more experience tearing down
houses than building them. He got
help from relatives and friends who
Top: The Rapsons' home combines a
traditional look with modern
conveniences.