Just read that a single mile of old farm fence can have over 400 pounds of scrap metal in it.

I was looking up salvage jobs online and saw that stat on a contractor's blog. It got me thinking... on one hand, that's a lot of extra work and weight to haul off a site. But on the other, you could make some decent cash from the scrap if you have the time to pull it all. Found it while pricing out a tear-down for a client's property outside of Knoxville. Do you guys usually factor in scrap value when you bid on a full removal job, or is it just not worth the hassle?

5 comments

5 Comments

jennybailey1mo ago

Ever check if the old posts are treated wood? Because if they're creosote coated, some scrap yards won't even take them and you're stuck paying to dump toxic waste. That can totally wipe out any profit from the wire.

paul60810d ago

Man, that's a solid point about the wire being soaked too. I didn't even think of that. Kevin_lane's burn idea is a real bad move with creosote, you'd just be making poison smoke. Honestly, if the posts are that old and nasty, the whole job might be more trouble than it's worth unless you find a yard that'll take contaminated metal, and they pay way less.

miles_chen1mo ago

Yeah, and what about the wire itself? If it's old farm fence, it's probably got that nasty creosote soaked into it too. So even if you get the posts out clean, the scrap yard might look at that wire and turn you away. Then you're stuck with a whole pile of useless, dirty metal. How do you even check for that without cutting up a sample piece?

kevin_lane1mo ago

But you can just burn them to avoid the dump fee.

waderamirez10d ago

What if the smoke just blows away from your place?