Homes Made Out of Trash That Look Really Nice

• September 4th 2009

by Mark Wellborn

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It appears that there is an environmentally-minded home builder in Texas that may put all others in his field to shame. In this week’s departure from DC-related real estate fare, we look at a terrific New York Times article that profiles 64 year-old Dan Phillips, a home builder who makes beautiful homes out of trash.

Trashed ceramic tiles, wine corks, and even old DVDs are just some of the discarded materials that Phillips uses to build homes. Most of these materials come from other construction sites, and then Phillips, a self-taught carpenter, electrician and plumber, incorporates them into the property he is building, according to The Times. Primarily built for low-income families and individuals, many have been sold to more well-off buyers because of the current housing crisis.

From the NY Times:

While the homes are intended for low-income individuals, some of the original buyers could not hold on to them. To Mr. Phillips’s disappointment, half of the homes he has built have been lost to foreclosure — the payments ranged from $99 to $300 a month.

Some of those people simply disappeared, leaving the properties distressingly dirty and in disrepair. “You can put someone in a new home but you can’t give them a new mindset,” Mr. Phillips said.

The article can be read here, and we highly recommend the slideshow as well.

This article originally published at https://dc.urbanturf.com/articles/blog/homes_made_out_of_trash_that_look_really_nice/1281.