Dumpster diving; Is it legal? 

There have been Supreme Court decisions about the right of police to seize, search, take things out of people's garbage without a warrant. Their reasoning was that once something is placed on a public street in a garbage container, or in an area accessable to the public, the owner has "no right of the expectations of privacy" and has "abandoned ownership."

Here's the Supreme Court case as discussed by the FBI in their ongoing education of their agents' right to snoop legally: (Not an FBI website) https://supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/486/35/

So this applies to boards in dumpsters as well as drug evidence.

This does NOT trump trespassing laws on private property. If the dumpster is behind a fence or in an area marked "no trespassing" forget it. If it's on the curb, or in a shopping center-go for it.

Very often a contractor will save the material for you outside of the dumpster if you ask nicely, pick it all up and don't look like you'll hurt yourself on his job site. This can save him the often substantial cost of hiring an extra dumpster that is minimally filled. A six pack of cold drinks offered to workmen on a hot day is a nice token of appreciation and has smoothed the way for us to scrounge thousands of dollars of building material in exchange.

Once you have the wood you'll want to keep it dry and out of the sun which will warp it by unevenly drying and shrinking the exposed side. Stack it on its flat edge off the ground with the length in feet and inches written on the end of each board, so that you can pull out the length that you need without having to measure it again.

Very often material such as 8 foot long 2x4s with a few nails in the ends can be salvaged from demolition site dumpsters. You remove the nails and/or cut off the shattered ends and you have perfectly serviceable wood that has the advantage of not only being free, but also being dry, meaning that it will not shrink, and sometimes it is far stronger than anything that you can buy new especially in the larger sizes such as 4x4s etc.

Timing and behavior while dumpster/debris box diving.

Dumpsters are usually picked up on Monday morning. This means that the best time to scrounge in them is on a Sunday afternoon because they will be full and there will be nobody working on the job site. Wear gloves and work clothes when you 'dive, make as little noise as possible and leave the area cleaner than when you arrived. Very often the best way to hide what you are doing is to do it boldly and quickly in broad daylight with a sense of purpose. If someone is giving you the eye either casually wave at them and continue to load or just leave. Scan the site once and proceed. Looking around nervously is like waving a red flag. Referring to a piece of paper, looking over the edge of the dumpster, pulling a piece of wood out and checking off something on your paper is a good bit of street theater/camouflage that may make you look more official.

In all the years that we have done this nobody has ever challenged us or called the police, although we have left when situations didn't feel right. If the box is on the street it will be easier to approach, select material and load from than if you have to go through a gate with a "no trespassing" sign on it. Remember, you are doing the builder a favor by removing material since it may make the difference between renting one or two boxes. If you arrive at a box with workmen around, just ask them nicely if you can have some "scrap wood". Usually they won't care. Get a workman's, or better yet foreman's name. When you start pulling 10 foot pieces out of the box they are not going to stop you if your named guy has already said "go ahead".

What not to take/touch.

Never take anything from a construction site that is not in a debris box unless you get permission. You may be taking material that is to be used on the job. Theft of building material is a felony in some states. If someone does challenge you, multiple apologies and acting stupid will usually pave the way for a graceful exit.

Tools and techniques to make your 'diving easier.

We use a "cherry picker", a tool used to grab cans off tall shelves, that we found in a dumpster behind a supermarket: This is great for raising the ends of boards that are too far down to reach or small objects up to the point where you can grab them. A long thin metal rod bent to a J shape will work almost as well. You should keep your feet on the ground when you are diving because you will have more leverage to pull things up and out. Climbing into a debris box is serious business because you may step on upturned nails or cut yourself plus there is the climb into and out of the box as well as the lack of deniability should a cop drive up. Assume that any liquid on boards or other objects is toxic and leave them in the dumpster.

Have you car ready to load before you drive up to the box with the seats down or to one side, pieces of cardboard laid out to prevent the inside from getting dirty or scuffed up and a red flag and some means to attach it to projecting loads. Once again, attitude is important.Prepare yourself for the worst thing that can possibly happen like the contractor or a cop driving up and challenging you. Have your story all ready and act innocent, "I'm getting some firewood" or I'm looking for some boxes". Being prepared seems to relax us when we dive.

Don't be greedy. We have all seen the yard of the pack-rat that keeps accumulating stuff which ends up getting ruined in the rain or becoming an eyesore to the community. This stuff is of no use to anybody-it usually gets tossed in the end anyway.

Make a list of what you need and look for it. The five most dangerous words for a 'diver are: " I Can Use This Someday". Save your sanity, your neighborhood reputation and your marriage. Don't grab everything.

On Minimum Codes and Overbuilding. Wood is incredibly strong. If it's kept dry, roofed properly and doesn't burn down, aa carefully constructed wooden building, built to code standards can last for many generations. Wood is forgiving. The advantage of building with salvaged wood is that you can overbuild things with no financial or environmental penalty. That is, with minimum skills and tools, you can build simple additions to your house or structures that are far stronger than what the building-code requires . It will outlast much of the crap that is slapped up today. Most new residential construction that we have seen in the San Francisco Bay Area, (we live in Oakland), is garbage. Oriented strand board , vinyl windows, extruded gutters, plastic pipe, green wood etc. often put together not by skilled carpenters, but rather by unskilled immigrant day laborers picked up on street corners, does not promise enduring structures that will be around 100 years from now. What you overbuild with 30 year old massive old growth salvaged wood can last as long, or longer if you work carefully and learn what to do.

Here are some links that involve the wise design and building of homes: