At Rejuvenation, we’ve always believed that if something is worth doing, it’s worth doing well. Our employees certainly prove this adage—and not just when they’re at work. In the coming months, we’ll be featuring some of the surprising and inspiring projects that are their own labors of love. 

The following is from Justin Grow, one of our salvage buyers.

I’m currently working on a concrete block project on my home, in Portland’s Richland/Waverleigh neighborhood.

When it was built in 1910 by architect Alfred Faber, they used rusticated concrete blocks for the foundation. The blocks were built on site, by hand, and have a wonderful look.

I’d wanted to build a retaining wall at the sidewalk for some time now, but didn’t like any of the block options out there. After pondering solutions for a while, I found out that the Architectural Heritage Center had one of the original mold machines in its collection. I contacted them and made arrangements to borrow the machine on the condition that I repaired it to working order at my own expense.

I’ve had the machine for about six months now and have made about 70 blocks. I had to suspend production over the winter months, but I plan to start again soon. Each block takes approximately 20 minutes to make, and I need about 130 more till I can start erecting the wall.

It is an interesting process, and very labor-intensive, but the end product is without compare.