WoodDigest.com |

More than 100 years ago, loggers harvested mighty Douglas fir trees from Oregon and Washington and towering Redwoods from northern California. These logs were milled to build the warehouses and factories that sheltered America’s industrial age.

Today these very structures, many of which are no longer in use or are being demolished to make way for modernization, have become a source of distinctive high-quality wood that’s being given new life in homes, restaurants, stores, hotels and office spaces across the globe.

In America and around the world, exotic wood that’s already served a purpose is being reclaimed and recycled into exciting new projects. For reasons that are both ecological and aesthetic, timbers from ancient Chinese temples constructed during the Ming Dynasty have been turned into one-of-a-kind furniture pieces. Centuries old English brown oak planks that once held ale in the Guinness brewery in Dublin, Ireland, now make beautiful flooring. And French Oak boards from railroad cars constructed in the 1920s have a new home as rustic paneling.

Mountain Lumber Company in Ruckersville, Va., has reclaimed 75,000 bd. ft. of Heart Pine from a Camden Yards warehouse in Baltimore, Md. They’ve rescued and reused wood from the New England Confectionery Company (maker of the NECCO wafer) in Cambridge, Mass., the Studebaker Building #48 in South Bend, Ind., shipbuilding facilities in the Washington, D.C. Naval Yard and more.

ECOLOGY vs. AESTHETICS

Michael Black, president of Blacks Farmwood in San Rafael, Calif., is one of a growing number who sees value and beauty where others might see rubbish. He began obtaining vintage old-growth lumber in the mid-1990s when he deconstructed a fallen barn on his family’s Ohio farm. Today, he captures everything from Civil War Era tobacco barn flooring to redwood from a historic sawmill in Northern California, selling it to environmentally conscious builders and homeowners who are also looking to capture a bit of history.

“We have two kinds of clients: those who don’t want to cut down trees to put floors in their house, and those who are simply going for a rustic, organic look that only comes from aged wood,” Black explains. “But the great thing with using reclaimed wood is that ecology and aesthetics aren’t mutually exclusive. When you choose one, you get both.”

Interior designer Phil Norman, ASID, CID, of Norman Design Group, Palos Verdes, Calif., uses reclaimed wood in many of his high-end remodeling and new construction projects for both reasons. “We’ve been using old timbers for our beams rather than new ones because they are the best looking and they’re also recycled products,” he says.

While reclaimed wood provides a distinctive rustic beauty that’s hard to replicate with new wood, builders, designers, architects, cabinetmakers, businesses and homeowners can feel good including them in their projects since they are easy on the environment.

THE 'GREEN' BUZZ

Over the past decade, environmentally conscious, energy-efficient design has become a goal for many as we realize the savings in cost, energy and on the environment. Words like “green,” “sustainability” and “organic” have become ingrained in our vernacular. And more conscientious consumers are looking for ways to make a positive impact on the environment.

“The recent buzz of the ‘green movement’ has increased our customers’ knowledge of reclaimed wood. Homeowners are incorporating more environmentally sound products into their homes,” says Mark Callison with Elmwood Reclaimed Timber Inc. in Kansas City, Mo.

Peter Krieger is the general manger for Duluth Timber Company Inc., with operations in Minnesota and Washington state. As a leader of the Reclaimed Wood Council, he works closely with green building organizations, such as the U. S. Green Building Council (USGBC) and the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) system to drive home the concept that harvesting reclaimed wood is an efficient use of resources. “Many specifiers are using reclaimed wood as part of an overall plan to reduce the carbon footprint their project leaves on the planet,” he says.

In fact, according to the National Association of Homebuilders, new construction generates 31.5 million tons of landfill waste annually in the United States, much of it wood. The U.S. Forest Products Society says that approximately 38 percent of wood waste received by U.S. landfills is reusable, but is not being used.

“The real benefit to using reclaimed wood is that a lot of these buildings are slated for demolition anyway,” says Jeff Husted, owner of Vintage Timberworks in Temecula, Calif. “Why expend the energy to crush it and put it in a landfill? It just makes sense to hand-demolish and reuse it.”

According to SmartWood Certification Rediscovered Wood Program, reclaiming one old building containing 1 million bd. ft. of lumber can replace the harvest yield of 1,000 acres of old growth forest.

MORE THAN GOOD LOOKS

In addition to being an environmentally sound alternative to new building materials, reclaimed wood also offers unmatched quality. “Our reclaimed wood is almost always from original growth. Later growths are not as dense and the growth rings are not as tight,” Black explains, adding that new trees often grow too quickly to develop the sturdiness of the old growth wood.

Husted agrees that many builders now prefer to use reclaimed beams, especially for exposed applications, because they are dry and stable. “A year later, some new wood will twist and crack, but the old wood is going to stay just as you installed it,” he says.

Due to the labor required to obtain it, reclaimed wood is often up to five times more expensive than new wood. It’s commonly used in high-end projects, primarily for those who are looking to create something truly unique.

“We have used wood timbers from Malaysia for architectural wall features, barn siding for flooring and old roots from farm fields for furniture,” says Norman of his clients who are always willing to pay a little bit more for something truly one-of-a-kind.