When we heard of plans to demolish many of the General Electric Factory buildings from the 1900s, we were led to Bloomfield, NJ to prevent the factory’s bones from ending up in the landfill. To date, we have rescued over 23 million board feet of antique wood from ending up landfills or other wasteful disposal methods.

A little plant history:
Opening the doors to its 17 buildings in the 1900s, GE expanded to meet the demand for battery manufacturing. With over two thousand workers, and one of the largest local manufacturing facilities, they were busy producing the batteries behind communications systems as well as kinetoscope, wax for phonograph cylinders, x-ray equipment, medical instruments, electric fans, and later, much of the equipment for WWII. After a decline in the demand for manufacturing, the company vacated Bloomfield in 1959.

Timbers within:
While the main building currently remains and is being converted into residential spaces, we reclaimed 81,500 BF of Long Leaf Heart Pine timbers as well as a small amount (15,900 BF) of Oak from several of the surrounding buildings. Heart Pine is said to be the species our country was built on with many of the factories and mills of the past having been largely constructed using these pine timbers. Reclaimed Heart Pine is a highly desired species due to its dense grain patterns, deep patina, character, and of course, history.

What’s next for this wood:
While the GE factories have run out of juice, their wooden timbers, posts, and planks will be recharged around the world. Our goal is to continue to rescue ‘old’ wood from factories, warehouses, and other industrial buildings giving it new life as flooring and other products for retail, commercial, and residential clients. Beginning with raw industrial salvaged timbers, we mill board stock repurposing the antique wood into paneling, flooring, fixtures, and more to be used in commercial and residential spaces.