Why Choose Reclaimed?
Because you want an authentic, warm, storied look for your space. Because you’re looking to reuse material that might otherwise end up in a landfill. Because you like things with a story to tell, like “this floor came from the Buster Brown Shoe Factor!”. Because you want a floor that is truly one-of-a-kind where no two boards are the same. We could go on – but our favorites are below:
For Planet & People
Wood is a carbon sequestering material, but only when that carbon stays locked in the fiber of the wood. When it biodegrades in a landfill or is burned, that carbon goes right back into the atmosphere, adding to climate change. The more old timbers and heavy boards we can keep out of landfills, the more carbon we can keep locked away. We can reuse the wood in many ways: as whole timbers, flooring, paneling, and siding – our specialties. Reclaimed wood is also excellent for furniture, case goods, stairs, doors and millwork, and fixtures.
Reclaiming wood reduces the demand for fresh lumber. One more tree left standing in a forest, when that forest is well managed, can keep producing oxygen and sequestering carbon, depositing it into the soil where fungi and mycelium break it down into nutrients for nature.
For History & Story
Every tree has a story, just ask the Lorax. But reclaimed wood has history, a longer story of use, often tied to the industry or agriculture of our country. We love gathering information about where our reclaimed timbers come from and our acquisition team is filled with folks who connect the dots to tales of what the timbers saw before arriving in our yard. Some of our favorite histories are blog posts you can find here. While the wood in those posts is likely already loved by someone as a floor or building, all of our reclaimed material has a story behind it. Want to know more? Just ask your sales or customer experience person. Or maybe you’re planning for a big, high-profile project that could benefit from wood with a certain background? (We once helped turn airplane hangar reclaim into an aerospace museum floor!) Let us know, we love pairing reclaimed wood with a space that gives homage to its previous life.
For American Manufacturing
Our reclaimed wood floors are made HERE. Not in China. Not in South America or Mexico. Not on an island in the Pacific. They’re Made in America, in Oregon and New York. Our mills are filled with craftspeople who make a good wage with full benefits. We’re also employee-owners, a 100% ESOP, so when the company makes a profit, we all make a profit.
Sure, American manufacturing adds to our cost of goods. And yes, we take a lower margin to off-set some of this cost for you. But we think it’s WORTH IT. Employ Americans who are expert makers and we’re sure you’ll find as we do – a higher-quality product and stronger local communities.
For The Power of Design
Your design vision is everything. After spending so much time getting it just right, why settle for a common wood floor? Reclaimed floors give you the option of texture and character; of history and exclusivity. They can be found in species, or species blends, that commodity floors can’t. Reclaimed floors can be finished in an array of special colors. And many of our single-origin batch reclaimed lines, like Gym Flooring, bring with them “signs of previous life” or paint, ferrous staining, and other unique features that make them special.
Need a certification? Our reclaimed floors work great for LEED and Living Building Challenge projects. 100% reclaimed, UL GreenGUARD Gold, Declare, HPDs, and FSC Chain of Custody certification are all available. Let our sales team know what you’re looking for and we can help direct you to the right product.
For the Beauties of Wood
When we say that one of our core tenets is the Beauties of Wood, the plural is intentional.
There is so much to love about wood as a building material. The flowing grains, graceful curves, and dynamic range of adaptable colors that make wood visually stunning, but there is far more to wood than meets the eye.
From the air we breathe, to the interconnected complexities of forest ecosystems, to the shelter it provides through human ingenuity, craft, and tradition. Wood has helped us build our past, and now promises to help build our future through sustainable designs that responsibly utilize this renewable natural resource.
