As people have become more aware of environmental concerns such as deforestation, the practice of reclaiming wood has become more popular. Reclaiming hardwood flooring materials has many advantages such as : reusing old growth woods that are valuable and rare, reducing deforestation, reduce harm to environments from logging, reducing solid waste and offering economical alternatives to new wood materials. Perhaps the best reason to reuse wood is that it just doesn't make sense to throw away beautiful wood material that took so long to grow. Recycling wood just makes sense and people love it's appearance.
If you are looking into buying wood flooring, you probably have come across the term "reclaimed wood" and may be wondering what exactly does this mean? This simply means that the wood material has been used previously and was discarded or not needed anymore. These older woods many times can be reused by milling, refinishing or sanding.
Lumber dealers are constantly on the hunt for new sources and seek not only old barns but also areas across the globe, and even the bottom of lakes and rivers. Many of these dealers today are concentrated in the Eastern part of the US where wood was used in earlier days.Barn siding has long been used in upscale buildings, often pulled out and nailed up without much difficulty, but larger scale "harvesting" means the barn, factory, or silo must be disassembled with the collapse of the building always possible. The problems aren't over when the wood has been removed from its original location. Back at the sawmill, each piece must be gone over by hand to check for and remove any old metal nails, screws or bolts, which would destroy the saw if left in. Then, these holes must be filled.
Additionally painted wood, as in barns, must be taken off, and any damage from mold or insect must be repaired. Brand new, newly cut wood doesn't need these efforts. Very old beams can show the marks of the original adze that shaped them, which makes such beams highly coveted. The saws used to cut the wood are very thin in order to preserve more of the wood and to create less sawdust. The flooring finishes can range from mirror-smooth to very rough, with old saw marks and rust stains. The wood can also be used for any home application: cabinets, stairs, moldings and walls. This old wood has an enormous range of colors, unlike anything else on the market.
Using reclaimed wood for flooring is the perfect "green" use. It has no impact on existing forests. There isn't any other product of this age that has so many beautiful uses in homes. A bonus is the pride that most homeowners feel in the recycling of a useful product, and most importantly, in the notion of having part of the country's history close at hand. Also, they know this product has proved its durability before, and will certainly serve them.
Reclaimed wood flooring is currently used in only 1 to 3% of construction in the US. This is chiefly because of its higher cost due to how hard it is to prepare, and how relatively rare it is. It is a model of recycling. It doesn't go into a landfill, and carries its own history into the future!
Read more at http://crownwoodconservatories.com/.
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