Some more info on reclaimed and green products:

1. What does reclaimed mean?

   Reclaimed materials are salvaged from old structures that do not serve a functional purpose anymore. These salvaged, or “reclaimed” materials, can then be used again today for new building projects or for historic restorations.

2. What does “Green” mean?

   Green materials are anything (reclaimed or otherwise) that is considered environmentally friendly.

3. Are reclaimed materials considered “Green”?

   Absolutely.  Reclaimed materials create no waste and lower the demand for new building products.  Reclaiming is recycling at its’ roots.

4. What are the advantages of using reclaimed wood products?

   Reclaimed materials have several advantages, the first being the unique beauty of reclaimed wood.  Time, weather and wear create patina, depth and history unlike any other material.  In addition to their beauty antique woods make any project a living piece of  history.  Our reclaimed wood comes from some of the oldest, most historical structures in American history.  Finally, using reclaimed floors, beams and siding is recycling at its best.  A large part of the demand for reclaimed materials in recent years is the growing Green Movement.  Not only are we saving perfectly usable and beautiful wood, but we are also creating less waste and less demand for the manufacturing of new lumber.

5. What is LEED?  Do Reclaimed/Green building products help to receive LEED points?

   We are happy to work with LEED projects and our materials do qualify for LEED points. LEED (the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) was developed by the by the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC) and  provides a set of standards for environmentally sustainable construction. Compliance with these standards on any given project offer points which result in tax credits in most jurisdictions.

6. What types of products can be reclaimed from antique structures?

   When dismantling a building, we save anything and everything that can be used.  Our most common reclaimed products are siding, flooring and beams.  However, we also save ladders, doors, stairways, trim and other architectural pieces.

7. How do you harvest reclaimed materials?

   The first step in finding reclaimed materials is to find antique structures. In the reclaimed business, we do not demolish, but dismantle each structure.  We painstakingly remove evey single board and beam from a building, grading and sorting it on site. When the frame of a building is intact and in good condition, we tag each piece of the frame, remove the pegs and take it down to rebuild as an entire structure.

8. What is rustic or character grade?

   A rustic grade of lumber or flooring displays heavy character marks with an aged patina.  The more rustic the grade, the more character-filled the wood.

9. What is patina?

   Patina refers to the deep and unique colors of these reclaimed materials that can only come through decades of oxidation and other exposures to elements from time.

10. What is Raw vs. finished product?

    We sell our materials in several different forms.  The first is “raw” which means the customer receives it exactly as it was removed from the building, in other words it is completely unaltered. Large companies who manufacture flooring or contractors who have equipment on hand will often buy the material raw or “in the rough” and mill it themselves.  We also offer “finished” materials which have been milled, dry and are ready to install.  In addition to raw and finished we offer some products that we’ve done only part of the milling and the customer will finish (for example we will cut beams into planks and the customer will put a tongue and groove on the boards).

11. What is a barn beam or reclaimed timber? 

    Barn beams come from the framing and floor system of a barn.  The floor system in a barn is made from what are called “sleepers”.  Barn beams come in a variety of species and also come hewn or sawn. They make a great resource when incorporating sustainable building practices in a construction project.

12. What are some uses for barn beams?

    Barn beams are used in several applications.  They are often used for re-saw material to be cut into 1″ flooring boards.  They are also used for structural and architectural purposes in either the framing or interior aesthetics.

13. What does Hewn mean?

    Hewn barn beams are beams that are cut with an axe and date to the 1800’s or earlier. Hand Hewn timbers are typically cut or shaped with hard blows of a heavy cutting instrument like an ax or chisel.  The result is a rougher and more rustic look.   Sawn beams have a smoother finish.  There are several types of saw marks ranging from vertical, mill or circular sawn.

14. What are Sleepers?

    Sleepers are the beams used for the floor joist in a barn.  Sleepers are most often hewn on the top and bottom and have natural edges on the sides.  An advantage to a sleeper vs. upper framing is that there are no mortise holes on sleepers and they have long lengths.  Sleepers are also used as replacements or to rebuild a log home.

15. What is a mortise and tenon?

    Many antique structures were built using mortise and tenon joinery.  The mortise is the hole in one piece of the framing that accepts the tenon in another piece of the framing. 

16. What is barn board?

    As the name implies, barn board is any wood removed from a barn, also often called “brown board”.  Most often it is the interior den walls and loft flooring.

17. What are Circle saw marks? 

    Circle saw marks are marks from the original “circle saw” that was used to cut it.  Circle saws were used before the modern machinery we see today.  Circle saw marks are a great way to test the antique age of a wood.  

18. What is meant by Original Face (also called “dirty top”)? 

    Original face refers to any reclaimed product that’s surface has not been altered, cut or changed by modern technologies.  The result is a rustic, time-worn appearance. Footworn flooring or “dirty top” flooring is just that: worn by foot.  The wear on the boards is the wear created by more than a century’s wear of people walking back and forth. Footworn flooring most often comes from 1800’s homes. 

19. What is meant by Rough Sawn? 

    Rough sawn refers to an original face reclaimed wood.  It has a textured- as opposed to smooth-surface.

20. What is threshing floor?

    Threshing floor is barn flooring.  It is typically 2″ thick (vs. 1″ thick from a wall or log house floor).   Threshing is the process of separating grains which was done in the barn, on the treshing floor. 

21. How does barn siding differ from other barnwood?

    Barn siding has a look all its own created by not only time, but weather. Not only does each barn have character of its own, but more often than not each side of a barn has a different degree of wear depending on whether it faced the sun, the wind, the elements.

22. What species of antique siding are there?

    Siding comes in many species, but the most common type of siding is a mix of white pine and hemlock.  It is also often found in oak.

23. What are some uses for antique siding?

    Reclaimed siding is re-used as exterior siding, used on interior walls to create a rustic look inside, on ceilings and also for flooring.

24. What colors of antique siding exist?

    Siding most typically comes in four colors: unpainted grey, unpainted brown, faded red paint and faded white paint.

25. What’s included with a reclaimed, antique structure?

    Most often, the price of the structure includes the frame, rafters and joists as well as the dismantling, tagging and printing. Sometimes flooring or doors, windows, etc. are included in the price as well.

26. Who rebuilds my historic structure?

    Once the structure has been shipped to your location, you will have drawings for reassembly.  Some customers rebuild these themselves, others hire local contractors and others will use one of our crews.

27. What is antique heart wood?

    Heart wood, which is the best part of the tree for use in building, is formed through centuries of slow and steady growth.  When its resin hardens and petrifies, it leaves unique strength and beauty.

28. What is American Chesnut?  Why is it rare? Why is it wormy?

    American chestnut trees have been virtually decimated, due to a blight caused by an Asian bark fungus in the early 1900’s.  Today there are few, if any, mature specimens of the tree remaining and it can no longer be cut, leaving a finite amount of American chestnut for re-use.   During the slow death of these trees they were often infested with small borers, which chewed pin sized holes in the wood, thus giving it the name “wormy chestnut.” 

29. What is solid plank flooring?

    Solid plank flooring refers to standard tounge and groove construction.  “Plank” flooring indicates long lengths and wide widths.

30. What are relief cuts? 

    Relief cuts are vertical grooves running the length of the bottom-side of flooring.  They add extra stability to the overall structural integrity of the floor.

31. What is kiln drying? 

    Kiln drying is a process of carefully heating wood to release excessive moisture within the wood.  It brings the lumber down to uniform moisture content to ensure that the lumber and/or flooring remains stable for a lifetime.  An added benefit is that is also ensures that any possible dormant insects remaining in the reclaimed wood are eradicated.