The Woods Company: Producer of Antique and Traditional Flooring
by John Laumer, Philadelphia on 11. 2.06
The Woods Company of Chalmbersburg Pennsylvania uses “Old buildings made of Oak, Chestnut, Heart Pine, and other historic woods” to produce wooden plank flooring that meets modern specifications. The buildings are dismantled and the lumber shipped to the mill. “There, it is de-nailed, resawn, and kiln dried. Our craftsmen then accurately grade and remill the lumber into plank flooring of superb quality and character”. In fact, the sample photographs from The Woods Company are so appealing a few more are stacked for you below the fold. What fun to hear a friend or family member walk across such a floor, foot-falls drumming on two-hundred, maybe three-hundred, year old planks. Driving past the next fallen barn I see on my way across Pennsylvania, I'll wish Woods had been to the rescue. Best of all, The Woods Company is a classic "homesourced" business: raw materials and labor are local.
Reusing old wood is nothing new. In fact it is used in many of the so hated McMansions because it is expensive.
==== author's response follows ===
Could you please share your source of information about the signficance of old (recycled) wood in 'McMansions?'
Better for the McMansions to use reclaimed wood or bamboo than new uncertified wood, huh?
My source is purely anecdotal. A family member works for a building company and one of their large houses they built, $5 million+, had old wood from barns shipped in. It also has a geothermal heating system. Using old wood for flooring is not really anything new.
==== author's response follows ====
Thanks! New, it is not, we can all agree. TreeHugger likes to feature companies which are doing well by doing good, especially when their products are beautiful and they are truly "homesourcing". One reason we gave Woods prominence is because the US is losing manufacturing jobs to overseas, and bamboo is not going to help that much. A green product that is homesourced is therefore very valuable and deserves our support.
Virtually all of the flooring in my house is recycled barnboard. It was actually not uncommon back in the day (the house is 120+ years old) apparently. It's wonderful stuff, with boards ranging from 12" to 16" wide and a couple inches thick. Unfortunatly, on one room it wasn't put down all that well and has bowed somewhat. Since it's so thick, however, I should be able to plane it down.