What is considered reclaimed wood?

Many structures made from virgin wood are either removed or demolished. What's left is a considerable amount of air-dried wood. This lumber is ready to be recycled by a reclaimed wood flooring company and to be used again.

How do you get reclaimed wood?

There are lots of ways to locate free reclaimed lumber, Try contacting an excavation company, or home remodeling contractors. It will save contractors a lot of money on disposal costs, so reach out to them.

Is reclaimed wood expensive?

You will spend $5 to $20 per square foot, depending on what kind of wood you're getting. It can be more expensive than new wood, as salvaging hardwood takes some work which can increase the suppliers' expenses.

Are reclaimed hardwood floors worth it?

Aside from being an environmentally conscious choice, the primary draw of reclaimed wood is how it appears. There is also the storytelling element, where you can share the historical background of the wood that's found new life in your home. You can no longer buy old-growth wood for housing projects as old-growth forests are now protected.

Is reclaimed wood safe?

There can be risks, including the presence of bugs, nails, lead paint, and chemicals. There are affordable test kits that you can use on the wood before you bring it into your house.

How do you stain the wood to look rustic?

Use beeswax/turpentine finish, or hand-rubbed tung oil. For oil, start by softening furniture paste wax over an electric hot plate. Next, stir in the oil-based stain. Then apply to the furniture using a soft bristle brush. Let it dry, then buff, leaving dark paste wax in joints, grooves, and carvings imitating decades of wax and dirt buildup.

How do you make wood look vintage?

Decide what era you want to emulate, as each period has its distressing techniques that must be applied. Aged wood has damage such as worm trails and holes, cracks, and splits. Use tools such as an electric hand plane, a sharp chisel, a random orbital sander (instead of a standard one), a table saw, and a hammer to create these looks.

Learn about Reclaimed Hardwood

Hardwood flooring reclaimed from older buildings or made from salvaged wood. Typically available through demolition and salvage companies, reclaimed hardwood can be over a century old and as good or better than new hardwood.

Look for demolition and salvage supply stores or online buy-and-sell listings. Be aware that using reclaimed wood can take extra work, from cleaning off the old dirt to removing nails. Typically the wood quality is higher from centuries-old trees.

By re-using material, reclaimed hardwood saves on new wood. It can also bring period character to a renovation, as when installing century-old hardwood flooring in a renovated century-old home.

Parquetry, from the Old French parchet, meaning small enclosed space, is patterned flooring consisting of inlaid wood in geometric shapes like squares, diamonds, and angles. One of the most well-watched pieces of parquet floor in history is the floor that the Boston Celtics play on, in the National Basketball Association of the USA. From its first installation in 1946 in Boston Arena, they brought their floor with them through two moves, to Boston Garden in 1952 and FleetCenter in 1995. Pieces were sold in 1999 as souvenirs after a demolition, and some pieces are still in the floor they play on now, at TD Garden.