Reclaimed Wood

Reclaimed wood in general is repurposed material from an existing form or structure. Our primary reclaimed mill uses wood that comes from old barns, buildings, and factories…typically those that were erected pre-1940 when older milling techniques were being used.  They produce flooring (that can also be used on walls and ceilings), barn siding, hand-hewn mantels, beams, and beam skins.

Reclaimed wood is typically desired by customers that want something that is authentically old, and not new trying to look old. Another time for it to be a desired medium is when a recycled or environmental element is wanted or required (although I do consider regionally local new wood products to be environmentally sound as well).

One of the biggest factors I bring up during a discussion of reclaimed wood is going to be stressing the importance of kiln drying. Kiln drying brings the moisture content down to 6-8% (like a new wood floor), but more importantly, it kills any eggs, bugs, or larvae that could have been living in the structure before it was dismantled. All of our reclaimed products are kiln-dried, but be aware there are many reclaimed products on the market that are not. I have heard multiple horror stories from people that purchased reclaimed wood and a few weeks/months after installation had a massive beetle problem (not material from me, of course!).

Reclaimed wood products are not for the faint of heart. Although truly timeworn and uniquely beautiful, attributes like knot holes, nail holes, bolt holes, and texture may frighten some away from using it. It is an old wood coming from an old structure, so there needs to be a bit of a “you get what you get” quality to be considered. Also because the wood is coming from different structures, in different states, that were built in different decades no two projects are exactly the same, even if you order the “same” product.  Therefore, your reclaimed wood floor can be classified as custom and distinctive to your project.

If you’d like to see a large area of our reclaimed flooring, check out the Three Kings Pub Des Peres location on Manchester Road. They have Historic Plank, 5/8” engineered glued to concrete, and job-site finished with an oil-based poly. I would recommend a visit during their happy hour, but that is just me.  Cheers!

Amanda Rieffer, Commercial Wood and Tile Rep, arieffer@boardwalkhardwood.com

Serving St. Louis (and beyond) for more than 25 years — Boardwalk is your local, family-owned, quality-flooring provider.

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Solid vs Engineered Wood Floors

Solid vs Engineered Wood Floors

A brief discussion about the difference between the two.

I consider myself to still be young, but my general preferences toward solid wood over engineered products tend to align with more “old school” beliefs.

I’m going to discuss some pros and cons of solid verses engineered floors, but in order to stay relatively brief here, I’m going to focus on residential applications that are at or above grade over wood/plywood/OSB subfloors.  With that said though, when we talk about installing wood over concrete or below grade in future articles, I do recommend engineered or solid sawn floors (re: Vintage Solid Sawn and Northern Solid Sawn), and I feel that over concrete is the best time to use these types of products.  That is the application for which those products were originally developed.

Engineered wood floors are not necessarily good or bad in general, but they are definitely not all created equal.  A typical engineered wood product has a veneer of real wood mounted over a plywood or fiberboard core.  Typically your less expensive/lower end engineered floors are going to have a rotary peeled veneer.  This is your weakest and cheapest cut of the tree (it is how they cut for plywood).  Rotary peeled veneers are highly prone to face checking (small looking “splits” in the wood) and are typically not refinish-able, but some are thick enough that you may get one sanding out of the floor if you are careful.  Many of these products begin the starting price of wood flooring (generally in the low $3 range) for people that want to make the conversion from a plastic laminate price-point to a real wood price-point.  Sawn veneers are cut out of the log like the solid lumber.  There are floors with sawn veneers that are not sand-able, and there are products with sawn veneers that are sand-able the same amount of times as a regular ¾” solid wood.  However, these higher quality engineered floors are typically the same or more expensive than most solid wood floors.  So if you are on a wood subfloor, and you want a quality sand-able product, why wouldn’t you just use a solid wood floor?  A solid wood floor is made to last a lifetime.  There are 100+ year old homes and structures in St Louis city that have their original hardwood that still looks great today.

It is true that engineered floors are made to be more stable than solid wood, but that does not mean that they are not moving at all.  Stability is basically relating to expansion and contraction.  Wood still has its cell structure from when it was a living tree that is affected by moisture/humidity changes (it’s hygroscopic in technical terms).  Here in the St Louis area we have very dry winters and very humid summers, so stability is a valid concern.  Most solid woods are stable from about 40%-55% humidity levels, but many engineered wood products are warranted to be stable from only 40%-60% humidity levels.  With our dry winters, ESPECIALLY with homes that do not run a humidifier, it can easily get below 40% humidity if not below 30% when temperatures get very cold.  If your engineered floor gets extremely dry it has the potential to fail (delaminate), and if this occurs when it is below the manufacturers recommended humidity levels this will not be covered under warranty.

These are more extreme cases, but just for example 100% of the time I will recommend solid wood when someone comes to me for hardwood floors in a lake-house or cabin that is not climate controlled year round (again, over wood/plywood/OSB subfloor).  I will tell them that they will probably get gaps (and maybe some splits) in the winter when the wood is contracted, and they may get some cupping or crowning in the summer when the wood is expanded, but the solid wood is not going to fail.  The solid wood will move, but it is not going to fall apart.  Also for these extreme situations, I would recommend looking for wood species that are more stable (for example oak and ash are more stable than maple and hickory) and sticking with smaller width planks.  The wider the board the more wood there is per piece, so the more it can show expansion and contraction.

Engineered wood products definitely have a place in the market, but I think some companies and their salespeople exaggerate the facts.  I’ve had numerous people come to me and say “so and so said I need an engineered wood because I want a wider plank” or “because I’m doing my kitchen in case my refrigerator or dishwasher leaks” or “because it’s completely stable”.  For me, those are not strong enough (or accurate) reasons to tell someone that they need/require an engineered wood product, especially if their budget is in an average range.  If you are really concerned about movement with your wood floor (whether it is solid or engineered!), the best thing to do is control your humidity levels by running air conditioning/dehumidifiers in the summer and running humidifiers in the winter.

Amanda Rieffer – Architectural/Design Representative

arieffer@boardwalkhardwood.com

Serving St. Louis (and beyond) for more than 25 years — Boardwalk is your local, family-owned, quality-flooring provider.

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How winter weather effects hardwood floors.

SEASONAL GAPS IN HARDWOOD FLOORING 

It seems like winter is paying us an early visit this year.  The heating season is upon us and most likely you have already turned on your heat.  Heating your environment typically starts to dry things including your skin and your hardwood floors.  Typically we use moisturizers to relieve dry skin and your hardwood floors need similar care in the form of humidity. When floors start to dry out you will see gaps develop between the boards, this can be minimized by running a whole house humidifier or room humidifiers in the areas you have hardwood.  As we saw last winter with the "polar vortex", temperatures were in the single digits for a sustained period of time and severely dried out wood in homes even with humidifiers working on furnaces.  Please make sure that you have a humidifier on your furnace and that it is functioning.  Typical whole house humidifiers only put moisture in the air when the heat kicks on.  So depending on the efficiency of your home it may be necessary in severe cold snaps to turn the blower on to cycle air and add humidity when the heat is not running or add room humidifiers in those areas.  

The best way to measure the humidity levels in your home is to get a digital hygrometer. This will tell you the interior temperature and relative humidity in your home.  If you see the humidity drop into the low 30% range or below, you definitely need to add moisture to the environment to prevent permanent damage to your floor.  Manufacturers typically recommend a range of 40-55% RH to minimize movement.  Manufacturers do not warrant expansion and contraction as this is an environmental condition related to each individual home, so please take the proper precautions to protect your investment.

If you need to invest in a new humidifier we recommend installing a steam humidifier on your furnace.  Steam humidifiers monitor the moisture content of the air in your cold air return and will add humidity when it needs to and is not dependent on the heat kicking on. You will be able to maintain a more consistent humidity level in your home with steam, making you and your floor more comfortable.  

Here's to a warm and quick winter season.