This post has been updated with 2 additional resources and address updates, as of October 23rd, 2019
My dining room table is made from reclaimed wood flooring from a 100 year old factory that was located just outside Tilsonburg, ON — until the factory was torn down, that is. Fortunately, there are salvagers all who recognize the beauty and value of these types of architectural building materials. They will strip down an old building, buying anything they think they can resell. Our table has to be the most beautiful piece of furniture in our house. There are plenty of nicks, and gouges in the table top, and the top of it is bumpy and uneven and full of character. Best of all though, is that if my kids bang it up, the marks will just blend in with all the other nicks, gouges and scratches.
Reclaimed wood is used both for furniture and flooring. Fortunately, there are plenty of reclaimed wood flooring companies in Ontario (if you’re interested in reclaimed wood furniture companies, check out this post). One of the reasons is the availability of old wood — not just from old factories, but also from barns that need to be torn down (old barns present not only a fire hazard, but also a safety hazard), and in some cases, underwater logs. Reclaimed wood makes beautiful new wood floors and pieces of furniture. Old wood sourced locally supports local industry, crafsmanship and gives the wood a second life instead of it ending up in landfill or as firewood. There are several reclaimed wood companies in Ontario, here is a list of a few:
AquaTimber: Harvests wood from Georgian Bay, the Great Lakes, and lakes and rivers across North America. These logs are then turned into hard and soft wood flooring. The company also has timber and beams for sale as well. Salvaged wood from the depths of cold lakes helps preserve it. Further, these logs are likely from trees that were between 500 and 1000 years old when they were harvested. AquaTimber verifies the age of its logs through the use of dendochronology (tree ring dating). In the old growth forests, trees grew more slowly because of the thick canopy, creating a denser tree.
Floor planks are available in random 3-8″ widths, and is available in engineered or solid flooring.
AquaTimber
8520 Highway 93
Midland, Ontario
Canada L4R 4K4
The Barnboard Store: Located in Toronto in the Danforth area, this store sources reclaimed boards from Ontario barns that need to come down. The website has great photos and idea for barnboard including shelving, benches, headboards and accent walls. Custom headboards are also available. Lengths vary from 2-14 feet, widths: 6-12 inches, thickness 3/4-1″.
Contact information:
Phone: 416-471-9452
email: sales@barnboardstore.com
Canadian Salvaged Timber: Founded in 1997, this Toronto company sources its wood from local suppliers. It custom-makes furniture so no piece is the same. There is a wide selection of planks in hardwoods and softwoods. Please visit the store to see the current inventory.
Contact information:
442 Dufferin Street, Unit J, Toronto, Ontario, M6K 2A3
email: info@cstimber.ca
Century Wood: Founded in 1997 near Fergus, ON, Century Wood began by supplying reclaimed wood to the Netherlands. It has since expanded and now supplies wood for projects close to home. Century Wood makes both hard and soft wood floors, as well as architectural details such as panels, timber and beams and unfinished barnboard.
Century Wood Products Inc.
191279 13th Line
East Garafraxa, Ontario
L9W 7B4
Phone: 519-855-9559
Countrywood: Uses new, salvaged, and reclaimed wood to manufacture wood plank flooring, doors and trim. Wood has been sourced from many different locations. Plank widths come in random sizes from 3-8″ and are milled as either solid or engineered flooring. Countrywood now also carries reclaimed wood from old factories, barns, and other facilities that are being torn down.
Salvaged wood comes from the depths of waters near Huntsville, ON where it has lain undisturbed for many years (no oxygen so it does not decay). A few years ago, many logs were discovered at the Queen Warf in Toronto when a development company was excavating for a new condo project. These logs have been buried since the early 1800s and have been preserved due to a lack of oxygen and light.
Showroom:
935689 Airport Road
SE Corner of Airport Road & Hwy 89
(North of Orangeville)
705.435.4411
Logs End: A company based just outside of Ottawa, LogsEnd harvests logs from waterways that were used for shipping felled logs to the mills for processing before the railway was developed. Some of those logs sunk to the bottom of the river before they made it to the mills. They’ve been sitting on the riverbed floor for over 100 years, protected from light and oxygen by the cold, deep waters. They’re well-preserved, very dense and make excellent wood for flooring. Like the wood out of Georgian Bay area, these logs will be old growth (first generation), and can be up to 500 years old or more.
LogsEnd notes on its website that all wood is harvested from the riverbed in the most ecologically responsible manner possible. Studies have been done and show no ill effects to the river ecosystem after harvesting.
A variety of widths are available ranging from 3 to 9 inches in lengths from 2 to 8 feet (custom orders are also available). Planks are available in engineered and solid versions, in woods ranging from pine, birch, oak, Douglas Fir and Walnut.
Location: 1520 Triole Street
Ottawa, Ontario, Canada K1B 3S9
Nadurra has a wide selection of reclaimed wood from local Ontario barns and factories. While reclaimed wood offers the “greenest” choice of wood floors, not to mention wide plank sizes because the wood was originally from first growth forests, it is more expensive, and obviously, one day this wood will also be used up. Varieties of wood are Elm, Hemlock, Noble Oak, Pine, Loyalist Maple and Birch. Available in solid or engineered. Price: $6.50-11/square foot. (For other Nadurra products, see this post.)
Nadurra Wood Corp.
157 Bentworth Avenue Unit A
Toronto, Ontario
M6A 1P6
T: 647.345.8414 F 647.342.0818
info@nadurrawood.com
Nostalgic Wood: Located in Mt Forest, ON, this company remills wood collected from barnboard around the province. Varieties include hemlock, oak, pine, elm, etc. Available as solid “antique” wood in 3/4″ thickness, or “engineered antique wood flooring (3/8″ wood on 3/8” birch plywood).
565 Perth Street North, Mount Forest, Ontario N0G 2L0
Phone: 519-323-0175
Timbercraft: Based in southwestern Ontario, Timbercraft demolishes old Ontario barns and turns them into flooring, furniture, works of art and wall decor. Wood varieties include hemlock, ash, oak, maple, douglas fir. It also makes furniture and will ship anywhere in North America.
For the GTA and Kitchener-Waterloo: 519-998-5004
For Windsor: 519-819-1936
Contact page: https://www.timbercraftco.com/
Timeless Materials: A store that has a large supply of reclaimed wood flooring, including maple, douglas fir, yellow pine, barnboard and more. All wood is from reclaimed sources such as old factories, barns, and other buildings slated for demolition. It also contains other architectural salvage pieces from beautiful antique windows, to mouldings, trim, antique bathtubs, sinks, lamps, etc. All items comes from buildings about to be renovated or torn down. (For other treasures Timeless Materials has to offer, see this post).
305 Northfield Dr. E.
Waterloo, Ontario
N2V 2N4
email: info@timelessmaterials.com
Phone: 519-883-8683
Toll Free: 1-800-609-9633
Fax: 519-883-4016
[mappress]
Hi Cathy, Thanks for getting back to me, it looks like we get a dumpster or bring it to the waste site our self. I put a ad on Kijiji to see if anyone would be interested in reclaiming it. Will wait and see.
Depending on where you are, check to see if your municipality has a construction and demolition waste section. If they do, they will recycle the wood flooring.
Hi, Wondering if you can help. We are removing about 250 sq ft of maple 2 1/4 inch flooring and is about 25 to 30 years old and would like to recycle it. Is there any companies that will take this away or what would be the best way to see that is does not end up in the landfill. Thank you in advance.
Hi Paul, that is a very good question! Check your local municipality – it may be that your wood will be recycled if your municipality prohibits construction and demolition waste from being put into landfill. In the mean time, I will see if some of my colleagues have some other ideas.
Best,
Cathy
Good way to save planet Earth! 🙂 haha
We have a huge supply of hardwood sawn beams – mostly ash @ $10/lf if anyone is interested for decorative beams in there homes or mantles. We can also custom finish any color or size required or have them milled for various applications. Also carry hand hewn rafters at $10/lf & offer volume discounts. Currently have in stock over 4000 sf of 1.25″ th barnboard, 1″ hardwood boards and planks. We recycle 100% of barns so sell the roofing boards at $100/pick up load. The finished product is on our website http://www.rusticrestorations.com.
I have a very old wood frame house that needs to be taken down. Lots of tongue and groove flooring (2 story home) and beautiful old growth wood inside and out. I am located just south of Napanee, Ontario between Belleville and Kingston. If your interested or know anyone that would be please post here and I will respond. Thxs
Hi Theresa:
Possibly have a customer interested in your cabin and but will need some pictures. Please email me at tima@rusticrestorations.com so we can review.
thx, Tima
Wow! Just the info I needed! My parents have two barns to take down and don’t know who can do the job. Any suggestions?
Hi Jill,
If you’re located in southwestern Ontario, try calling Kieswetter Demolition. They not only do the deconstruction and demo, they also preserve and resell any of the valuable material like the barnboard, through their stores, Timeless Materials.
Address: 305 Northfield Dr E, Waterloo, ON N2V 2N4
Phone:(519) 883-4125
Hours: Wednesday 8:00 am – 5:00 pm
http://www.timelessmaterials.com/
I’d also recommend contacting the reclaimed lumber stores to see who they use for deconstruction.
Good luck!
Cathy
Hi Jill: There are many barn dismantle companies available – some charge you to remove and other remove the building in lieu of the material received. I have worked over 15 yrs with most of these companies and found them to be more ‘recycle’ conscious. Please feel free to contact me if you have any questions 905-869-5519. take care, Tima
I’m pretty sure Antiquity Flooring is closed.
I can assist anyone looking for reclaim wood – rough product, furniture or flooring. Please email me directly at tima@rusticrestorations.com or check out our at rusticrestorations.com. We are relocating to the Niagara region near Vineland and will be set up Jan. 2014 to assist people.
Historic Lumber just out side of Acton Ontario has everything you could ever think of in pre-1900 reclaimed house and barn material including original flooring
Reclaimed wood is perfect for making great looking and unique furniture. Thanks for those links above.
.-= Cabin Plans´s last blog ..Style Of Barn Plans For Any Need =-.
We are one of the largest suppliers of reclaimed building materials in Canada. Please take a moment and visit our website.
There are so many flooring comapnies!
Flooring can be reclaimed, really?
ANTIQUITY FLOORING CLOSED ITS DOORS IN 2008.
I THINK THIS IS A REALLY OLD SITE SINCE NEVER HAS BEEN UPDATED.
OUR COMPANY – RUSTIC RESTORATIONS – HAS OVER 20 YRS EXPERIENCE IN THE RECLAIM INDUSTRY. WE ARE A SUPPLIER OF ALL ONTARIO RECLAIM LUMBER IN ROUGH AND FINISHED FORM. ALL FLOORING IS KILN DRIED SO NO BUGS AND MILLED TO CANADIAN STANDARDS. PLEASE FEEL FREE TO CONTACT US DIRECTLY AT 905-869-5519 OR http://www.rusticrestorations.com. .
Sincerely, Tima Dragomautz
That’s great article! many THX – useful for me 🙂 Keep in my Favorites