Saving Waterlogged Timber
Woman’s Day New Product Ideas 2001

Logs long consigned to river bottoms are now being brought to the surface. After drying out in the sun, they are kiln-dried, cut and finished as flooring. “Recycled or reclaimed hardwood floors can lend a true, down-home feeling to virtually any room,” says David Williams, president of the National Wood Flooring Association (NWFA). According to NWFA research, the logs were submerged up to 200 years ago when they were cut down and built into rafts to float timber to sawmills. The rafts would eventually break apart and sink. This recovered wood, long isolated from light and oxygen, has the refined look of new flooring—but with a slightly different coloration because of exposure to decomposing material in the water. Another product gaining popularity, as flooring is wood salvaged from old homes, mills, ships, warehouses, and barns that are being demolished. “It’s just like finding buried treasures,” notes Williams.