Benefits Of Using Recycled Timber Products

Recycled timber comes with huge benefits and it is time you consider this when you are shopping for timber furniture in Melbourne. Most fashion trends show a cyclical trend since disappearing at intervals and make a strong come back decades later. However, timber is one thing that has beaten this trend and has remained an essential component in home designs across the globe. Every newly built home or home renovation has at least some timber in the form floorboards, decking, seating and dining sets etc. Because of this, the demand for hardwood has been consistently rising while the supply of fresh wood has been dwindling for varying reasons.  Although effective systems are in place to monitor and regulate our forests, unscrupulous elements manage to circumvent these systems for logging hardwood illegally for financial gains. Most of us do know that it takes several years before a tree can be cut and converted into the timber to make our homes beautiful. Illegal logging also puts tremendous strain on our forests, in turn, impacting our environment as well as climate.  In many parts of the world climate change has already delivered serious consequences in the form of delayed seasons, lean seasons, or extraordinarily heavy seasons. Climate change also has a multiplier effect on the economy of the affected regions.

Therefore, timber suppliers have been motivated to explore recycled timber as an alternative to hardwood. Old buildings/ construction sites, boats, abandoned bridges, etc form an excellent source for wood that can be recycled.  By recycling the wood from these sources, we are also helping the environment since most of such wood has been consigned to landfills creating further strain on the environment.

Why Recycled Timber Furniture

Recycled timber brings along more definition and character compared to a recently harvested timber. These are also better in terms of stability since they have undergone naturally seasoning.  From an environmental perspective too, people are more likely to be inclined towards recycled products for their home. As we said earlier, recycled timber is sourced from a variety of centuries-old locations like old factories, shearing sheds, bridges, mills and derelict buildings.  The process, however, is pretty labour intensive and consumes significant time even to determine if the timber can at all be recycled.

Process Of Recycling Timber

Once the old timber is procured from different sources, they reach a factory where all the metal bolts and nails embedded in the old wood is carefully removed. Obviously, there is no machine that can automatically detect these and remove them. Every bit has to be carefully located and removed by hand and the process is extremely labour intensive.  Once this process is completed, the old wood is dried and then converted into planks before skimming. Further drying may also be needed post skimming depending on the nature of timber.

Duration Of Drying

Reaction to moisture varies from one species of wood to the other. It is also dependent on the length of time the wood was exposed to elements of nature and can consume from 3 to 6 months. After proper drying, the wood is milled and converted into flooring tiles providing tongue and groove type joints.

What Species Of Recycled Timber Can Be Expected?

Although you can find a wide range of wood species with recycled timber stores, you may have difficulty sticking to a specific species for your recycled timber furniture needs. This happens on account of potential cross-pollination in regions that are heavily wooded.

Choosing Recycled Timber Furniture

Choosing your recycled timber furniture is vastly different from most other purchases you make, possibly by seeing all the details online and even placing an order online. When you are shopping for timber furniture Melbourne, you are better off visiting the showroom and inspecting the items with your naked eyes and preferably in natural light.  When you are shopping for recycled timber furniture, the emphasis should not be on a particular species since the appearance and colour can vary vastly even when the wood belongs to the same species.  Therefore considering multiple elements like originality, hardness, environment, climate and individuality is the way to go.  This way, if you are choosing a dining set, all the chairs may not look the same even if they belong to the same species of wood.