I'm sorry...what wood? In what kind of application?

I'm talking about using wood reclaimed from another building, then re purposed for another house, either the exterior or interior walls. I hear it commonly referred to as "reclaimed wood". I'm guessing from your question it is not commonly used in your area. It is so common here I'm getting tired of seeing it.

It's extremely common in my area for two reasons -- (1) the predominant style here is "rustic charm," and (2) we live in a heavily wooded area that has been infected by mountain pine beetles, so much of that lumber is being re-purposed.

I agree -- I'm kind of over the trend. In some instances I love the look, but I worry that we're on the tail-end of the trend and if I used it in my own home, I would regret it within a few years.

I've seen it used for flooring and I guess it could be used for wall paneling but it might be difficult to get it approved for structural use.

That's my point, JDS. I've seen it used a lot here, but I ask for what and what kind, as you could probably do something like take an old oak beam and repurpose it to flooring, but generally not for structural elements.

You also don't 'have' to keep it rustic (e.g., original colors and holes).

We're in a huge farming area so lots of old barns. It is not used here because farmers and even town people know the wood was used to store animals, hay, and then the inevitable rats, coons, and cats. I can't believe the number of people who find old wood that bring it right inside for their house. I can not imagine the bugs and lead paint. Plus what has rubbed and pooped on it. Eh. City slickers.

Can you share photos of what you mean? I'm not clear how wood can be "no maintenance" even if it is re-used.

I'm not even sure how you would know the wood was re-used. Most of the reclaimed wood I've used and seen was cleaned up and looked like new, but for being old growth timber. Most folks (unlike me) don't go around counting growth rings per inch.

It is not used here because farmers and even town people know the wood was used to store animals, hay, and then the inevitable rats, coons, and cats.

I agree completely - you should get all your wood from the forest, where absolutely no animals can be found...

Reclaimed wood is such a broad term. It just means wood that's been used before.

It can be any type of wood.

It could be planed down and refinished to look like 'new' wood. Or it can be used in it's natural aged state as is. Or anywhere in between.

I'm sure not aping the style of $20 million mansions and bizarre designer furniture!

Root leg table. (Probably dug out of the ground 150 years ago. Ugh!)

Bry are you advocating unclean wood going right into a person's home? Since you e decided to ignore the rest of my post I'll post a helpful piece from the University of Wisconsin about what to look for and how to treat infected wood.

https://hort.uwex.edu/articles/powder-post-beetles/

The "reclaimed wood" in the above photo from Houzz is maintenance free in the sense it is left as is, it is already weathered, doesn't need to be sealed. It is an alternative to ipe wood, which IMO is very overdone. Partial wood exterior helps soften a house with lots of plaster, common in contemporary builds. From the responses it seems it is not used for lots of exteriors in other areas. No, I've not seen it used for any structure it is just decorative finish work.

In most climates, there's no such thing as 'maintenance free' exterior wood. If not taken care of, it will simply disintegrate over time. Same for the interior, especially floors.

We used reclaimed wood for our floors, southern pine that was milled out of massive old beams from a textile mill. You can definitely tell the difference once it is finished. We didn't go for anything really rustic like with saw mill marks, etc., but it has a patina that new wood simply doesn't have.

I've been to this company's showroom and the wood is simply spectacular. Maintenance should be no different than for any other wood but old growth wood is generally denser.

Thanks for the photos and additional information. I scrolled through the residential gallery at JDS's link. The wood flooring in particular is really beautiful, and that salvaged redwood table... wow!

@Iowacommute

You just linked a common wood destroying insect as a health hazard for reclaimed wood. I live in an area, not so unlike Iowa, where there are two types of homes (1) those that have dealt with wood destroying insects and (2) those that will soon have to deal with wood destroying insects. The insect that you provided data on is easy to kill, and harmless to people. All reclaimed wood in my area is kiln fired for 3 days, any reputable reclaimer will kiln fire it (It is the easiest way to remove old smells and pests), which even your link notes will kill the beetle.

As with many other purchases, there are benefits for purchasing from a reputable distributor.

we are planning on using some reclaimed wood on soffits and around an exterior beam, maybe some exterior covered deck wall for the reasons cmarlin mentioned: soften the hard surfaces, no-low maintenance, ipe overdone. i would love to be able to get my interior floors to be that silvery weathered gray, too.

I see my question about "reclaimed wood" means very different things. In my area (Southern California) wood is commonly used for partial exterior finishing with primarily smooth stucco finish. A few years ago the primary wood was IPE, now its the reclaimed look. I asked because it is being highly recommended to me because of its no maintenance factor. Some of you have said there is maintenance with this type of wood, what maintenance would there be? I should add this is a spec build, I'm leaning toward using it because it is popular and I needn't worry about the buyer maintaining it, or I should say not maintaining it, then expecting me to repair it.

funny, we are in socal, too! it depends on what kind of wood it is. my thought is to use reclaimed/weathered teak or cedar or any wood that is more resistant to termites or other bugs? we are not using as much wood as the picture you posted. similar to this home

tamizami - we are in the same area! The photo you posted looks like an alley in MB, I see you also used Battaglia on Vermont, I used them years ago for my old home in MB.

cmarlin20 - we are! great eye, that house is at 32nd and ocean in north manhattan beach. are you building currently? we should compare notes, send me a message? we are getting our docs ready for bids and city plan check....

Don't think there is "no maintenance" ... you have to weatherproof it and take normal care of it like other wood in your area or it will continue its progress to scrap wood.It's popular here because this is a really low-income area and people recycle everything.

tamizami, I don't see how to send you a message, send me one. I'm wondering who your architect is, if you are building in El Porto I know you are close to Michael, do you know him? Has the Coastal Commission reviewed your plans, they are horrible, we wasted over six months. and had to hire a land use attorney to negotiate keeping our present driveway. Are you using Bunny Srour for docs, everyone uses her? Send me a PM. I'd love to compare notes, my build is a spec (me and everyone else).

okay, i suppose you can't message people anymore or we both have privacy settings so we cannot. in any case, send me a message at tamizami@yahoo.com. we are in the south end and have passed coastal. i met bunny at a city planning commission meeting some time ago, she is so sweet!

JDS you've got great taste! Longleaf is one of my favorite places to visit and a stone's throw away. Their Pumpkin Pine and Heart Pine are amazing.

To the OP, I can see how in some areas the temptation to use reclaimed wood "just because" is getting a little tiresome. But I don't think reclaimed wood is going anywhere. Especially in areas of the country with older and historic homes.

I think it's our responsibility as keepers of the beautiful old buildings in places like New England to incorporate period specific and locally sourced materials into the updated designs of these structures. Quite often the materials used hundreds of years ago were far superior to that which we can harvest today. I think using reclaimed and salvaged products, where appropriate, is an excellent way to pay tribute to the quality of material and craft used hundreds of years ago.

They redid our McDonald's last year. Guess what? Yup, reclaimed wood. Imo that's a signal.

I love when various things go "out of fad", as then I can enjoy them once again without fear of looking stylish. Trends I can do without...reuse of a limited resource is never passé.

Hear hear, sbkh!

We are using reclaimed wood for our flooring in part of our house- it's reclaimed from our own home! Our house is from the 1850s and we removed and milled the subfloor throughout the house to have enough tongue-and-grooved flooring to do our whole parlor floor. It started as 11"-12" wide, 5/4" thick sugar pine (we think, though it's VERY dense and gets pretty red when finished, so maybe pumpkin pine?) but was warped due to the joists settling over time. It's now 8"-10" and 3/4" thick, tongue and grooved and ready to go in lengths from 6' to 11'. We still have to sort through it to see what pieces we want to use (or which ones will go in closets,) and figure out exactly what finish product we want to use.

I personally would not have paid to get reclaimed wood for flooring just for aesthetic reasons- it's really expensive here. We paid a hefty premium to have these floors re-finished, however it's worth it to us to be able to keep a portion of the house when so many of the original details were lost.

www.greenwoodframed.com