A California architect wrote to us asking how “the cost of recycled lumber compares to [Forest Stewardship Council] certified lumber.” Below is Marc’s answer.
Generally reclaimed costs more than conventional and FSC lumber primarily because of the labor involved in the recycling process. This includes:
- Saving the lumber from demolition/construction projects
- Cleaning the lumber (it can be full of nails and other objects like hangers, electrical conduit, tar paper etc, all of which needs to be cleaned and sorted)
- Remilling the boards and any finishing required
Loss of board footage when remilling also makes a higher price for reclaimed lumber.
We often pay more than the price of new for reclaimed lumber off the demo site. The first reason we are willing to pay more is that the market has demanded reclaimed materials, and because we believe in recycling this wood. Secondly, the old wood is usually much higher quality than new so we can provide a better product to our customers.
New lumber is presently cheaper than it has been in 25 years, so it is a particularly tough time for reclaimed lumber to compete. The low price of harvested lumber is in part due to the fact that NAFTA has prevented the US from being able to tax Canadian imports, which would allow US companies to be competitive. This not only means bad news for our local lumber mills, but also that most lumber coming into the country now has been shipped thousands of miles from Canadian forests, burning fuel and contaminating the air.
FSC is generally 15% more costly than conventionally harvested lumber. A specified tally (exact list, rather than buying a truckload of random sizes) of reclaimed is often 2 to 3 times as much as FSC certified, especially if the reclaimed has to be remilled.
There are times when we have a large volume of a certain size of material in its raw form and we can be competitive. Right now we have Douglas Fir 2×6 T&G Decking and 4x12x20′ beams in large quantities. This would be structural material as it came out of the building, visible nails pulled but not resurfaced. We can have the old wood regraded by certified graders and again that adds to the cost.
Best thing to do is check in with your lumber tallies and see what we have available at the time.
We appreciate your interest in reclaimed wood and commend you on designing affordable housing as green as you can afford to.
I hope and somewhat expect building green will be affordable for most people sooner or later.
Best wishes, Marc
