Is This Worth Saving (salvaged wood planks)?

[Mark Maleski]

Hi,

I've been lurking here as I start picking up woodworking as a hobby...now I'm turning to y'all for some advice. I'm having a contractor tear out the ~100 year old tongue-and-groove sub-floor in my attic so I can re-insulate (heck, the squirrels have taken most of what was once up there) and add a new subfloor so I can walk around up there w/o fear of falling through.

The planks being torn out are fairly narrow (~2.5" after the tongue/groove is removed) and thin (~1")...but it's old growth pine or fir (not sure which) and there's alot of it. Some nail holes & some damage from the years, but no bugs or rot (it's a hot, dry attic).

Worth saving? What would you do with it? I don't really have storeage space for it, nor do I do enough woodworking to use it any time soon. My contractor could always just haul it to the dump, but I have a feeling that's not the right answer.

Mark

[Jay Knepper]

Welcome to The Creek!

As you have described the wood I'd surely not throw it out. The contractor should take some care to avoid too much damage if you do decide to recycle the wood.

As for uses, flooring glued face-to-face would make a great workbench top.

[Ben Grunow]

Welcome to the Creek! Im sure you will enjoy it.

A friend of mine had a floor like that in his attic and we were able to very carfully remove it without splitting too many of the boards. He was finishing a room up there and needed a proper floor and insulation same as you. We used catspaws and other prybars, nothing special but we were careful not to break too many.

After the room was built we re-installed them upside down with screws and plugs made from the same material. When sanded and finished it was great looking stuff, hard and stable as well. This only worked because the boards were pretty uniform in thickness and were flat on both sides. The resulting plug pattern was random, not lined up with the joists, just screwed to the subfloor.

Any rooms need flooring in the house or maybe the shop?

[skip coyne]

or sell it

(i doubt the contractors going to take it to the dump )

wanted to add you could also donate it to one of my favorite places here http://www.habitat.org/cd/env/restore.aspx

[Ian Abraham]

You could leave it as T&G and make a bookcase or blanket box from it. Easy with T&G boards, and you can make use of short pieces if there is damage or defects that need to be cut out.

Cheers

Ian

[Mark Maleski]

Thanks everyone for the welcome and the advice. I picked through the first bit of salvaged planks last night and decided I'll keep the whole thing. Too much good wood to let it go to waste, and I have a neighbor who offered up some garage space for storeage while I sort out what to do with it (I'm thinking a combo of giving away to w'working friends, keeping some for myself, and selling what I can). I don't think it's in good enough shape to be useful to Habitat or to be reused as flooring (tongue/groove is mostly damaged, hence the replacement in the first place).

I really like the idea of building bench-tops with this....was thinking maybe cutting boards/serving trays as well. I think this is a great excuse to kick-start my w'working hobby!

Mark

[Frank Pellow]

Welcome to Saw Mill Creek Mark. It's good that you decided to keep the wood.

On all my renovation projects I attempt to savage as much wood as possible and its great subsequently be able to use that wood for completely different purposes. For example, some friends were amazed last year when I told them that the Chinese Checker board that I gave them for Christmas had once been part of their deck.

[Tyler Howell]

Welcome Mark,
I love to recycle. A lot of the trim work in my home is from salvaged hard woods. The former owner was a pack rat, I guess I am too:o .
Used hardwood flooring isn't much fun to work with. I'm going to pass on that next time.