Southern Wood Floors 25th Anniversary
Thursday, February 21st, 2019
For over two decades, Southern Wood Floors has reclaimed beams and timbers of historic wood from 19th and early 20th-century buildings and meticulously milled them to precision contemporary standards for floors, walls, and cabinet stock. The result is a rich, noble wood that can be as much as 200 years old.
One of the original manufacturers of Reclaimed Antique Heart Pine, the company's products are used for authentic period restoration of historic homes and buildings, and in contemporary homes for the unique character and rich patina of vintage wood.
In today's environmentally conscious world, Southern Wood Floors Reclaimed Antique Heart Pine is not just a renewable resource, but an already fully renewed resource. The company continues its reclaimed products with its now-famous trademark "We harvest buildings, not trees."
The lovely centuries-old wood, coming from the center of giant structural components, when first manufactured and graded, receives its first exposure to light and air. When installed and lightly finished, over the first year it begins to take on a surface of unique richness, patina, and depth that have an authenticity and authority that new materials can only imitate.
Much of the vintage material Southern Wood Floors reclaims are from structural elements of factories, mills, and warehouses in South Carolina, Georgia and Alabama. Harvested centuries ago from Southern Longleaf pine, the wood originated in the pine forests which at one time covered much of Georgia, South Carolina, and Florida. Popular in the 18th and 19th centuries because of its structural strength, it was sometimes referred to as Southern Hard Pine. In addition to its wide application for structural elements of buildings, Southern Longleaf pine was used to build railroad bridges and even ships. For a short, illustrated look at the reclamation and manufacturing of reclaimed antique heart pine, see Reclaimed Antique Heart Pine - a brief illustrated history.
The company remains committed to preserving the south's old growth pine forests, aligning itself with organizations such as the Longleaf Alliance, designed to develop Southern pine in full growth in carefully meticulous sustainable forests.