Reclaimed Flooring Company Converts Waste to Energ
Ruckersville, VA, May 16--For the first time ever, a reclaimed flooring company will transform sawdust and wood chips from its manufacturing processes into fuel to power on-site drying kilns and to create electricity for the plant.
By transforming waste into energy, and with the acquisition of an additional facility in Madison, VA, Virginia-based Mountain Lumber is setting new eco-friendly standards for the flooring industry while making ground- breaking strides to increase production.
"We've never cut down a tree to make flooring," says Willie Drake, who founded Mountain Lumber more than 30 years ago. "It just seems natural that a leading reclaimed lumber company should also carve a path in developing a manufacturing process that makes the most out of a very limited natural resource. This is an example of finding an innovative way to do the right thing and keeping our long-standing commitment to environmentalism. We hope others will follow our lead."
The purchase of Madison Wood Flooring will also give Mountain Lumber the manufacturing resources it needs to meet a growing demand for historic and ecologically-friendly wood flooring. "We simply had to grow to meet the market's needs," Drake said. "Architects, builders and homeowners recognize the quality in our work and we're growing the business to make sure we can produce it for them."
Mountain Lumber purchased Madison Wood Flooring's entire 12-acre manufacturing facility that includes the land, mill shop, kilns and warehouses. "This gives us the space we need to run the most efficient flooring line in the business," Drake said. "With this new plant we will be able to streamline our entire operation, increase productivity and improve our yield."
As the industry leader in antique, reclaimed woods, Mountain Lumber rescues timbers from buildings being taken down around the world and mills them into flooring, beams and architectural details.
The business centers around Historic Heart Pine and Antique American Oak reclaimed from century- old mills up and down the East Coast of the United States as well as Chestnut that had been previously used in Appalachian barns. Other more exotic Mountain Lumber finds include ancient Chinese Elm saved from 15th Century Ming Dynasty buildings, reclaimed hundred-year-old English "Cooper's Oak" and Russian Oak.
