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 Recycling
Antique Materials
Recycled Architecture
Treasures
from the past...
At Texas
Country Home, we are experts at using antique materials
in the construction of our projects. In addition, we
find and resell quality antique materials to other
builders and homeowners.
Antique
materials have a rare patina that cannot be duplicated
when using new products. Weathered materials have been
sculpted by the wind, rain and sun to expose the
hardwood grain of the wood in unique and startling ways.
The grain of each piece of wood is as distinctive as a
fingerprint. Such materials, used in a thoughtful way,
can create surfaces that are literally one of a kind.
For those for whom artistic sensibilities run in an
individualistic direction, such spaces and furnishings
can be treasures.
In a
world that is becoming increasingly standardized and
conformist, a world where restaurants all look the same
and even high-end residential subdivisions often contain
one monotonous, stamped out box after another, it’s nice
to find materials that are unique.
 On
this page are pictures of a variety of homes where
recycled antique materials were used. Weathered antique
materials have two distinct advantages over new. First,
if they have not deteriorated too much, they are
generally better quality wood. Modern lumber,
particularly pine, comes from trees that are most often
hybrids bred for fast growth.
It is
very difficult to get “old growth” material because, for
the most part, like many natural resources, the demand
has outstripped the supply. Human consumption and
development has depleted almost all the “old growth”
forest in America. As a result, lumber companies now
farm trees like any other agricultural crop. Faster
growing trees means more sapwood which means more
shrinkage and warping, less strength and more likelihood
of damage by insects and dry rot.
The old
pines, like hardwoods, grew slower and the lumber was
generally cut from larger trees. This means the material
in old houses is almost always superior to the “fast
growth” material available at the lumber yard. In the
twenty-five years that we have been building, we have
seen an incredible deterioration in the quality of wood
materials.
Yellow
pine that is graded as “number 1” now, would have barely
been considered “number 2” twenty-five years ago. Even
more expensive species like white pine, western red
cedar and redwood have degraded substantially. The price
has gone up and the quality has gone down.
We sell
and use antique long-leaf pine flooring, barn wood
siding, rustic beams, log cabins and other precious
materials. If we don’t have them, we’ll find them. If
you have an interest give us a call. |
