Wood is a popular material both here in the United States as well as throughout the rest of the world as a whole. After all, wood has a great many uses, and is an incredibly durable material to boot. Wood elements in homes have even been known to last for 100 years and beyond, provided that they are well maintained, well cared for, and provided with protection from the elements. From wood paneling to wood floors, there is no shortage to the ways in which woods – particularly hardwoods – can be applied throughout our world.
Hardwood floors and other hardwood elements can even help to sell a home, especially if they are new additions. After all, the data more than backs this up, showing that more than half of all prospective home buyers (around 54% of them, to be just a little bit more exact) will actually pay more for a home that has wood floors incorporated within it. For many people, hardwood floors are ideal and not just from the purposes of longevity but from the purposes of creating a high aesthetic appeal as well. For many people, this is a matter of considerable importance, and not one that should be underestimated by any means.
However, using hardwood materials is not always ideal – and this can be the case for a number of different reasons. For one thing, hardwood is not always exact inexpensive, making it difficult for many people to afford. As nice as everything from wood table tops to rustic furniture can be, the price can can be less than doable for many throughout the country. In addition to this, the use of hardwood is not as sustainable as many people might think that it is.
After all, hardwood trees take a great deal of time to grow. Typically, it is not common for any hardwood tree to be fully matured after any less than 20 years at the very minimum. In some cases, hardwood trees can take as many as 60 years of growth before they can be considered to be fully grown and matured. Unfortunately, this means that simply planting new trees is not the only step that we must take when it it comes to preserving our world and our environment. For while more than one full quarter of the world is currently made up of forestland, this is not likely to last if we do not change how we live – and the materials that we use.
Fortunately, there are a number of steps that can be take to reduce the overall impact of using hardwood products. For one thing, reducing waste is a great way to go about this. After all, up to 30% of all of the waste generated at any given construction site will be wood products and wood products alone. Changing methods of construction to reduce the total amount of wood that is wasted in the first place can be hugely helpful. So too can recycling this wood.
In the year of 2015 alone, wood recycling was quite impressive. Over the course of just this one year, more than two and half million tons of wood pallets were recycled. In the years that have followed since, this number has only continued to grow – and will hopefully only continue to grow in the years that are to come as well. For many people, using recycled and reclaimed wood has become easier than ever before.
For one thing, reclaimed wood is easier to find than ever. From the reclaimed wood table top to reclaimed wood siding, there are many variations of reclaimed wood to choose from. A reclaimed wood table top is quite easy to find, as the reclaimed wood table top can be made from just any type of wood. And the reclaimed wood table top is good for many uses. A reclaimed wood table top might be seen in a restaurant, but a reclaimed wood table top might also be seen in your average home as well. And the reclaimed wood table top only represents just one type of reclaimed wood product, of which there are many.