Douglas Fir Adds Value

Over the past twenty years I have wanted to change the flooring industry standards from 3/4" and  23/32 to 3/8", to save scarce clear vertical grain fiber, reduce shipping costs, and to make handling and installations simpler. It works.  I was making wear layers for plywood platforms when I realized the subfloor itself could be the platform. Note, all that touches is the wear layer, and the tongue acts as the bottom of the paneling groove, which acts as an expansion gap for the flooring.....not an accident. 3-4 sand and finishes. 

As a plywood and lumber broker I earned a reputation for finding higher value uses for risidual wood products. I got started in Douglas Fir Flooing by buying two truck loads of telephone pole cross arm rejects, resawing and runninng into flooring. Problem was broken 1/2 and 5/8" drill bits buried in the wood. I broke several $500 band saws and ended up with 30,000sf of flooring, half with holes drillled for different line patterns. Several sleepless nights until I visited a hardwood store and purchased 1/2' and 5/8" hardwood dowls in black walnut, cherry and maple, and sold several thousand feet into the mountain cabin market, until one day the original owner of Second Use stopped by and over the next couple of months bought the rest. For years they had a sign over this flooring, " Mac's Telephone Pole Cross Arm Flooring" 

While visting one of the flooring mills I saw 20k mbf of broken boards stacked in a warehouse corner. It took 45 days to find a black filler and I've sold over 200k feet for .80/sf - 1.25/sf., along with a 5- pound bag of dry powder black filler from Wood Wise. Mix with water and slather on. Sands easily without staining. 

The porch soffit picture above is the back side of DVG Beaded Ceiling, hand palm sanded by the installer at an average of  2 minutes per board. Price to you right now $2.95/sf . Take 5000 sf or more, $1.95/sf, sub prior sale.  Compare to $10.00/sf or more for CVG. 9/16" x 5-1/8" x 6-16' with max 10% 3/4/5'. I sell what others don't or won't, and I save customers thousands of dollars. 

After the Second Use sales, I ended up with 25,000 sf of telaphone pole flooring in a Portland warehouse. Pat Burns, an owner of Patrick Lumber called me 3 times wanting to buy my inventory at 1.25/sf. It was my winter nest-egg and I said no all 3 times. I was selling this for $3.50/sf (fifteen years ago). A few weeks later, Pat called me again explained the size of their production with a proposal to give me first look at all their residual flooring and paneling products, so with that I said, "Deal, it's yours." We've been through a lot over the years, mostly good, but a few situations, but overall a damn good relationship.