About
Western Reclaimed Timber (WRT) specializes in sourcing environmentally friendly recycled timbers. Every piece of wood has a story, and WRT takes pride in sharing pieces of British Columbia and Vancouver history. WRT’s timbers are recovered primarily from older buildings and industrial structures: Fraser Mills, the Somas Hotel, Whonnock Mill, the Drake Hotel, Vancouver Shipyards, and the Woodwards building.
HISTORY
At Western Reclaimed, we source our wood from across British Columbia with a significant amount coming out of Vancouver, Richmond, New Westminster and Surrey. Our excellent reclaimed wood is sourced from 50-100 year old commercial, industrial and farming structures and as a result, every piece of wood holds a little bit of history, every plank has its own story. The Woodward’s building in Vancouver, the Fraser Arms Pub, the Fraser Mills, the Old Bakery on 4th Ave and the Old Smoke House off of Powell are just a few examples of buildings we have received wood from.
In Canada’s pioneer days, Douglas Fir was the most readily available source of wood in British Columbia, so much of our reclaimed wood is Douglas Fir as, to this day, it remains excellent furniture grade material.
One of our most popular products is Barnwood planks, straight off the ranch and beautifully aged by the elements, but we have also sourced the more rare, Yellow Cedar, Western Red Cedar and Hemlock when available. As none of these woods were used as a main building source historically, the reclaimed supply can be limited.
For those looking for a hardwood, we also import a mix of Red and White oak from Tennessee, USA.
All of our wood starts at the demolition site. Each beam is methodically removed by hand and loaded for transport to our yard. Upon arrival the wood is sorted for quality and stacked.
Once at our yard, each board is de-nailed and other visible metal objects from each individual piece is removed. Then, each piece is scanned with a metal detector for any remaining nails or metal objects that may lie buried below the surface.
The wood is then securely stored, ready for sale, or prepared to order.
We have transformed existing material into a variety of Tongue and Groove products and we create cottage grade flooring from reclaimed fir glulam timber beams which are both durable and economical.
We also produce an array of colourful wall cladding which can be used in a variety of ways: bars, desks, kitchen islands, ceilings, headboards, barn doors, dart boards, table tops, even king-sized bed frames - the list is only limited to the imagination.
If you are looking for the stability of reclaimed wood but not necessarily the rustic look, we can custom cut our reclaimed wood to your specific size (up to a 20” depth) and then you can stain or paint it to suit your project.
We’re also currently in the process of creating 4x8 panels ready for installation.
As we are continuously replenishing our stock, please do contact us if you are looking for something specific or would like suggestions as to what wood might be best for your project.
