Waste Wood: What to do with it When You’re Done

Now that your new hardwood floor is completely put in, you probably have some wood left over. This is the “waste wood” that you would have originally accounted for in your measurements. Depending on your situation, you could have anything from scrap ends, varied scraped widths that came from the edges of your floor or entire planks that were left over or were specific planks you did not want in the overall finished look of your floor. Because hardwood floors are a “green” product, you’re able to do several things with the waste wood.

• Drop the pieces in your local recycling bins. Check with your local jurisdiction over the rules that govern recycling policies and requirements in your area and abide by all local laws.
• Store the extra planks you didn’t want installed now in case you need to replace a plank later. This is the same concept as when you store extra matching buttons for a coat or blouse in case you might need to replace one later.
• Use the extra pieces in various arts or crafts projects.
• Donate the scrap to a wood pellet manufacturer. They can properly process the flooring into wood pellets that can be safely used with inside wood pellet stoves.
• Burn the wood in a safe outside fireplace. It is not recommended by any reputable establishment to burn pretreated wood, such as prefinished hardwood flooring, in an indoor fireplace or indoor wood stove. The fumes could be potentially hazardous to your health and the chemicals in the wood may burn at a higher temperature than regular firewood potentially increasing the risk of the creosote inside your chimney catching fire. If you’re going to burn it, just be on the safe side and burn it outside!
• Consider making small shelves out of it.
• Create frames for pictures, mirrors or paintings.

Your hardwood floor is completely biodegradable and therefore contributes to a sustainable lifestyle. Regardless of how you reuse or recycle your scrap hardwood flooring you can feel good in knowing that the wood will not end up in a landfill.