My father had a large red oak on his property that was dying due parasites and the tree needed to come down before a storm or high winds brought it down on top of the house. He contracted someone to take the tree down and then my husband and I asked if we could have the lumber for the house we are planning to build.
Dad agreed since he was planning to pay to have the wood removed from his property (he doesn't have a fireplace or need for the wood) and the tree was brought down. A few weeks later my husband hired a local mobile saw mill to mill the lumber on site.
My husband and son, stacked the wood twice! The first time was during the milling process which was pretty amazing, these portable saw mills are wonderful tools. Then we purchased some 2x4 landscape timbers and 1x1 wood stickers and restacked the wood a second time for airflow. The stacks were covered with tarps and sat from October 2016 until January 2017.
In January, my husband and sons loaded up the milled wood and took the lumber to Bee Tree Hardwoods in Swannanoa, NC to be kiln dried. The red oak will sit outside for about 3 months and then go into their kiln for about 10 weeks. We plan to then send the wood to a local finisher to create flooring for part of our home build.
All in all, we ended up with about 1,500 board feet from the tree which should cover about a 20 x 30' area.
We also had some large 3" thick slabs cut to create something cool for the house, they could end up being stair treads or countertops. The branches and other parts were deemed useable for firewood. It feels really good to have turned this majestic tree that was dying into something useful. We also really love that our flooring will have a story behind it that doesn't include deforestation or practices that are harmful to the planet.
We also had some large 3" thick slabs cut to create something cool for the house, they could end up being stair treads or countertops. The branches and other parts were deemed useable for firewood. It feels really good to have turned this majestic tree that was dying into something useful. We also really love that our flooring will have a story behind it that doesn't include deforestation or practices that are harmful to the planet.
We're still in the dreaming and visioning stage of the house but having this wood from this beautiful 80 year+ old red oak is definitely the first step!
