Where to Find Salvageable Lumber

Websites like Facebook and Craigslist make searching in your area easy and can often net low-labor lumber that's already been cleaned and stacked. Also look for furniture discards with wide, all-wood panels. Tables, headboards, and church pews rack up the board feet.

Check your local listings for businesses that work in woods. Any shop that cuts wood produces offcuts. And they don't have the luxury of hoarding it like we do, so they may be willing to cut a deal for their discards. Look for doormakers, cabinet shops, and boat builders that often work in hardwoods and sometimes exotics.

Synonymous with upcycling, pallets aren't our favorite source of reclaimed lumber and here's why: That stack on the loading dock is often made up of poorly-dried, low-end lumber. Pallets are often used to transport chemicals and some are treated with pesticides. Plus, they likely aren't free for the taking, instead destined to return to the shipping company that owns them. If you're determined, seek companies that transport heavy objects for higher-yielding hardwood pallets, or importers whose pallets might contain exotics.

Seek out permission from the site manager before you dumpster dive at a construction site. Then, keep an eye out for pre-Depression-era homes and businesses that are getting a makeover. The older the building, the better chance of scoring old-growth lumber with tight, stable growth rings.

A bonanza of weathered wood awaits in old barns, so they've become a popular target for salvage. However, lack of permission makes you a bandit rather than a boon to the owner no matter how dilapidated the building. Be aware that landowners' liability insurance might prevent them granting that permission in the first place. That said, if there is an opportunity to safely remove wood, look for classic timber-frame construction containing long, straight-grained beams and high-board-foot yields.