LOWELL, Mass. -- Old growth heart pine beams, some 23 feet long, were removed from a Lowell, Massachusetts, cotton mill and delivered to Longleaf Lumber’s mill in Berwick, Maine, to be sawn, dried and re-milled into flooring and other finished products.
The Massachusetts Cotton Mills Picker Building in Lowell, is now one of the city’s final mill structures to be renovated for alternate use.
The brick walls will soon contain 70 new apartment units for moderate- and low-income families. During construction, demolition contractors carefully salvaged timbers to be re-sawn by reclaimed lumber company Longleaf Lumber, in Cambridge, Massachusetts.
Longleaf Lumber is a master of working with reclaimed and antique lumber - salvaging woods from industrial, agricultural, and large residential buildings throughout the Eastern U.S. The company mills flooring, paneling, stair treads, mouldings, and other fine reclaimed wood products.
Longleaf's cornerstone product is its reclaimed heart pine wood flooring, which it mills in six different grades in Boston and internationally. Ranging from delicate, quartersawn elegance to post-industrial nail-hole-ridden beams, the company says its heart pine improves with exposure to sunlight.
The company also offers flooring in other types of reclaimed wood: American chestnut, red & white oak, hickory, maple, walnut, and pumpkin pine.
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