Submerged Logs

Most of the River Recovered® pine we use to produce heart pine flooring has been underwater for a century or more.  Questions about this antique wood cover the entire spectrum from concerns that the wood will shrink extra after it is installed to the thought that long exposure to water might keep the wood from moving at all.  Actually the answer lies in the middle of this range. To start with, living trees have a high water content.  Wood in its natural condition performs well when it is surrounded with water.  The basic structure of the heart wood with high resin content changes very little during the long stay at the river bottom. The resin helps protect the heartwood underwater just as it protects the wood in a living tree. The desirable properties of this antique wood come from the slow growing conditions. Original growth forests produced long leaf pine of a high density with high resin content. These characteristics are not changed while the wood is submerged. Carefully kiln dried and matched in moisture content at the job site, this antique wood will give excellent performance as flooring.