A Bold Material Choice Centuries in the Making
Ark processes, warehouses and manages millions of square feet of Antique Heart Pine, the foremost grade of reclaimed Southern Yellow Pine. It is, quite literally, the wood that built the factories that sparked America’s Industrial Revolution.
The choice of our reclaimed wood is more than an expression of aesthetics, a nod to history, or a commitment to sustainable practices. Even after hundreds of years, every board exudes vitality and inspires emotion.
Ark’s wood delivers consistent, predictable quality… at a comparable or lower cost than other premium claddings.
Can Old Wood Really Be Better than New?
SURFACE & FINISH
These treasured woods have been ‘aging in place’ for centuries, with tight vertical grains and surfaces that reflect a deep, resinous sheen from within. Use transparent tints and tones to further enhance the beauty of your designs. Ark’s proprietary wood selection, milling and coating processes ensures consistency of surface and finish from board to board and panel to panel.
STRENGTH, HARDNESS & STABILITY
The slow development of dense oleo-resins over time makes heart pine as strong as cast iron of similar dimension. Old-growth boards and beams are also almost twice as hard as new growth – similar to that of oak. Plus, this wood’s stability and resistance to shrinking, warping, moisture and insects was the reason why those first industrialists spec’d it in the first place.
REVELATIONS
Ark’s process enables us to strike the perfect balance of clear boards and those with ‘reveals’ – nail marks, stains and bolt holes that are evidence of this wood’s landmark place in history. Our wood retains these subtle accents while ensuring that all environmental impurities and gross imperfections have been removed. So you are free to imagine it’s past, and re-imagine it’s future, for your next cladding application.
SUSTAINABILITY
Reclaimed wood is the embodiment of sustainable building practices. Whereas the logging and extraction of new wood leads to continued deforestation, Ark’s wood is
re-harvested from old structures that would otherwise go to waste. ‘Downstream’ impacts such as trucking and milling of reclaimed wood are also reduced. Overall, the environmental cost of reclaimed wood is estimated to be 11 to 13 times less than that of virgin lumber.