hardwood floor/wood milling question

[norter79]

i've got an idea running through my head that seems like a good idea at the moment but may end up being as rediculous as everything else i think up...

i'll hopefully be building a house in the near future and the land we're hoping to build on has a ton of mature white oak, red and white cedar, and some maple that is a bit harder than red maple..

is it rediculous to offer a mill all the usable wood on the cleared section of land in exchange for enough flooring to do the house.. and maybe some cedar to do a closet?

i'd be willing to sell it to a mill as well..

plan is to just sell it(the hardwoods) as firewood, and i'd rather see it be put to use instead of just burning it..

is this a terrible idea??

given the number of permits we need to fish recreationally, i guess it's possible it's not even legal to do this without some sort of license....

[Big Fish Billy]

I think it would depend on the size/age of the trees. If they are the correct dimension, and enough of them, I'd say you'd have a good trade on your hands........

[norter79]

there have to be 75-100 white oaks that are 2.5-3 feet in diameter..

i don't know if that's large enough or not..

[Sea Draggin]

is this a terrible idea??

My buddy did it and built his whole house (log home ) from wood traded for wood off his land. The wood he got had been dried/seasoned. His house is beautiful. As a matter of fact his is probably there all this week entertaining family.

Send me a reminder next week when he is back and I will shoot you his contact info.

[norter79]

that'd be sick... it definitely doesn't have to be the same wood.. i would actually prefer not to have oak floors..

i'll be in touch and let you know when i'm heading back down to mhc. i'd love to get out wahoo fishing before the bluefin season gets going full swing.

[gillplate]

It sounds to me like you have plenty enough timber to make a trade. A buddy of mine had hard wood flooring milled and enough boards sawed to have kitchen cabinets made from timber cleared for his house. This was all hickory and it is beautiful. He traded logs for the cost of sawing/milling.
A friend with a cabinet buisiness made the cabinets at real good price.
The last time I bought oak boards (clear) I'm thinkin I paid close to $5.00/bd.ft. Thats 5 bucks for a piece of 1x12 a foot long. You wont touch that for fire wood.
I hope you can work out a deal, as it sounds like you have some nice timber and more than enough to floor a pretty good size house with plenty of barter to spare. Good luck

[giantfan]

Not sure what state your building the house in, but you better look into cutting those white cedar trees. I think there might be a law against cutting them in Jersey.

White oak is at a premium right now and in high demand for flooring. I will talk to a friend in the business on Monday and see what he can do.

Keep in mind that it isn't just milling in the cost. Cut the tree down, load on a truck, truck to mill, rough mill the lumber, kiln dry the lumber, finish mill the lumber, deliver back to the house.

Even if it costs you the same as buying new wood, how cool would it be to have items in your house built from the lumber grown in site.

Remind me on Mon if you want and I will reach out to my contact.

[norter79]

Giantfan, thanks for the offer but we're not there yet.

my wife and i are purchasing the property contingent on a variance to build. It doesn't sound like we'll be in front of the land use board until jan or feb so we don't even own it.

i'm getting ahead of myself but if the variance goes through i may take you up on that offer.

[cravertosu]

Stew,

Definitely worth looking in to. Never know what they may offer. We had 212 acres in Upstate NY and the old lady next door had another hundred. She sold her 100 to a logging company and when they finished they offered my grandfather 46k and the hundred acres if they could take a bunch of the hard woods on our land. I think it was 18" and bigger.

Lot of money for hardwood up in New England.

You bringing the boat down for bluefin season?

Happy Thanksgiving,
Tim

[Big Fish Billy]

Boy that was a good deal...I had a friend that rented a portable saw mill setup and cut and milled his own wood for his house...drying it to less than 15% was the trick.......