99% Usable Flooring

Sustainable Lumber Co. is an environmentally-friendly hardwood flooring and wall paneling business situated within the pristine mountains of Montana. Well known for their artisan craftsmanship, our millwork plant is located within a small rural Mennonite community. Our company consists of eleven families collectively working together to handcraft our extensive and exclusive lines of sustainable wood flooring and tongue & groove wall planks. We sell and distribute factory-direct anywhere in the U.S.

Being a small boutique company, we must ensure the highest-quality products available on the market, we simply can’t afford to ship an inferior product across the U.S. and risk a return or claim. We grade all our products to what we call our 99% usable tolerances.

Every board is personally handled up to 12 times allowing the opportunity to check quality and detail at every step. Once our wood is kiln-dried to 6-8% moisture content, rough planks are individually selected for grade, character, and color. Only the highest-quality wood is used for our environmentally-friendly hardwood flooring and wall paneling, all scraps are donated to nonprofit organizations. Our prefinished flooring and wall paneling are hand-rubbed and hand-sanded producing an artisan style appearance. Hand rubbing ensures the highest-quality finish which cannot be duplicated by a machine.

We have no secrets and are a very transparent company. We are not optimized like most of our competitors, nor do we want to be. We believe in artisan craftsmanship and environmentally-friendly hardwood flooring and wall paneling which cannot be duplicated by a high-production machine. We are not and will never be a huge flooring and paneling company, we believe in people and craftsmanship which is very obvious if you visit us. We physically check quality and craftsmanship at every step throughout our process. We know every board in our inventory personally and here’s why:

The Process Behind Our Environmentally-Friendly Wood Flooring & Wall Paneling

1. Logs are cut into flooring and wall blanks which we visually grade for quality and character in the rough.
2. Flooring and wall blanks are then hand-graded and trimmed to designated flooring lengths and widths.
3. Flooring and wall blanks are then stacked into units on kiln stickers and visually graded again as they are packaged in preparation for the kiln.
4. Flooring and wall blanks are then slowly dried in our kiln to 6-8% moisture content. After kiln drying, every piece is personally hand-felt and visually graded before entering the molder.
5. Molder speed is set for 30 feet per minute, upon which every board is visually inspected and graded into 2 stacks; appearance and cabin grade.
6. Flooring and wall boards are then textured, sanded, or both and personally inspected at every step.
7. After sanding every board is carefully and personally inspected one more time and then sent to our pre-finish shop.
8. Every board is then pre-finished into flooring or one of our extensive lines of wall products. We visually inspect at least 3 more times during our hand sanding and hand rubbed staining process.
9. Every piece is hand-stacked on drying racks and visually inspected as it dries.
10. After air drying naturally for up to 48 hours every piece is then visually inspected one last time prior to packaging and delivery.

Our Mission:

Our promise to you is to never compromise quality, business ethics, reputation, or service.

At Sustainable Lumber we combine sustainable wood, artisan quality, mill-direct sales, and Montana integrity. Our environmentally-friendly hardwood flooring and wall paneling company is like family; we look after each other, we work hard, and play hard. We’re not in business to get rich, we’re in business to make an honest living and be good stewards of our natural resources.

Thank you for trusting us on your next project, you won’t be disappointed.

If you’re in the market for hardwood floors, it’s time to take a closer look at Douglas Fir Flooring.