Since we manufacture our hardwood flooring within a 300 mile radius, we produce the smallest carbon footprint possible. When buying your hardwood flooring, make sure to ask where it's manufactured. 70% or more of the hardwood flooring being sold is manufactured in China, where there are almost no regulations.
The make matters worse, between 10 and 30% of flooring Made in China is coming from illegally harvested logs. There are very serious environmental impacts from illegal logging as well as negative externalities that effect developing countries. Illegal logging depletes timber supplies and threatens biodiversity. Forests are extremely important sources of food, goods, and employment for rural communities in developing countries, hurting the local community and their well-being.
Gaylord Hardwood Flooring manufactures all their flooring within a 300 mile radius. We are proud of our commitment to green manufacturing and the jobs created throughout the process.
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One of the biggest, if not biggest flooring trends right now is wide plank white oak flooring. It's beautiful, durable, and very low maintenance with the ability to suit any decor. In fact, most of your Pinterest or Houzz projects probably have french oak flooring in them! If you do a quick google search of "French Oak Flooring" you will find hundreds of different websites that claim to sell genuine french oak, but is this a lie? I mean, how can so many companies offer this so called "french oak". The french flooring industry would have to be absolutely massive to keep up with the type of demand.
Naturally, we are obsessed with wide plank white oak and it is something that hits close to home with us. We take pride that all our white oak comes from Pennsylvania ,which aligns with our mission to have all our lumber sourced and made within a 300 mile radius.
The truth is only very small percentage of this french oak flooring is from France. It was very difficult to find specific information on the French Forestry and Hardwood Flooring exports. However, a publication created by a French Ministry of Agriculture from 2012, fills in some blanks for us. In 2010, France exported a total of $18 million euros of assembled wood flooring panels. This is less than 0.085% of the total US flooring Market.It is quite obvious that the "French Oak" flooring is not made in France.
Since the French oak flooring is not made in France, where is it made? Well let's assume that the French Oak Lumber is being exported to be manufactured in other countries.
Total lumber Exports from France: 400,000 cubic meters Percentage of Oak Lumber sawn in France: 46% Assumed Total Oak Lumber Exports: 184,000 cubic meters 1 cubic meter = 423.776 board feet. 184,000 X 423.776 = 77,974,784 board feet The average manufacturing yield to turn 1 board foot of lumber into 1 square foot of hardwood flooring is 56% This would mean less than 44 million square feet of hardwood flooring could be produced if all Oak lumber exported from France was made into hardwood flooring. This may seem like a lot but, one single manufacturer of French Oak in Indonesia claims to produce 65 million square feet per year. |
Note: We assume that 100% of oak lumber from France is destined to be made into hardwood flooring. French Oak is used for wine barrels, music instruments, furniture, and wood trim. If anything, our calculations are an over estimation.
The point of the calculation? Well to show you that it is absolutely impossible for all the the French Oak marketed as European Crafted French Oak to be from France.
So who really is selling French Oak? Think you aren't being deceived? You most certainly are. It is extremely upsetting because you as a consumer are making your product selection, with the idea that these companies have your project in their best interest. Fact is, your Craftsman floor you have invested in is probably sourced from Russia and Eastern European Countries from illegally harvested forests and manufactured in China. Sound green to you? Shipping lumber in large container ships across the world from unsustainable forests does not sound green to us.
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This is not the case in the rest of the world. Countries are clear cutting forests including National Parks and most of this is orchestrated by organized crime. It is estimated that more than 10% of logs entering China have been harvested illegally. In this day and age, how does this happen? Are there no rules or government agencies in place to stop this? There may be, but if government officials are corrupt and willing to take a bribe to “look the other way” these criminals have free range to decimate forests.
One of the culprits is Amina J. Mohammed. If that name sounds familiar, it is because she is the Secretary General of the United Nations. She is one of the world’s leading proponents of environmental protection and sustainable development. Prior to become Secretary General of the UN, she was the Minister of Environment in Nigeria. Nigeria is known to have one of the most corrupt governments in the world, and it appears Mrs. Mohammed fit in just fine. Like many phony environmental activists, it appears the Secretary General of the UN is a fraud. Rosewood, also known as Kosso is a beautiful wood found in Nigeria and throughout Africa. It is also very rare and considered endangered. In May of 2016, the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) added Kosso (Rosewood) to the list of wood species that require the signing of an international certificate before it can legally be exported. Even though the exporting of logs has been banned from Nigeria since 1976, between January 2014 and December 2016, an average of 3000 logs per day were exported, mostly to China. Most of the profits from this went to organized crime syndicates or terrorist organizations like Boca Haram.
Between May and December of 2016, as many as 10,000 shipping containers were detained by authorities for not having proper CITES documentation, meaning there was a high probability the shipping containers held illegal logs. You would think an environmental crusader like Mrs. Mohammed would take a stance against this illegal activity, and maybe share with the world what a huge problem this is and garner international support and attention. Nope! Just weeks before her new post at the United Nations, she began approving certificates allowing the delivery of more than 1.4 million illegal logs to China. According to one Nigerian forestry official, she signed 2,992 export certificates on January 16th alone! I find it hard to believe that the Nigerian forestry department could inspect 2,992 shipping containers in a single day, but who knows, maybe their government is more efficient than ours. It sounds like a fraud to me!
Nothing frustrates me more than phony environmentalists. Like the celebrity speaking out against Alberta Oil Sands while travelling on their yacht and private jet. Or the people protesting against a pipeline who leave their protest site littered with garbage. Or the worst of all…. The hardwood flooring manufacturer promoting themselves as being “green” even though their flooring is made in China from illegal logs. If you want to be environmentally responsible, buy from local North American manufacturers. Small North American manufacturers like us aren’t screaming “we’re green” because it’s part of who we are. We were green before green was cool (and marketable). The company who’s marketing pitch starts with “buy from us. We’re green” probably aren’t. For more information, check out the video Rosewood Racket and links below.
Amina Mohammed, UN dep Sec-Gen fingered in $300m timber scandal
Thank you
Greg Gaylord
]]>Shopping for hardwood flooring can be one of the biggest decisions you make during your renovation or during your new build. It is a textile that covers the majority of your space and has to have the ability to match up with a variety of different colors and rooms throughout your home.
Shopping around to find comparable options is a crucial stage for many people. It provides the opportunity to explore different color possibilities, different products available, and to gain information for their project. Or in most cases, it is a time where many individuals become very confused about all of the different products available. We've put together a quick checklist of questions you SHOULD be asking when you are shopping for your floor.
Looking for QUALITY HARDWOOD FLOORING? Read our FAQ below!
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