by Paul F. P. Pogue

When Angie's List member Karen Becker of Clearwater, Fla., removed carpet from her 60-year-old hardwood floors, she received a shock. Termites damaged the old oak, and a previous owner carelessly cut through some boards, replacing them with mismatched wood. Becker hired highly rated Through The Woods Fine Wood Floors Inc. in Tampa, Fla. to restore the oak with reclaimed vintage flooring from the same time period. "Even now, you can't tell which are the old boards and which are the new ones," Becker says.

Suzanne Prieur, art director for Through the Woods, says the company maintains contacts with several mills that specialize in reclaimed wood, which is how they acquired wood to match Becker's floor. "No matter what kind of interior or architecture you have, there's probably a reclaimed wood that will look perfect with it," she says.

Owner Dennis Prieur says salvaged wood usually costs two to three times more than new wood, but offers great benefits.

Reclaimed wood - as well as other forms of architectural salvage - has grown in popularity for several years, due to its environmental friendliness, stunning look and stability. "These old-growth forests had grown for hundreds of years, and the reclaimed wood is denser and more beautiful," Suzanne says. "They've been through decades of expansion and contraction already, so they're very hard and strong."

She says practical considerations, such as Tampa's active termite population, create opportunities: "You'll go into an old home where much of the flooring is munched and you can't save the entire floor, but parts of it can still be salvaged."

Wood isn't the only material that can be reclaimed. Jesse White, owner of Sarasota Architectural Salvage in Sarasota, Fla., works with demolition companies to reclaim everything from stained-glass windows to antique hardware, then restores and sells it. "Salvage is the original green building," he says. "You're reducing the impact on natural resources. In the last 10 years people have really begun to embrace the environmental component."

He says salvaged materials can serve a variety of uses beyond their original purpose - reclaimed wood flooring can be turned into furniture, metal hardware can become decorative or artistic pieces, and stained-glass windows can brighten up a room in a new context. "We've built a kitchen island from salvaged windows, flooring and hardware," he says. "It's a whole new emerging industry, but ultimately it's going to make a real impact."

Suzanne adds that salvage also provides a unique aesthetic opportunity. "These materials aren't coming back," she says. "Every piece of wood is itself an antique."