Green/Eco

1. Our factory building is a former apple-packing factory built in 1929. The company we purchased it from had obtained a permit to tear down the building. We saw value where the former owner did not. We remodeled the building adding new plumbing, heating, electrical, and sprinkler systems, a new roof and a lot more. It is still not real pretty on the outside, but it is a useful building the size of a football field that did not end up in a landfill.
    
2. Our showroom building is a former car dealership building built in 1921. The site had environmental issues from underground gas tanks. We chose to ignore our lawyer’s advice and purchased the building even with these problems. It took us over 10 years, but we eventually had the problems addressed, got the property into the state clean up fund, and the state has declared it a closed case.
    
3. We keep our factory heat set at 55 degrees in the winter. We all have gotten used to the idea of wearing sweaters or sweatshirts and we use a lot less natural gas.
    
4. We use water based stains to finish our furniture. The Virginia Department of Environmental Quality regulates our finishing department and our sawdust collection system. Our annual reports to that agency typically show that we better their requirements by 75%.
    
5. We build furniture from lumber species that are renewable and sustainable resources : Cherry, Maple, Poplar and Oak. We avoid Mahogany and other “Rain Forest” timbers.
    
6. When we harvest timber from our own land we use the following practices to protect the environment:
    

   We use existing logging trails rather than building new ones, which reduces soil erosion. We build and maintain water bars on logging trails that divert water and keep it from gaining momentum that will wash away soil. We help arrange for neighboring landowners to have their land timbered at the same time as ours. We allow them to use our staging areas to load their logs on trucks. This limits the areas of disturbed soil and reduces erosion. We remove lap wood (the left over branches and tree tops) by giving it away to folks that cut it for firewood. This reduces the chance of forest fires and reduces the severity of a fire, if there is one, by removing potential fuel. At the conclusion of any logging operation we reseed all trails and disturbed areas with a fast growing grass seed.

7. And of course, we reclaim and recycle wood from old barns into new furniture.