We rescue our salvaged flooring from the demolition of old factories, wool stores, schools and houses.

Salvaged flooring is special because it visibly bears a lifetime of human stories in the timber’s unique markings, fine lines and patina, as well as the evenly spaced nail holes where it was previously fixed down to joists. Salvaged boards can be left unsanded to keep the original patina, or sanded back carefully to achieve the look you are after. The more you sand, the lighter and cleaner the timber will look.

 
 

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Check out our salvaged flooring samples

Explore projects using our salvaged flooring

Browse flooring FAQs

 

Saving this historical timber flooring isn’t easy, but it’s worth it.

A skilled worker uses specifically designed levers to lift the old boards without damaging the tongue and groove so that the floorboards can be relaid in a new house, studio or creative project. Once the floorboards are back at our workshop, we remove any built up dirt in the tongue and groove joins using our custom-designed brushing machine, before cutting out defects or damaged sections.

 

Each salvaged floorboard is truly a one-of-a-kind product, and is only available in a limited quantity.

Salvaged flooring at A Baker restaurant in New Acton, Canberra (Photography: Orlando Lumiere)

Salvaged flooring comes to us from specific, one off demolitions, and each floor is therefore only available in a limited quantity—once it’s gone, it’s gone!

This can make salvaged flooring the ideal product for unique features in your home or office, allowing you to put a creative stamp on the spaces you live and work in. Our customers have done some really inventive things with our flooring!

The floorboards we salvage are mostly available between 60 and 100 millimetres wide, but the width, the size of the tongue and groove, and the appearance of different floors (even of the same species) will often vary depending on how old the floor is and the past use it has had. For example, Tallowwood flooring that has spent its previous life under carpet in a house will look very different to the rustic boards from an old factory or warehouse.

As a rough guide, we often salvage the following quantities from demolitions:

  • Old house floors are usually available in quantities of 50-100m²

  • School and church halls will often be around 100-150m²

  • Basketball courts, factory and warehouse floors will often range from 300 to 1000m² (but we come across these large jobs less often)

Sometimes there’s a consistency in species and size between different demolitions, in which case it can be feasible to match and combine timber from different sites to make one large floor.

Other times, we end up with smaller quantities of unique flooring that isn’t enough for a large job, but can be perfect for smaller creative projects like tiny houses and shipping containers, artist and musician studios, campervan fit-outs, wine cellars and even small awning ceilings.

 

Explore our salvaged flooring samples in our Canberra workshop & showroom.

Visit Thor’s Hammer Showroom & Gallery to view salvaged flooring samples.

We always recommend that you visit us in person so that you can experience the tactility of our beautiful timber for yourself, and get all your questions answered by our Design & Sales team. We’re located at 10 Mildura Street, Griffith, in Canberra.

If that’s not possible, or if you’re still getting the lay of the land, you can browse our photo samples below. We’ve included a range of the salvaged flooring we’ve received in the past, which provides a good indication of the timber species and range of appearances that are often available in salvaged flooring.

Each batch of salvaged flooring is unique and they do sell quickly once they arrive, so it isn’t possible for us to keep an up to date stock listing on the website. We also have new stock arriving regularly! If you see something you like, the best thing to do is to make an enquiry via the button above, or give us a call on 02 6282 9900. One of our Design & Sales team members will be able let you know our current stock, quantities available and pricing.


GET TO KNOW OUR SALVAGED FLOORING

As you can imagine, our salvaged flooring availability is ever-changing, but below are a collection of past floors and timber species that we commonly salvage. Each species will have unique qualities, and each set of flooring a unique history.

Please note that most of the samples are un-sanded on the left third, and lightly sanded and oiled on the right side (with the sanding gradually getting heavier as you go across to the right hand side), to show the range of appearances available from each floor.

We have three available finishes; un-sanded, lightly sanded or full sand (after install).

  • UN-SANDED Displays all the unique markings of the timber’s previous life – a very low maintenance option. 

  • LIGHTLY SANDED An alternative look can be achieved by lightly sanding and polishing the floor boards to reveal some of the original timber colour, while still keeping most of the patina. Any sanding is normally done after the boards are installed. Our team is happy to pass on the names of some good local contractors for floor sanding.

  • FULL SAND The boards can be sanded right back to remove most of the old patina and display the original colour and grain of the timber. Sanding is normally done after the boards are installed, and we are happy to pass on the names of some good local floor sanding contractors.

If the species or size you are interested in is not in stock, please still make an enquiry - its likely we will be able to source what you’re looking for.


Salvaged flooring projects

DIY campervan salvaged flooring (Photography: Peter Dent)

Salvaged Rock Maple Gym Flooring from Chevalier College (Photography: Rohan Thomson)

DIY wine cellar with salvaged flooring (Photography: Peter Dent)

Salvaged flooring feature on the ceiling of a local artists’ studio (Photography: Rohan Thomson)

Feature wall cladding with salvaged flooring from the Bicentennial Basketball Stadium in Penrith. Explore this project.

Herringbone laid flooring in Groomed Barber Shop Braddon (since closed down). Explore this project.

 

If you see anything you like please enquire - if we don’t already have it in stock we may be able to source something similar.


FLOORING FAQ’s

  • No, we do not install floors ourselves. However, if you get in touch with us we can send you through a list of floor layers and carpenters in the Canberra region who are experienced with recycled timber flooring. You will still need to make sure whichever tradesperson you choose is right for your project and budget.

  • 99% of the timbers we use and supply are recycled - the only exception are the natural edge slabs which we source from logs salvaged from street trees, road clearing and other authorised tree removals. Check out all our species here. We have packs of recycled timber arriving regularly, and if you bring in your own timber we are also happy to dress it or make things out of it for you.

  • Our timbers are salvaged from the demolition of old buildings, factories, bridges and wharfs around Australia. We source a lot of good timber from house roofs. In the old days before truss construction house roofs were built by carpenters on site from Australian hardwoods like Blackbutt, Spotted Gum, Ash, Tallowwood & Brushbox. We also find a lot of good solid timber from old factory and warehouse demolitions. The older factories often have timber posts and beam construction and the newer factories [1930’s - 1960’s] often have steel posts and trusses but still have hardwood timber purlins supporting the roofing iron.

  • You can visit us at 10 Mildura St, Griffith, Canberra, ACT during opening hours and we are happy to show you around our showroom, gallery and workshop. Our showroom and office is fitted out in our recycled timbers and there are plenty of samples of all the different recycled timber species and finishes on display. Upstairs in The Mixing Room Gallery we have some beautiful pieces we’ve made for display, specialising in dining tables.

  • You are welcome to drop past our showroom any time and we will be able to have a look at your project together. If you have a very complex or detailed project it is worth giving us a call or email to set up an appointment.