Nature Friendly Environment for Log Home Production

We love when customers come to see us!  Not only is our manufacturing facility state of the art, by the log home industry standards, but the guys in “the shop” love to show off their many talents. A personal visit to Timberhaven provides opportunities to see first-hand how our logs are laminated and tested, profiled and cut, graded to meet or exceed Log Homes Council standards, and meet the staff!

Typically a wide variety of questions are asked as the guys are giving their hands-on demonstrations. One question we frequently hear is: What do you do with the waste?  The short answer to the question is: There is no waste.  How so, you ask?  We recently caught up with Randy Beachel, Timberhaven’s production manager, who explained what exactly that short answer to the nature friendly question means.

Nature Friendly: Reusable Materials & Heat

First, we start with raw kiln-dried materials that are shipped directly to our facility.  We use this material to produce laminated logs and timbers, solid logs and timbers, and beam and purlin roofing members, just to name a few. As with everything we produce, there is always a small percentage of material that does not meet our high-quality specifications. In these instances, this material is then cut down into other usable products like log siding corners, 2x or 1x trim, window and door bucks, spindles for interior railing, etc.  “We keep cutting the materials down smaller and smaller until we cannot utilize them anymore,” Randy adds.  “At that point, these materials are compiled for use in the shop’s wood burning furnace, the building’s only source of heat.”  In some instances, unusable materials are even packaged up and used as firewood for our employees’ homes.

Nature Friendly: Bedding for Local Animals

Furthermore, the White Pine wood shavings and saw dust are collected and provided to local farmers for use as turkey and chicken bedding.  The Oak shavings (which are yielded when our guys manufacture bridge timbers) are used by local farmers for cattle bedding.

Nature Friendly = No Waste!

So in this nature friendly environment at Timberhaven, we are pleased to report that NOTHING is wasted here.  Whether we’re cutting the logs for your dream log home or the simple trim for your windows, providing heat for our employees, or a warm and comfortable place for hundreds of animals to sleep; all materials that pass through our facilities have a purpose. It’s a good feeling to be part of such an environmentally-conscious company.