Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Exclusive hardwood may be illegally harvested

chalmers.se

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

51–60 of 207 posts

Re: Exclusive hardwood may be illegally harvested

#51

Post by digging »

dwater wrote: post #44
digging wrote: post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Will it? I'm not aware of any plastics that are insanely durable, they just don't rot. But treated wood also doesn't rot. I'd expect a lot of weathering and surface degradation at a similar rate to typical woods.

> treated wood also doesn't rot That is a pretty broad statement so perhaps you're thinking of a different thing than me when you say "treated wood", but the typical pressure treated pine you get at big box home improvement stores will absolutely rot. They reformulated the treating agent in 2004 so it's no longer using arsenic, and since then pressure treated wood just doesn't last as long. Generally in my area, fenc…

Is your wood unstained? If you stain or paint it, wood should be lasting longer than 5 years. I think my mom rebuilt her wooden deck after about 10 years at least.

I don't know what this plastic wood is tbh, but I'm having a hard time imagining any plastic surface looking good after 5 years of rain, sun, and boots. Maybe if you sand it down annually. I'm not a fan of grinding microplastics into my yard.

Re: Exclusive hardwood may be illegally harvested

#52

Post by hcurtiss »

abakker wrote: post #39
bastardoperator wrote: post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I would argue there is zero point in using real hardwood on floors these days given vinyl planks are way cheaper, way more durable, and look nearly indistinguishable from real thing.

Hardwood floors can be re-sanded and refinished many times over, generating no waste. Vinyl floors get scratched and then thrown away. Wood is renewable, vinyl comes from oil wells. I'm not certain this is actually logical.

We may be an anomaly, but we have 13.5mm laminates[1] which I'd say were relatively high grade when we put them in. The product we used didn't come with stair kits so we had to do the staircase with oak stained to match. We have two full-size golden retrievers. Eight years later, the laminates look like the day we installed them -- literally. The oak is all scratched up and will take a lot of work to refinish. [2] I was apprehensive about the laminates, and I'm definitely no Captain Planet, but I'll never have anything else. *edited to add imgur link.

1. https://www.pacmatpure.com/product/calypso-collection/

2. https://imgur.com/a/9QI5bC2

Re: Exclusive hardwood may be illegally harvested

#53

Post by thunfischbrot »

bluGill wrote: post #46
trgn wrote: post #41

Earlier quoted context omitted.

And you feel it, barefoot, touching it, it feels more natural. Hardwood floors cleans better too, more hygienic. Hard to put into words.

Hardwood is always covered in a plastic finish. Yes it feels different, but it is still plastic.

That's not correct. While many people choose polyurethane finished wood since it is less likely to stain from liquids, oils and varnishes are popular as well.

See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wood_flooring#Finishing,_buffi...

Re: Exclusive hardwood may be illegally harvested

#54

Post by londons_explore »

civilitty wrote: post #2

In my (albeit limited) experience, if you can’t get some sort of provenance documentation for exotic hardwoods from the lumberyard, it’s almost guaranteed to be unsustainably harvested, mostly outright illegally. Unfortunately it seems that most lumberyards open to the public and contractors are full of such wood because the legit stuff is even more expensive and sold mostly to high end furniture manufacturers and sp…

> not an island so it’ll be impossible to enforce.

Unlike drugs, wood is a bulky cargo.

Sure, you might smuggle a few planks, but you aren't going to manage to smuggle tens of thousands of trucks full unless the government is deliberately turning a blind eye.

Re: Exclusive hardwood may be illegally harvested

#55

Post by thunfischbrot »

simonsarris wrote: post #49
bastardoperator wrote: post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I would argue there is zero point in using real hardwood on floors these days given vinyl planks are way cheaper, way more durable, and look nearly indistinguishable from real thing.

> look nearly indistinguishable maybe I'm top 1% neurotic about these things but I can tell from Zillow images alone. And definitely by feel of walking on them and the distinct noise they make. There's no comparison. I seriously doubt they are indistinguishable for most people, but I could be very wrong, especially since so many people go for them.

Most people just don't care or never knew the difference. Like keming, once you notice it, you will likely notice for the rest of your life.

Re: Exclusive hardwood may be illegally harvested

#56

Post by bhandziuk »

cinntaile wrote: post #48
bluGill wrote: post #46

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Hardwood is always covered in a plastic finish. Yes it feels different, but it is still plastic.

I don't know where you got this from, but I can assure you that's not correct.

They're talking about polyurethane. It does have a plasticy feel too it.

Re: Exclusive hardwood may be illegally harvested

#57

Post by digging »

nemo44x wrote: post #40
digging wrote: post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Will it? I'm not aware of any plastics that are insanely durable, they just don't rot. But treated wood also doesn't rot. I'd expect a lot of weathering and surface degradation at a similar rate to typical woods.

They have serious issues with mold and mildew as well. They also get rather hot. They’re fine for certain people I guess but I don’t like how they look. And if you ever have to replace a part it will look weird as the deck will be faded except the new part.

> They also get rather hot.

I've noticed that as well on plastic decks I've been on. They feel bad on feet and seemingly get hotter than wood (but that could be an illusion).

Re: Exclusive hardwood may be illegally harvested

#58

Post by Aurornis »

civilitty wrote: post #2

In my (albeit limited) experience, if you can’t get some sort of provenance documentation for exotic hardwoods from the lumberyard, it’s almost guaranteed to be unsustainably harvested, mostly outright illegally. Unfortunately it seems that most lumberyards open to the public and contractors are full of such wood because the legit stuff is even more expensive and sold mostly to high end furniture manufacturers and sp…

> In my (albeit limited) experience, if you can’t get some sort of provenance documentation for exotic hardwoods from the lumberyard, it’s almost guaranteed to be unsustainably harvested, mostly outright illegally.

If you can't get any provenance documentation, how are you assuming it's harvested illegally?

Re: Exclusive hardwood may be illegally harvested

#59

Post by LoganDark »

hcurtiss wrote: post #52
abakker wrote: post #39

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Hardwood floors can be re-sanded and refinished many times over, generating no waste. Vinyl floors get scratched and then thrown away. Wood is renewable, vinyl comes from oil wells. I'm not certain this is actually logical.

We may be an anomaly, but we have 13.5mm laminates[1] which I'd say were relatively high grade when we put them in. The product we used didn't come with stair kits so we had to do the staircase with oak stained to match. We have two full-size golden retrievers. Eight years later, the laminates look like the day we installed them -- literally. The oak is all scratched up and will take a lot of work to refinish. [2] I…

Does this page ever actually load?

Re: Exclusive hardwood may be illegally harvested

#60

Post by maccard »

bastardoperator wrote: post #37
frozenlettuce wrote: post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Recently I was watching Property Brothers and saw two episodes where both houses had Brazilian Hardwood flooring. The funny thing is that I live in Brazil and it is quite rare to find houses with that type of flooring - the bureaucracy and costs associated make it very expensive - but that might not be the case if the customer is Canadian

I would argue there is zero point in using real hardwood on floors these days given vinyl planks are way cheaper, way more durable, and look nearly indistinguishable from real thing.

> look nearly indistinguishable from real thing.

Have to disagree here. Even at a glance they're totally different.

Post reply on HN