5 Places to Find Reclaimed Wood and What You Can Do With It

• Bingham Lumber – Baton Rouge, Louisiana

Especially dumpsters ones for construction companies and home improvement stores. What the bigger projects might consider scraps can easily cover the amount of wood you will need for a smaller project. You’ll surely be able to find some good pieces of reclaimed wood that will be suitable for a project you plan on using it for.

While one man's trash is another man's treasure, you may want to look into your states laws and regulations when it comes to dumpster diving so that it doesn’t interfere with any of your cities ordinances. It's also important to be cautious as there may be hazardous materials in the dumpster. Wearing gloves and checking with care and enough light is the best way to safely look for wood to reclaim.

Older farms often have extra material that was kept from tearing down a previous structure. Given the size of some farms, they may be thankful to have someone carry away their old wood. You can also salvage wood from abandoned barns.

Abandoned barns can be found all around the country, all you would need to do is contact the property owner to see if you have the green light to take some of the wood. Reclaimed barn wood is a fairly common way of finding wood to repurpose into something new. With so many abandoned barns, reclaimed barn wood is your best avenue to find wood for your next project. Aged barn wood works especially well in vintage-style furniture or bold accent walls, and if the planks are floor-worthy, they make stunning reclaimed wood flooring—rich in texture and narrative.

These are all great options for locating reclaimed wood for your project. With many people doing some spring cleaning, now is a great time to get looking.

How to Effectively Clean Reclaimed Wood

Once you've acquired the reclaimed wood for your future projects, you'll want to ensure it's properly cleaned and ready to go. You'll want to create a cleaning solution, but first, you'll need to identify if the wood has been treated or not. If the wood has been treated with a chemical to help it withstand the weather, then all you'll need to clean it is some soap and a damp wash rag. A brush may come in hand for hard to reach crevices in the wood. If the wood has not been treated, then you can create a mixture of olive oil, white viniger and water. Use the wash rag or brush on the wood gently to ensure it's thoroughly cleaned and prepped for your project. Follows these few steps to prepare your reclaimed wood for use:

• Inspect & Sort: Check for nails, chemicals, rot.

• Clean Thoroughly: Use mild soap or, for untreated wood, a mix of olive oil, white vinegar, and water.

• Flatten & Refinish: For wood flooring, ensure boards are flat and stable—resaw, plane, and sand as necessary.

• Seal/Finish: Apply appropriate finishes, especially on flooring—polyurethane, hard wax oil, or penetrating oil depending on wear expectations.

What to Do With Reclaimed Wood

Now that you have your wood, there are plenty of projects that you can accomplish with it. Reclaimed wood can take many forms, from plywood, old fence pieces, pallets, to perfectly good 2x4s. Before tossing out your old furniture, consider how you may repurpose it for something else. Depending on what you managed to find, here are some ideas on how to put it to use:

Reclaimed Wood Flooring

Using reclaimed boards for reclaimed wood flooring brings unmatched character—weathered grain, nail holes, and aged patina. Whether wide-plank hardwood or repurposed barn siding, flooring made this way becomes a statement piece. It’s durable, historical, and eco-conscious—especially when you tailor finishes to protect against wear and spills.

Shelves

Shelves and cabinets can easily be DIY'd from reclaimed wood. You can find plenty of online tutorials showing you how to build any size shelf or cabinet you want. From rustic headboards to DIY accent walls, reclaimed wood gives each project a unique personality.

Trays

You can create small trays to set decorations on or used for food and drinks. Trays are also a great item to have on an entrance table to place things like car keys. Since they're smaller and not too difficult to create, trays are a perfect beginner DIY project.

Storage Containers

Organizers for your kitchen supplies. Make shallow boxes to put in your cabinets, or even a holder for seasonings to display on your counter and help keep your kitchen decluttered.

Clocks

Consider creating a clock for your living room space. Purchasing a cheap clock face can turn your reclaimed wood into a grandfather clock. With countless designs found online, you're bound to find the right style for your home.

Furniture

Creating furniture out of the wood is a fantastic way to reuse it. If you are able to get enough, you can make chairs, outdoor benches, tables, dressers, or just about anything else! Don't overlook the charm of weathered reclaimed wood in farmhouse kitchen shelves or coffee tables.

Gardening Boxes

Use your reclaimed wood to frame a section for soil to plant a garden, or make smaller boxes to plant some herbs inside. You can even use it to create a compost box which will greatly help fertilize your garden and help you be even more eco-friendly!

You can also create decorative frames, mirror borders, or signage out of smaller reclaimed wood pieces. Outdoor projects benefit from reclaimed wood too, like fences, pergolas, or raised garden beds. If you’re remodeling your home, consider reclaimed wood for baseboards, mantels, or even stair treads. Most people love the aged grain and worn-in texture that reclaimed wood offers.

Need to add warmth to a room? Try a feature wall made entirely from different-toned reclaimed wood panels. With a little sanding and staining, reclaimed wood can rival anything you’d find at the store. Using leftover or salvaged reclaimed wood is one of the most cost effective ways to complete a home upgrade.

Accent Walls & Ceilings

Transform a plain wall into a rustic focal point with reclaimed wood planks in herringbone, chevron, or mixed-width patterns. Ceiling beams—real or faux—can enhance a space’s charm. These wood surfaces dramatically impact aesthetics without the full cost or disruption of installing new wood flooring throughout.

The Benefits of Using Reclaimed Wood

It may be more work to reclaim wood rather than to just go to your local home hardware store, but there are several benefits to it:

Reclaimed wood is a passionate choice for builders and DIYers who value story, texture, and sustainability. With thoughtful sourcing—from classifieds, dealers, barns, dumpsters, pallets—you can create stunning reclaimed wood flooring, accent features, and furniture, all while conserving natural resources.

Combining reclaimed and new wood can deepen your project's design depth. And every board has a story: of forests once lost, buildings once lived-in, and craftsmanship reborn. Your reclaimed wood flooring or other wood flooring project becomes a centerpiece of character, telling its own history in every grain.

Whether you already have an idea or not, there are plenty of ways to find reclaimed wood near you and milk tremendous value out of it. This is a fun way to complete a project while recycling unused and unwanted materials. And if you are ever on the other side and trying to get rid of your wood, Bin There Dump That can help.