4 Reasons to Buy Your Wood Building Products Direct From a Mill

When buying wood products like log siding, log paneling or doors for a new home build or a remodel, you have choices in where you get your materials. You can purchase from a supplier that buys wood products from mills or distributors and resells them for profit, or you can buy directly from a mill that manufactures the products it sells. Here are four reasons to consider buying mill-direct when purchasing wood building products.

1. Price

Heartwood Mills was established to supply mill-direct lumber products to the market; therefore, we can offer mill-direct prices. We even take creative steps inside our Boyne Falls, Michigan, facilities to keep your costs at a minimum. For example, excess steam that is produced by our kilns is piped underground and used to heat our production building during cold Michigan winters. Any savings, even if it’s on our utility bills, are passed along to our customers. Can a supplier say the same?

2. Trust

When you purchase direct from Heartwood Mills, you have peace-of-mind that the wood for your building products was grown and harvested sustainably. Northern White Cedar is native to the Boyne Valley area where we are located, and we’d like to keep it that way. During winter we build up inventory in harvested areas. During harvest, absolutely nothing goes to waste. Bark is used for landscaping. Limbs are collected for custom railings. Log cores are transformed into sap-free Cedar paneling. Even the sawdust is put to good use — it makes excellent horse and dog bedding. When you purchase through a supplier, there’s no way to know for sure where your wood building products come from.

3. Quality

Heartwood Mills specializes in producing building products from locally sourced Northern White Cedar, a strong, durable wood that is a rare find in standard lumberyards. We know our wood is special, and we treat it accordingly at every step of production, as opposed to suppliers, who aren’t typically involved in the production process at all.

Milling: All freshly harvested logs are processed into green dimensional lumber on site. During this time, we take care to remove a layer of sapwood, which can create issues with shrinking, staining and moisture.

Drying: At Heartwood Mills, we insist on kiln drying wood to a specific moisture content for up to three weeks to ensure that our molding and planing processes are highly accurate and to eliminate serious problems caused by air drying, including checking, warping and shrinkage. Learn more about the importance of kiln drying wood building products.

Processing: We have designed and built our very own machining line to ensure quality wood products at the lowest possible cost. At this time, wood is shaped to the size and profile of our products and to meet the exact specifications of the builder. We remove any last defect by hand and add tongue and groove so wood can be end-matched to eliminate waste and speed up installation. Finally, products are sent through our peeling machines and final grading to achieve a finished, authentic look. Before loading and shipping, all products are inspected for defects or damage.

4. Service

Heartwood Mills has been in business for many years — since 1947. Over those 70 years, we’ve learned a lot about building log and timber frame homes, and we use that knowledge and expertise to answer your questions and help you select the right products for your projects. We challenge you to find a supplier that’s more knowledgeable about wood!

Heartwood Mills is your partner, and we go the extra mile for all our customers. In fact, we’ll go around the world for you. That’s right, you can even buy direct from the mill when you live outside the U.S. We will deliver your wood building products directly to your job site.

When you buy direct from Heartwood Mills you can also be assured of ongoing customer support after your order leaves the mill lot. If you have questions about installation, need additional materials, or need a little building advice, our wood experts are here to help. Buying direct is a cost-effective, quality-conscious choice. Why not go straight to the source?