Colorado Based Timber Age Systems Inc. Expands Manufacturing of Recycled Low-Cost Wood Building Products

Timber Age Systems Inc., a Durango, Colorado based company that specializes in making cross-laminated timber (CLT) for sustainable building projects, has announced its plans to expand its manufacturing capacity and develop a new facility after receiving a grant from the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment’s Recycling Resources Economic Opportunity Program.

According to Timber Age Systems co-founder Andrew Hawk, the approximately $440,000 grant will cover the creation of a new 2,500- to 3,000-square-foot manufacturing plant in La Plata County that will triple Timber Age’s current capacity.

Timber Age Systems aims to create usable wood products from fire mitigation efforts across the Southwest. The company sources all of the wood it uses from fire mitigation projects, turning to public and private lands for the ponderosa pines it needs. Doing so diverts trees that would usually be wasted while creating economic opportunity and a product local builders can use. It’s all a part of Timber Age Systems’ efforts to use sustainable building to create healthy forests.

“If ponderosa pine is going to be removed from the forest from a forest health and fire mitigation standpoint, we as a community need to figure out what to do with it. And we need some sort of market for it,” Hawk said. “So, it was as much about figuring out how to utilize the wood and divert it from landfill or burning as it was figuring out how to put it in buildings.”

Timber Age Systems’ own manufacturing process tries to maximize sustainability, linking local builders with local forests. As Timber Age Systems expands, it plans to continue to advocate for its wood products as a sustainable building material and a solution for fire mitigation and affordable housing.