FSC and Onsite Harvested Wood
We have "onsite" trees harvested and are using this wood in the building for trim work. All work will be done locally or even onsite. A couple questions.
1) Since this is new wood should this wood be used and included in these (MRC7) credit calculations?
2) Onsite harvested trees are not FSC approved (I think), but should count for something somewhere?
3) How should I calculate the cost value since they come from the building site and where not purchased. Only labor cost is involved.
4) If you can give me any other suggestions please do so.
Thank you.
Tristan Roberts
RepresentativeVermont House of Representatives
LEEDuser Expert
11475 thumbs up
June 4, 2010 - 12:17 pm
Lee, this would be included in your new wood budget for MRc7, and would not qualify for that credit. The wood could help you under MRc5, though, since it is harvested and processed within the region.I don't have experience with trying to put a value on something that only costs you labor. Certainly the labor cost of delivering the usable trim to the project should be counted, but I'm not sure if you can find a way to do more than that.
Anne Nicklin
Executive DirectorBuilding Materials Reuse Association
167 thumbs up
June 7, 2010 - 2:30 am
1. I agree, you would have to include the on-site harvested wood in the MRc7 calculations, as non FSC wood.
2. As Tristan said, MRc5 is the best place to get credit for on-site harvesting.
3. To calculate the value of the wood, count only the cost of the labor that would have otherwise occurred off-site, such as the sawing, milling, drying, etc. Any labor costs associated with installing the wood in the new building should be excluded.
4. That's the best I've got, good luck.
Jennifer Frey
(old outdated email address)61 thumbs up
March 7, 2011 - 9:20 pm
I agree with Anne, with a slight modification to #3. You can count the value per Anne, or you can count its replacement value.
Please reference page 365 and 3666 of the BD+C 2009 Reference Guide MR credit 3 Materials Re-use. The LEED Reference Guide states that "The salvaged materials from both on-site and off-site can be applied to MR Credit 5, Regional Materials, if they comply with the requirements of that credit. Materials qualifying as reused for MR Credit 3 cannot be applied to MR credits 1, 2, 4, 6, and 7." This supports Tristan and Anne above.
Page 366 goes on to say in section 6 Calculations: "Determine the cost of the material. This cost will be the actual cost paid (like Anne stated above) or, if the mateiral came from on-site, the replacement value. The replacment value can be determined by pricing a comparable material in the local market; exclude labor and shipping."
We have used this language and logic with trees cut on-site and milled for the same project's furniture and casework needs as well as concrete slabs crushed on-site used for structural back-fill (per Civil Engineer's approval). We identified the cubic yards of crushed-concrete and determined the cost of what structural back-fill for the same quantity would have cost. We identified current market value for the quantity / size of materials used in furniture/casework and applied that to the wood we salvaged from on-site.
Hope this helps.