What is ethical salvage?
At N. L. Kotting & Company, LLC, we pride ourselves in our role in preserving the American barn. Nothing pleases us more than to see a barn owner restore and retain their barn as an economically viable component of their farm. (We often convince barn owners to save and or convert their barns on site so that their role on the farm and in the cultural landscape can continue). When a barn is threatened with demolition either literally or by neglect or when a barn owner can no longer carry the liability of a derelict structure we will attempt to find a home for that barn elsewhere. We try not to inventory barns for this reason, we prefer they remain standing until a viable new home is found. WE ONLY ACQUIRE BARNS IN THIS MANNER. We will not sell a frame whose origin is unknown. Often ‘timber scalpers’ present us with the option of buying timber they cannot or refuse to document. This timber is then assumed to have been stolen, or otherwise unethically removed from derelict farmsteads, with
