Green Story

Middleton Lumber, a LaValley family company, is a local, family-owned full-service hardware and lumber yard that has for nearly 50 years been servicing both home owners and contractors alike throughout New Hampshire. Currently the company touts 10 retail stores -- including locally in Dover and Hampton -- as well as a pine mill (Diprizio Pine) and a modular home outlet in Claremont (Preferred Building Systems).

As part of the Lumberman's Merchandizing Corporation (LMC), a regional Co-Op of over 300 lumber yards and retail outlets, Middleton Lumber is able to buy in volumes that allow them to price their goods as competetively as big box stores like Lowe's and Home Depot, without compromising the integrity of their family-owned philosophies. As such, Middleton has access to the same materials as their larger competetors, while also moving to more heavily emphasize their stock of green, sustainable products, including: low or no VOC paints and caulkings; trim boards made from recycled plastic; recycled and recyclable insulation; low-flush toilets; solar shingles; and high-efficiency windows. They even recently added a line of green polyurethane made from renewable farm sources (Vermont Natural Coatings).

Middleton Lumber joined the Green Alliance as a company that was hardly resting on its already-impressive green laurels. "We not only want to emphasize our growing range of green products," says Jim Bruneau of Middleton-Dover. "We want to put in place the resources to do training for both customers and contractors on how to be more green, and that includes having a knowledgeable staff able to train in that way."

The Dover retail store, with the help of PSNH, last year changed all of their lighting from standard incandescents to much more effcient flourescent variety. Another outlet installed a steam boiler which turns recycled sawdust into steam, which they then sold to PSNH as energy, buying it back through the grid at a discounted rate. All of the locations have also instituted comprehensive recycling programs.

Preferred Building Systems, a division of LaValley Building Supply manufactures energy efficient modular homes at their 160,000 square foot factory in Claremont New Hampshire. They currently hold open house events for prospective new home buyers that are interested in saving energy in their next home. The average home they produce saves 45% on heating and cooling costs each year.