What Materials Do We Use?

The question “What materials do we use?” has never been simple to answer. We’ve always offered the most choices in material, including melamine, wood veneers and MDF; the most choices in hardware, with options from Tag, Hafele, and more; and the most choices in design, with our expert designers and installers who will create the closet of your dreams. Keep reading as we take a look at what a Closet Factory closet is really made from!

Laminated Melamine

Closet Factory closets are made from durable and beautiful laminated melamine. Melamine is a manufactured composite wood product, made up of thousands of crisscrossed strands. It is formed under high pressure and heat with an adhesive to retain shape. The strand boards are then laminated with a durable paper-based laminate. This lamination can be colored, textured, or both. We offer a wide variety of options available to fit any space and style. We also offer wood textures for a more rustic or homey look.

All of our melamine is ¾” or thicker to improve durability and give our closets a high-end look. We offer formaldehyde-free boards, as well as boards for households with sensitivities to certain materials. We also offer thicker construction for spaces which need enhanced structure or for a unique, bold look. We offer custom edge banding to match your melamine, whether a solid color or wood banding. Our unique wood banding can be stained, painted, or left unfinished, depending on the desired look.

For patterned melamine, we use a photographic process. This process is how we create such a broad range of patterns and wood grains. These range from ultrarealistic woodgrain to stylized patterns, depending on the look you’re going for. Textured melamine is created by texturing the lamination on the boards. This process is more durable than applying a texture after manufacture.

Metallic Hardware

We offer the finest in European style, with options from Hafele and Tag. Our hardware comes in a variety of finishes, including matte aluminum, gold, and nickel, as well as chrome, slate, and even black. No matter the finish, our hardware is manufactured from high-quality steel by our industry-leading suppliers.

Built In-House

Custom means more than just selection. It also means that we take the utmost care in manufacturing every component of your closet. We source composite materials and lumber from our suppliers in the US and Canada, which come into our factories in large sheets, usually 4-5 feet wide and 8-10 feet long. These sheets are then cut and milled to the proper shape and size for your cabinet.

Our cutting process combines state-of-the-art CNC technology with expert design and professional operation. We cut everything that shows up at your home to fit your design, and we check it several times before it ever leaves the factory to ensure cuts are correct and materials are present.

We cut each piece to size in our factory, but that isn’t the last time we ensure the fit of your closet. Each wall board has one or more sides which will be cut to fit once the closet and your installers get to your home. This is a critical step in our process, as it allows us to handle wall imperfections and ensure a perfect fit.

Your closet will ultimately be secured to the wall it’s installed against, with the weight of the system resting on the floor. Wood panels, details, and other components are nailed in place, while metallic hardware is fixed securely using screws and other hardware.

How We Source

Our wood all comes from suppliers local to each location. Local sourcing reduces travel time for your material, helping us install your closet faster. It also helps our locations maintain relationships with their suppliers. It’s also more environmentally friendly! The lumber travels less, reducing its carbon footprint, and all our lumber is sourced from sustainably harvested forests.

Sustainability

Closet Factory has become a leader in green initiatives in the closet and building industry

Products

Today, both green building standards and environmentally-conscious customers require independent third-party assurance that wood is harvested from responsibly managed forests. The Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) certifies Closet Factory’s plywood to make sure our suppliers adhere to all FSC principles and criteria. We also use particleboard and MDF (Medium Density Fiberboard) substrates made with 100% recycled wood. Our materials are also California Air Resources Board (CARB) compliant (emissions standards), NAUF (No Added Urea Formaldehyde), and many are Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) certified. Each location buys wood locally to support local economies and to keep shipping to a minimum.

Practices

Closet Factory’s sustainable manufacturing initiative is defined by creating products that use processes that minimize negative environmental impacts, conserve energy and natural resources, and are safe for employees, communities, and consumers. We whole-heartedly implement the green building practices of Reduce, Recycle, Reuse, and Renew in all aspects of our business. Our green building practices use less construction materials through better planning. We have a design and manufacturing computer program that cuts material to extract the most out of each board and reduces waste to a minimum.
This reduced waste helps create a lower carbon footprint by better management of the delicate resources available.

Closet Factory selects products from manufactures that have local facilities for the processing of wood materials and that practice and manage sustainable forestlands. Wood residuals created by the manufacturing of lumber are sent to either the composite panel plants or to the biomass cogeneration plant to create energy. Sustainability is not just a concept, but it is an approach to conserving natural resources and beautiful landscapes for generations to come. Closet Factory is committed to this approach.

Company

Each Closet Factory location participates in initiatives for environmental protection as consumers. Every facility recycles wood materials used in manufacturing along with consumables such as paper, bottles, aluminum cans, cardboard, and other recyclable materials. We conserve energy and water by using low-flush toilets, LED and other low energy usage lights, and include the use of natural light as much as possible to reduce the need for power.

The Composite Panel Association (CPA) has an Environmentally Preferable Product (EPP) Grademark Program identifying companies that use recycled wood fiber, and wood composite products that adhere to lower formaldehyde emission standards than government regulations. This is an independent certification to help consumers identify environmentally responsible products.

All Closet Factory materials count towards LEED Certification Points

LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) is a third-party certification and nationally accepted benchmark for design, construction, and operation of green buildings. Buildings with this certification are energy and water efficient and use sustainable materials. Closet Factory’s materials can be included in points for both Materials Resources (MR) credits and Indoor Environmental Quality (EQ) credits.

Nothing is greener than wood. Wood is renewable, recyclable, and biodegradable. Wood by its nature helps reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Trees remove carbon dioxide (CO2) from the atmosphere and replace it with oxygen. The harvesting of mature trees and replacing them with younger trees creates a continuous cycle of sustainability. Whether using wood veneer, melamine with particle board, or MDF substrate which is 100% recycled wood fiber, you can be assured that the product you are using offers low or no volatile organic compounds (VOC). We are very careful to select wood from manufacturers who practice and manage sustainable forest lands.

Emissions released from solvent stains are a concern of many of our clients. Closet Factory uses only water-based stains, which lower the off-gases being released into the environment, dry faster, and increase the safety of our factories and our employees.

Even the decorative resin products that Closet Factory uses are made from R4 recycled resin. Lumicor, our main supplier of resin, participates in a national recycling program of their products with recycling locations nationwide. They have a closed-loop manufacturing facility and heat their facility with reclaimed thermal energy released by the manufacturing process. Closet Factory appreciates both the beauty and the sustainability of this great product and the company’s approach to the environment.

Closet Factory is committed to the entities that support and promote green building practices such as the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) and the American Society of Interior Designers (ASID). These organizations support LEED standards created by the United States Green Building Council (USGBC). We are aware that our clients care about the environment and their carbon footprint. It is Closet Factory’s promise to our clients, and our planet, to provide green options that best suit their needs and their commitment to the health of the environment. Ask your Closet Factory designer to introduce you to the wide array of green and sustainable products Closet Factory offers.

Closet Factory is proud to display this certification

Closet Factory has installed closets in The National Association of Home Builders’ (NAHB) New American Home every year since 2007. The New American Home is the showhouse of the International Builders Show and features the newest, most innovative products of the housing industry. Each year the home is on the cutting edge of energy and resource efficiency standards, and only those companies that meet those exalted standards are selected. The 2011 home attained the Emerald status (the highest of 4 levels awarded). Closet Factory is proud to be part of paving the way for new practices that are good for the environment.

We continue to get involved in green sustainable projects that prove our commitment to the green endeavor. Our location in Seattle participated in a home using Maharishi Vastu Architecture (MVA) principles which are: “living organically and in harmony with nature while building green and minimizing one’s ecological footprint.” The home was designated a certified Platinum LEED home and was featured on KCTS, Seattle’s public television station.