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engineered about engineered wood?

APA-The Engineered Wood Association has the answer.

According to APA, glued engineered wood products are manufactured by bonding together wood strands. veneers. lumber or other forms of wood fiber to produce a larger and integral composite unit with structural performance characteristics. Structural engineered wood products are engineered by virtue of possessing structural properties that are confirmed by methods other than simple visual grading. These products are engineered for high performance and meet rigorous quality standards.

APA divides structural glued engi- neered wood products into four general categories:

These products are engineered for high performance and meet rigorous quality standards.

. Wood structural panels, including plywood, OSB and composite panels

. Glued laminated timber (glulam) a Structural composite lumber, including primarily laminated veneer lumber (LVL) o Wood I-joists

These wood products are further engineered for the structural applications in which they are used. The highly predictable performance characteristics of engineered wood products is important to design professionals, building officials and the end user.

With glued engineered wood products, the sum is greater than the individual parts. These products are extremely resource efficient because they use more of the available resource with minimal waste. In most cases, engineered wood products are produced using faster growing and often underutllized wood species from managed forests and tree farms, reducing the industry's reliance on old growth forests. A variety of tree species are used to produce these products.

Because engineered wood products are manufactured using dry, not green, Iumber, the resulting products have superior dimensional stability.

The adhesives used to make engineered wood are stronger than the wood itself. Phenol-formaldehyde glues are used to make all APA-trademarked Exposure I and Exterior panels. This type of glue emits very small amounts of formaldehyde that does not present a danger to humans or animals.

Because formaldehyde emissions associated with phenolic resin bonded products are so low, HUD exempted these products from all testing and certification requirements of the Manufactured Home Construction and Safety Standards. Non-APA wood-based panels may or may not contain phenolic resin glues; the manufacturer or appropriate trade association should address emissions of these products.

EWP On The Web

Seven months of intense work will soon be on display as the APA puts the finishing touches on its retooled and expanded Web site, apawood.org. Besides the usual text, photo and link decisions, APA added new feafures to make their site functional.

"Professionals will find our new site easier to navigate for information critical to their decision making process," says LaDauna Wilson, APA production supervisor. APA has five main categories-Applications, Products, Publications, APA Services and Top Stories-running as the constant banner across the top.

The newly expanded Publications section can be searched by topic, form number or title, and features over 125 APAEWS copyrighted publications, including product specifications for APA Rated Sheathing and Siding, APA PRI-400l-joists. Rim Board, Glulam Beams and Sturd-IFloor. Most sf the publieations will be available as free PDF downloads.