Western Softwoods, Mouldings & Millwork

Agricultural Wood ProduGts, Pl5nrood, Partieleboard

Construction Contracting Up 2o/o

Contracting for new construction advanced 290 in January to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of $215.1 billion, reports McGraw-Hill Information Systems. For all of 1984, their Dodge Index averaged 149, a new annual high.

"Gains in homebuiding and public works construction during the opening month of 1985 were largely offset by a decline in contracting for nonresidential building," according to Ceorge A. Christie, chief economist for F. W. Dodge. "Following last year's ?As/o surge of commercial and industrial building," he said, "January's shift could be signaling a change of direction in favor of homebuilding for the year ahead."

"The housing market appears to be turning around," Christie pointed out, "but we haven't yet seen the response to lower mortgage rates that everyone is waiting for. With January's gain confined to multi-family building, the interest rate sensitive single-family side of the housing market is still where it was several months ago. Recovery won't be sustainable until one-family building is on the way up," he said.

Genstar Acquires 7 Plants from Bird

Bill Hanrahan, Jim Haas, Bob

Glatt, division mgr.

We are also pleased to be a West Coast area distributor for CF&I steel products as well.

BERGER & COMPANY IS AN INTERNATIONAL COMMODITIES TRADING ORGANIZATION WITH OFFICES IN:

San Francisco, Ca. (headquarters); Chicago. Il.; Colfax, Wa.; Fargo, N.D.: Filer, Id.: Grand Cayman, British West Indiesl Santiago, Chile; London, England: Geneva, Switzerland: Nicosia, Cyprusl Buenos Aires, Argentina; Moose Jaw, Canada; Johannesburg, South Africa; and Taipei, Taiwan.

Purchase of seven plants from Bird Inc. has been completed by Genstar Corp., San Francisco, Ca., for approximately $50 million.

Asphalt roofing plants in Portland, Or.; Wilmington and Martinez, Ca.;Shreveport, La., and Charleston, S.C.; roofing granule facilities in Rancho Cordova, Ca., and Glenwood, Ar., and a fiberglass mat plant and granule facilities adjacent to the roofing plant in Charleston are included in the acquisition.

The acquisition gives Genstar the capacity to produce about 2.2 million tons of asphalt shingles per year, nearly double its present capacity. Adding these plants to those already owned in Arkansas, California, Georgia, lllinois, Minnesota and Texas, Genstar becomes one of the larger producers of asphalt roofing in the U.S. The company also is one of only three roofing manufacturers with granule manu facturing capacity.

Through its U.S. distribution centers, Bird will continue marketing many of the roofing products that will be manufactured by Genstar under various Bird trade names. The plants will also manufacture roofing under Genstar's Flintkote brand name. The Bird operations are now part of Genstar Roofing Products Co., a subsidiary headquartered in lrving, Tx.

Formaldehyde Emission Stamp

Particleboard manufacturers are beginning to stamp formaldehyde emission grademarks on their products to comply with the recent HUD Manufactured Home Construction and Safety Standards.

Under the direction of the National Particleboard Association, 25 plants in l4 states involving l4 manufacturers are certified to the HUD standard. The formaldehyde emission standard sets a maximum 0.3 parts per million level for particleboard.

New Oregon Plywood Siding

A new type of plyrvood siding being produced in Oregon is creating interest among building material retailers and builders.

Rated by the American Plywood Association as textured siding, 5-ply is a unique product, according to E. H. "Herb" Robbins, developer of the process. "To our knowledge, it is manufactured no place else in the world," he says.

Called the siding panel of the future, the oriented strandboard solid<ore plywood product is a 5-ply composite panel. It differs from common plywood siding in that the veneer layers are separated by blankets of resinblended wood fibers. In addition. the panels are compressed in a one-step process at higher press temperatures than those used in the production of common plywood.

As a result of this production technique, which Oregon Strand Board Co. took five years to develop, the wood fibers become securelv bonded to the veneer surfaces ani fill alt knotholes, core gaps and voids. The result is a dimensionally stable, weather-resistant, solid+ore panel of uniform thickness with high structural values.

The 5-ply siding is available in cedar or Douglas fir. If a natural rough texture appearance such as knotty cedar is desired, either transparent or semi{ransparent stain can be applied. Fir siding also may be stained. Either product can be painted if a solid color is desired.

Because of the superior bond of plys created by compressing the mat at higher temperatures and pressures for longer press times than is normal for plyrvood, the siding reportedly does not delaminate. In addition, a glue line is separately applied on the veneer surfaces and bonded by heat and compression to the resin-blended fibers.

Production of 5-ply has been aided by the financial backing of the JeldWen Corp. in Klamath Falls, Or. To date, they have invested approximately $2 million in the operation.

Oregon Strand Board, located in Brownsville, also produces APA rated sturdi-floor and sheathing, both oriented strandboard. The company uses an unusual technology developed by Dr. Tom Maloney at Washington State University. Glen Becker, general manager, believes that his is the only plant using this electrostatic orientation of strands. Because it is more precise than mechanical orientation. smaller strands can be used and arranged, in any direction desired.

Recently incorporated, the company has on its board of directors W. B. Early (president of Jeld-Wen) as president; Becker, vice president and general manager; Noel F. Wicks, vice president, sales manager and secretary; Norma Gradwohl, office manager, and Richard R. Wendt. Robbins is chairman of the board.

Willamette Takeover Pact

Agreement has been made by a group of Willamette Industries Inc., Portland, Or., shareholders to take no action which would further "any threatened or proposed takeover" of the company, although reportedly there is no such attempt in the offing.

Representing about 4090 ofthe total shareholders, the group, which includes William Swindells Jr., president and c.e.o., agreed in a Securities and Exchange Commission filing not to take any action unless it has been approved by a majority of three designated representatives, Maurie D. Clark, Samuel S. Wheeler and Swindells. all Willamette directors.