Gonsumer education program builds pressure treated wood sales

By Karl Mosher Chairman, Consumer Education Committee Western Wood Preservers Institute

HE WESTERN Wood Preservers Institute continues to support an aggressive merchandising and consumer education program aimed at alerting the market to the benefits and advantages of pressure treated wood.

Now in its fourth year, this program is winning converts and expanding the use of treated wood products. Major markets are the do-ityourself consumers and landscape architects and contractors, as well as residential and commercial builders.

Technical literature and how-todo-it information sheets have been prepared and distributed to aid professionals in designing projects with pressure treated wood. The benefits of treated wood are dramatized in colorful photographs and technical data. Over 20 member companies of

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Story at a Glance

Media program aims at major markets... informs home im. provement, remodeling users education creates demand.

the WWPI support this educational program, which has achieved major feature stories in national publications.

Featured in the current issue of New Shelters, a do-it-yourself magazine with over 500,000 circulation , is an extensive story entitled "Wood Verses Weather." The Western Wood Preservers Institute contributed to the development of this story, taking advantage of the opportunity to educate the do-ityourselfreaders who receive this particular publication.

Stories, articles and information on projects involving the use of pressure treated wood by landscapers, builders, architects and doit-yourselfers are being sent to editors in the print media regularly.

The success of this is illustrated in the photo accompanying this article. The clippings from newspapers and magazines cover a variety of pressure treated wood projects.

As a consequence, the home remodeling industry is active, while others in the building trades find slow going. Nationwide sales for home improvements rose from $42 billion in 1979 to over $45 billion last year according to the National Home Improvement Council.

This boom in improvement and remodeling projects is ideally suited to the expanding pressure treated wood market. The Institute's educational programs are aimed at helping the lumber dealers do a better job of selling treated wood and cashing in on the profit opportunities available to them. As more customers are alerted to the benefits of pressure treated wood, the demand grows.

A recent survey of retail lumber dealers showed that well over 5090 of their customers were aware of treated wood and the advantages it offers. This represents almost a doubling of growth in awareness from the previous year. As consumer awareness increases, sales of pressure treated wood will increase also.

Featured articles and stories on pressure treated lumber have appeared in the Los Angeles (Ca.) Times Home section, Sunset magazine, A rc h it ectural Record, and repeatedly in the National Association of Home Builder's Builder magazine as well as Professional Builder, Housing and the home and garden sections of newspapers throughout the Western States.

AGGRESSIVE consumer education program continues to carry the oressure treated wood messaqe to more and more buying factors.

Decksand other home improvements continue to be of tremendous interest as high mortgage rates make the economics of remodeling more appealing than moving-up. More than 57,000,000 homeowners in the United States are revising their dreams, learning to love what they have, or remodeling.

News stories, case studies, technical data and educational information with releases to publications will continue to play a major role in the Institute's program. Literature is available from manufacturers of treated wood and if there are any questions to be answered or support that the Institute can offer we invite your inquiry.