How to keep up with product changes

ANEL PRODUCTS are changing as are your customers who buy them. Although carpenters and decorating professionals may know that panel refers to exterior use and paneling to interior applications, the doit-yourself usually doesn't. Any large, thin piece of wood (and sometimes other material) is a panel or paneling to him.

Now that wallpaper and decorator prints are replacing the familiar woodgrain finishes on some paneling and tileboard is substituting for ceramic tile, the situation is even more complex for the buyer. Terms such as faced, prehung, simulated, veneered and Melamine surface add to his confusion.

In addition, new manufacturing technologies and the development of better test standards have resulted in a much broader range of structural wood panel products on the market. Familiar terms such as plywood, hardwood and particleboard have been joined by composite, waferboard and oriented strand board. The American Plywood Association has also categorized panels as to structural use and APA Performance-Rated.

No wonder the average d-i-yer is bewildered. To help you better serve him, we have compiled a simple glossary of panel and paneling terms. Use it to educate both your customers and new salespeople.

PANEL PRODUCTS: Any of a variety of wood products such as plywood, particleboard, hardboard and waferboard sold in sheets or panels. Although sizes vary, a standard size for most panel products is 4x8 feet.

PANELING: The material used to cover an interior wall. Paneling may be made from a 4/4 select milled to a pattern, either hardwood or softwood plywood, often prefinished or overlaid with a decorative finish, or hardboard, usually prefinished.

STRUCTURAL WOOD PANEL PRODUCTS: Panels manufactured in a variety of ways as plywood, composites or non-veneer panels including waferboard, oriented strand board and certain specific classes of particleboard.

APA PERFORMANCE RATED PANELS: Panels including APA Rated Sheathing, APA Rated Sturd-IFloor and APA Rated Siding, all designed for residential and other light-frame construction applications.

HARDWOOD VENEERED PLYWOOD PANEL. ING: Paneling has a face of real hardwood either prefinished with a durable factory finish or ready to be finished.

SOFTWOOD VENEERED PLYWOOD PANELING: Paneling has a face of real softwood either prefinished with a durable factory finish or ready to be finished.

SIMULATED WOODGRAIN FINISH PLYWOOD PANELING: Paneling with a paper overlay or direct print of simulated woodgrain.

Story at a Glance

Definitions to help you help your customers choose the right paneling for their project. glossary can be used to educate sales staff as well as customers . . . product differences made clear.

PRE.HUNG WALLPAPER ON PLYWOOD PANELING: Paneling covered with wallpaper and a protective topcoat.

PANELING SYSTEMS: Prefinished solid wood planks in hardwoods or softwoods such as cypress and cedar ready to cover walls or be used as wainscoting. Usually

Oak Holds Gabinet Popularity

Oak is definitely in the lead for kitchen cabinets with cherry coming up fast. Birch, maple and alder are close behind with hickory/pecan and pine trailing.

Arnold B. Curtis, president of Northwest Hardwoods. a division of Weyerhaeuser Co., Portland, Or., found oak dominating 43.20/o of the showroom space at the spring kitchen and bath show in Washington D.C.. more than at the earlier Dallas and San Francisco shows, but less than a year ago. Cherry in one year grew from 3.40/o to 14.40/0.

Birch and maple accounted for 9.20/o; alder, 3.60/o; hickory/pecan, 4.40/0, and pine 2.00/0. European plastic and painted kitchens were 20.80/0.

Kitchen styles continued the trend to the raised panel in square (American) and cathedral or provincial insets. Raised panel doors accounted for 61.5%. Contemporary styles at 30% were down from a year ago.

Honey/tan colors ranked at 21.60/o; blond/frosted, 16.4%; fruitwood (including cherry), 13.50/o; natural medium oak, 10.0%; dark oak/ walnut, 7 .40/o; painted/plastic, 21.30/0.

sold in packages or kits, the planks may be applied in patterns.

SIMULATED WOODGRAIN OR DECORATOR FINISH ON WOOD FIBER SUBSTRATE: Paneling with a woodgrain or decorator finish such as beaded board, color wash or wallpaper look applied as a paper overlay or wet print with protective top coating.

MELAMINE SURFACE HARDBOARD PANEL. ING: An alternative to tile in areas of high moisture, this paneling, which is also known as tileboard, is water resistant and available in a variety of patterns with scored (to resemble tiles) or flat surface.

WOODGRAIN AND DECORATIVE PANELS ON HARDBOARD: Paneling with a simulated woodgrain finish applied to hardboard.

PREDECORATED GYPSUM PANELING: Paneling with drywall, wallpaper and finish combined in l/2" and 5/16" thicknesses.

MISCELLANEOUS PANf,L PRODUCTS: Although technically not panels or paneling, lattice (cedar, redwood and PVC), fiberglass and masonry sheets simulating brick or stonework are often referred to as panels by consumers. Some fence sections also are called panels.

els are then bonded with a marine-grade, liquid phenolic resin that resists moisture. Manufacturing facilities for the product are located in Elkin, N.C., and Grayling, Mi.

"Structurwood is signihcantly stiffer. flatter and more durable than other structural panels," says Bill Lund, director of marketing communication for engineered strand products.

Engineered Panel Demo House

Engineered panel products have many uses as "the house that Structurwood built," a Weyerhaeuser project, readily shows.

Designed to demonstrate the unique properties and technical applications of the engineered strand product, the replica of the rough structural frame of a house used Structurwood in everything from the flooring system and walls to the roof and supporting beams.

Structurwood panels are produced by fabricating thin, precisely machined strands which are oriented cross-directionallv. Pan-

Tests performed by Weyerhaeuser's R&D team proved that unlike plywood, it will not warp, buckle or delaminate, even under extreme weather conditions. The product is uniform in consistency, 1000/o usable and free of conventional flaws such as core voids and knot holes.

Structurwood products used in the demonstration house included the flooring system of l/4" underlayment and Sturd-I-Floor; medium density overlay; sanded Structurwood; fire retardant Structurwood; performance rated sheathing, hardboard faced; cedar classic; foam sandwich panel; Ibeams, and garage liner.