Lam decking gets a second look

nails are toenailed from the top side into the adjacent piece. Solid sawn decking requires the use of 8" spikes driven horizontally into the connecting piece through pre-drilled holes. Many erectors charge higher rates to install solid sawn timber decks.

(c) Laminated decking combines a structural system and a finished interior surface in one application. The decking provides a special ambiance, while eliminating the need for further interior finishing of the roof system with the furring, sheathing and sheetrock often required with other materials. Some contractors get double dut in two-story applications, with the lam decking serving as both the floor of the upper level and the ceiling of the lower level.

Portland, Or.-based distributor Disdero Lumber Co. is largely responsible for continuing laminated deck demand. When Potlatch decided to close its decking plant in Lewiston, Id., Disdero partnered with Shelton Structures, Inc. to acquire the equipment and restart production in Chehalis, Wa. Wood Lumber Co. acquired the Potlatch pant in Warren, Ar., and, with Disdero's marketing help resumed the southern pine LockDeck production line. Together, the three companies have formed an alliance to manufacture, promote and distribute laminated decking throughout the country.

Chintimini Forest Products, Corvallis, Or., is a major supplier of laminated decking throughout the West. Chintimini's Cliff Hallam says that retailers and contractors like the stability of laminated wood products, which makes it easier to install.

"Laminated decking has a big advantage over solid sawn decking because of its T&G joint on the ends," he explains. "That means that two pieces can be joined together in the middle of a span, without being supported by a beam or tmss. The joints of solid sawn timber deck. on the other hand, have to be nailed into a support."

Most of the lam decking that Chinitimini supplies 3" thick and 6" wide. It is specified for commercial/ institutional buildings as well as upscale cathedral ceiling-type homes.

Uresco Construction, Kent, Wa., also supplies Lock-Deck to specifiers in western Washinlton. One of their customers is building the Fremont Lofts. upscale condominiums in Seattle with lam decking doubling as an exposed ceiling on the first story and the wood floor on the level above.

Bill Parks, developer of the condo project, says his buyers react positively to the warmth and aesthetic appeal of the wood surfaces. "I get a lot of comments that the lam decking is much more attractive than sheetrock ceilings or carpeted floors."

THE ECONOMIC slowdown in the U.S. and the draI. matic influx of imported lumber and finished millwork items has braced the moulding and millwork industry for a potentially difficult year.

"With moulding consumption expected to level off in 2001 and 2002," explains Peter Butzelaar, associate editor of Wood Markets newsletter, "the battle for market share between import and domestic production will no doubt intensify."

Since 1990, domestic "shop & better grade" or cleartype lumber consumption dropped from 2.8 billion bd. ft. (6.6 million cu. meters) to 0.9 billion bd. ft. (2.1 million cu. meters) in 2000. Output of shop & better ponderosa pine lumber, the main industrial grade species, plummeted by over TOVo from 1.7 billion bd. ft. (4.0 million cu. ft.) in 1990 to approximately 0.5 billion bd. ft. (1.2 million cu. meters) in 2000. In contrast, imported shop & better grade lumber from pine-producing countries (excluding Canada) rose sevenfold to 561 million bd. ft. (1.3 million cu. meters) in 2000.