CCA deadline no problem for Weitern dealers

A LTHOUGH lumber dealers in la,other regions of the countrv are waiting untll the end-of-the-year deadline to stop selling CCA treated wood, dealers in the West have long since begun phasing out CCA and selling alternative products.

Southern Lumber, San Jose, Ca., stopped selling CCA and switched completely to CBA last year. "With pressure treated wood already getting bad P.R., I did not want to be left with CCA wood that I could not get rid of," said lumber/mill manager Bernie Guilin.

Parr Lumber Co., Hillsboro, Or., stocks only CBA products, but does special order CCA when requested. "CBA is not approved for some applications, so we still need to have CCA available to our customers," said Matt Jeffries, director of procurement.

The 23-unit chain converted in May 2001. "Once CBA received ICBO approval, the need to carry CCA was eliminated," he said. "We made the switch due to environmental concerns over arsenic and the safety of CCA products. We believe we were one of the first companies in the United States to completely switch to CBA.''

Leamed Lumber, Redondo Beach, Ca., has been offering borate-treated wood (2x4 thru 2x12,3x4, 3x6) "for about the last six or seven years," said Michael Leamed. "For heavy timbers 4" and larger, we special order ACQ treated lumber."

Golden State Lumber, American Canyon, Ca., began offering ACQ and borates two years ago, discontinuing CCA a year-and-a-half ago due to "environmental reasons," according to Rick Zaslove, v.p.-operations.

Dunn Lumber Co., Seattle, Wa., displaced CCA with alternative products "approximately two years ago," said Michael Dunn. "We didn't want the liability exposure for ourselves or our contractors."

Economy Lumber, Campbell, Ca., converted to alternatives "well over a year ago," said John A. Saunders, although he holds no animosity against CCA. "We live in California, Silicon Valley. People act on emotions rather than facts."

Ilnterestingly. while every Western dealer contacted by The Merchant had begun selling alternatives to CCA, none East of the Rockies had. Consequently, none of the retailers in the West expected any difficulty in finding materials after the deadline, thanks to Western treaters also being well ahead of the curve in converting their operations to alternative chemicals.

Golden State Lumber's Zaslove expects "not a bit" of trouble sourcing product. "We have all our treaters in place." Added Dunn: "Our supplier- lif"r,"- dealers noted that they had either no or very few customers object to the higher price of the alternatives compared to CCA.

Exterior Wood-has worked closely with us since 1980 and won't let us down now!"

"We don't expect problems," agreed Economy Lumber's Saunders. "We have an excellent relationship with our supplier and are certain they will continue the steady supply."

At Parr Lumber, "occasionally" customers object, said Jeffries. "If we have an opportunity to explain the differences in the product, most consumers will select CBA. We expect with the increase in production of the chemicals that make up CBA, that the price will lower."

"No price objections," said Saunders. "Sales are as strong as ever, and customers are just glad we have the items in stock."

None of the retailers in the West expected any difficulty in finding materials after the deadline.

In fact, every dealer revealed that CBA/ACQ sales have been either comparable to or greater than CCA sales of previous years. After Golden State's conversion, treated wood sales "went up," said Zaslove. The new products "drew business."

G r|-tAKE a large number of mill curI tailments due to previously depressed prices. Add the rebuilding of Iraq. Then combine with a surge of natural disasters. such as Hurricane Isabel and dozens of forest fires, and you have created what has been called "the perfect storm of demand" for domestic plywood and OSB. Prices are at all-time high, and availability is stressed.

Dtill. the dealers did expect a few challenges along the way. "Certainly mold and corrosion are issues, and there are always new challenges in the lumber business-otherwise any doofus could do it," cracked Dunn.

"We have had occurrences of mold growing on the new product, especially with the warm weather," agreed Southern Lumber's Guilin. "We are told that it does not affect the wood's performance, but it sure is unsightly."

"The only challenges we see," said Saunders, "are the lack of knowledge the public has on the subject and the continual misleading articles and headlines by the biased media regarding treated lumber."

Nonetheless, Golden State's Rick Zaslove is "looking forward to it. It's been a long time coming."

The government's purchaser, the Defense Supply Center, shipped nearly 800,000 sheets of plywood in August alone for deliveries in Iraq, along with 320 truckloads of 2x4,2x6 and 4x4 boards to support Middle East operations, reported Random Lengths.

"Plywood costs have more than doubled in the past three to six months," said Dan Usedom, mgr. of Roselle Building Materials, Roselle, Il. "Lumberyards can't keep these materials in stock for more than a day or two."

The nrice can add thousands of dollars to the cost of building an average single-family home. Some yards are reporting up to eight weeks of wait time for materials.

Skyrocketing prices

and tightened supply have propelled builders to consider using other materials as an exterior sheathino, Skyrocketing prices and tightened supply of structural wood panels have propelled builders to consider using other materials as an exterior sheathing, said Bob Palermo, Zechman Supply, Chicago,Il.

Fiberock brand sheathing with Aqua-Tough, manufactured by United States Gypsum Co., is one option for exterior wall substrates on buildinss that are going to be sided, or clad, when finished, according to Palermo.

Don Zeman, nationally-syndicated radio home-improvement host of Homefront, said he doesn't foresee prices going down for quite some time.

"I would fully expect more and more builders to turn to products like Fiberock sheathing for applications where a non-structural, economical panel is required," he added.

He does, though, warn builders and contractors that they need to follow proper procedures installing these type of products.

Manufacturers say gypsum panels should be handled carefully, and the paper-faced products must be kept from precipitation.

In addition to USG, other primary gypsum board manufacturers include Georgia-Pacific Corp. and National Gypsum Co.

Another alternative product to wood paneling is foam sheathing, which the National Association of

Home Building Research Center says is the most insulative of all sheathing. It comes in polystyrene, extruded polystyrene, expanded polystyrene, and polyisocyanurate formulations, depending on the size of paneling needed, and the area where it will be installed.

The two primary advantages of foam sheathing are that it doesn't require corner bracing, since it isn't structural in nature, and it reduces the potential for moisture problems through its higher R-value, lowering the potential for condensation to form in the wall cavity.

However, it has little or no nail holding power, accoring to NAHBRC and the Western Red Cedar Lumber Association, therefore is not recommended to use as a nailing base for cedar siding.

Some builders are using fiber cement panels as an alternative to wood sheathing. Fiber cement siding has a natural wood appearance, and reportedly is sealed to protect against moisture better than other priming systems. Brands include WeatherBoards from CertainTeed, as well as HardiPanel and Cemplank from James Hardie.

A less expensive sheathing option is foil, or paper-faced insulative board, that can be applied in large sheets and doesn't require corner bracing. Foil-faced sheathing products include EnergyBrace by Ludlow Coated Products and Thermo-Ply by Simplex Products.

Many of these alternatives require measures be taken to prevent shears in walls.

Nonetheless, APAThe Engineered Wood Association emphasizes that, even at historically higher prices, structural wood panels are a good value.

Its strength and stiffness properties, high performance as a nail base for finishing siding materials, elimination of the need for let-in bracing, high impact resistance, ease of installation, and proven durability in all climates are benefits of natural structural wood.

NAHB's Research

Center echoes the APA, saying switching to other products can cause problems related to application, structural limitations, and material characteristics, which impact thermal and moisture performance.

The NAHBRC found the structural wood panel sheathing market share has risen from 35Vo in 1998 to more than 607o today.