help sell EWP to builders llew deqler tools

f, PA-The Engineered Wood Association is expanding fa,its educational Build A Better Home program with a new awareness campaign, special activities at the upcoming International Builders Show, and a unique promotional package for building material dealers and contractor yards.

Now in its second year, the Build A Better Home (BBH) program is designed to provide builders, designers and homeowners with the most current construction guidelines needed to protect homes against damaging moisture infiltration. Key building elements addressed in the program are the foundation, walls and roof.

The new awareness campaign features an attention grabbing floor display-a red stop sign emblazoned with the word "MOLD." This sets the stage for the detailed BBH construction techniques and product recommendations.

"Bulk water intrusion is responsible for the majority of the problems related to moisture damage," said APA's Kevin Hayes. "Simple construction steps, including the correct use of flashing materials, weather-resistive barriers, tapes and sealants, can help prevent major trouble down the road. It's important that we take this information to the local yard, where daily product and construction decisions are frequently discussed."

The problems associated with moisture in homes prompted APA to organize a unique partnership between industry and government. The BBH coalition began in earnest last year when APA, the Southern Pine Council and the Forest Products Laboratory led a cooperative effort of more than 50 manufacturers in building the first ever, fullscale, moisture-resistant research demonstration house in Madison, Wi.

Built to test and display proper building techniques and materials, the walls of the home are wired with moisture sensors, which feed hourly data to computers. The house is periodically loaded with varying levels of humidity to simulate the moisture vapor released by an average family. Determining how water moves through the building envelope should help answer perplexing questions-made more so in this age of changing building practices-about the best ways to construct dry, durable envelopes and interiors.

"There's still a lot we don't know," admits Anton TenWolde, a research physicist with FPL. In fact, the science on how to build homes to properly handle the "load" of moisture generated from the people in it and from the weather outside of it, is far less advanced than, say, the science that determines how much wind and snow certain roofs can handle.

"In moisture, we're just beginning this process," says TenWolde, who expects the tests on this house to lead to healthier and better built homes across the country. "The BBH house implemented the best technology we currently have at hand to provide a moisture-safe house."

This past summer APA's field staff underwent extensive moisture science training from some of the leading scientists in the field. The result: a nationwide schedule of moisture control seminars with builder associations and dealer groups. One of the more successful programs involved a presentation given during LMC's recent annual meeting in St. Louis.

"We had more than 100 of our people at that seminar," said purchasing manager Greg Gorniak. "They did an excellent job with helping our dealers understand the com- plexity behind the mold issue. Now we can offer appropriate product and application guidance to our customers."

BBH awareness ads featuring the "MOLD" sign will run in trade publications, and the floor display signs will be displayed at several locations during next month's International Builders Show in Las Vegas. In addition, moisture science seminars will be conducted at the 3,000-sq. ft. NextGen demo house in the parking lot of the Stardust Hotel. Among the themes being touted at this joint government and industry model home are connectivity, advanced framing, building science and moisture control.

Dealers can capitalize on the awareness generated by these activities by ordering either the standing floor display or a countertop version with an easel back. The floor display consists of a 24" red octagonal traffic sign with an "Information Zone" placard that holds about 100 pocket flyers. The flyers contain construction details and an imprint space for the dealer stamp and notes. Instructions are included for an 8" sign post and the 2-sq. ft. base, which can be constructed with readily available lumber and panel products. The moisture awareness kits become available this month.

Pacific Wood Preserving of Oregon held an open house Oct. 25 to mark the start of business at the Sheridan, Or.. wood treating plant.

The facility, purchased in May by The Pacific Wood Preserving Cos., has five cylinders and utilizes borates and ACQ wood preservatives for lumber and copper naphthenate for poles.

The operation was purchased out of the bankruptcy estate of the former Taylor Lumber & Treating in cooperation with the EPA and the Oregon Department of Environmental Quality. In addition to paying over $2 million to acquire the facility, PWP agreed to assist the EPA in managing the ongoing cleanup at the facility.

In exchange, the EPA and ODEQ provided PWP with Covenant's Not to Sue for environmental damages.

Since purchasing the facility, PWP has installed two new 13,000-sq. ft. steel buildings, a state-of-the-art wood incisor, upgraded some environmental filtration equipment, and completed many other production equipment upgrades.

A dry kiln has been ordered and should be operational by January.

Rrrrtrrrs

Meeks Building Center has opened a new 10,000-sq. ft yard on 5 acres in Gardnerville, Nv. ...

Bisbee Lumber is closing its Bisbee. Az.. location ...

84 Lumber opened a new store in Redding, Ca.; anticipates a March 17 opening of a 34,800-sq. ft. former Lumberjack location in Sacramento, Ca., and has closed its Carlsbad and Alamogordo, N.M., locations

Mc Kinleyville Ace Hardware, McKinleyville, Ca., has expanded its store and begun equipment rentals to contractors and homeowners

Lanoga Corp., Redmond, Wa., has acquired Wickes'operations in Wisconsin and northem Michigan, including 31 lumberyards and four component plants for its United Building Centers division.

Lowe's Cos. opened new stores Nov. 8 in E. Stockton. Ca. (Rose Rozich,mgr.), and Oct. 25 in Oceanside, Ca. (Mike Schratz, mgr.)...

Lowe's plans to build a 100,000sq. ft. store on l0 acres in Roseburg, Or., and has begun construction on a 94,000-sq. ft. store with 25,000-sq. ft. garden center in Walla Walla, Wa. ...

Home Depot opens a new store this month in Hanford. Ca.. and got the go-ahead from the Hercules, Ca., city council to build a 98,000-sq. ft store with 24,000sq. ft. garden center; Lowe's had originally proposed building a 135,000-sq. ft. store in Hercules, but citizens balked at the size ...

Home Depot received word that citizens in San Juan Capistrano, Ca., voted against a proposed store in the city; agreed to lease a 101,000-sq. ft. former HomeBase store in San Diego, Ca., and had new traffic signals installed at the entrance to its Klamath Falls, Or., home center ...

Home Depot has completed its purchase of Arvada Hardwood, Aurora, Co., and Floorworks Inc., Phoenix, Az.; Arvada founder Willie Northrop, his wife Jeanne, and partner Craig Schoepke will stay on with Depot ...

Ace Hardware Corp. has begun implementing CCITriad's EagleVision common technology platform at five test stores; Ace plans to install 300 systems in 2ffi3 and by 2005 have the program working in 3,000 stores

Wrorrslrrns/illxurlcrur:rs

Pacffic Wood Laminates, South Coast Lumber Co. and CLR Timber combined offices last month into one new location in Brookings, Or.; all mailing addresses and phone numbers are unchanged

Colorado Forest Industries has added a remanufacturing facility next to its DC in Denver, Co. ...

D&J Wood Resources, Albuquerque, N.M., and Chandler and Cottonwood, Az., changes its name to Lumber Products Jan. 1

Sierra Pre-Finish, Carson City, Nv., has completed work on a new 60'x80' customer lumber storage facility...

Tre e Sourc e curtailed production indefinitely at its Glide, Or., stud mill due to market conditions ...

Malloy Lumber has installed a double track kiln at its Kingston, Id., facility

Vaagen Brothers Lumber Inc. will permanently close its sawmill and planer in Republic, Wa., late next month

Ame rican Hardboard As sociation is in the process of merging with the Composite Panel Association ...

Big Creek Lumber Co., Davenport, Ca., is considering an offer by the San Mateo Count! Office of Education to log 150 acres in Redwood City, Ca., that environmentalists recently sought to buy

Potlatch Corp., Spokane, Wa., and the Trust for Public Land have agreed to implement a workingforest easement on a portion of Potlatch's 670,000 acres of timberlands in ldaho; the plan allows for continued logging, public access for recreation and a guarantee that the land will not be converted to non-forest uses ...

CertainTeed Corp. has acquired Marshall Vinyl Window,s, Corona, Ca.; Marshall had been an independent windowfabricatorfor CertainTeed since 1992

Louisiana-Pacffic is facing a class action suit by homeowners who claim NatureGuard cement fiber shakes made in Califomia from 1995 to 1998 were defective

Behr Process Corp., Santa Ana, Ca., agreed to pay $107.5 million to settle a class action lawsuit over its wood sealants ... Behr was named Partner of the Year by Homc Depot's paintdepartment ...

Western Woods, Chico, Ca., is now stocking the new 20' lengths of 2x6 Evergrain composite decking from Epocn in redwood, cedar and Cape Cod gray

Anniversaries: Canyon Lumber Co., Everett,'Wa., 95th Emer' son Hardwood, Porlland, Or., 95th Mattheus Lumber. Woodinville, Ca., 70th Reel Lumber Service, Anaheim, Ca., 70th Saroyan Lumber Co., Huntington Park, Ca., 55th ... Superior Lamber Co., Glendale, 0r., 50th Spenard Builders Supply, Anchorage, Ak., 50th... Orepac Building Products, Wilsonville, Or., 25th ... Bear Creek Lumber, Winthrop, Wa., 25th ... Hall Forest Products, Tacoma, Wa.,25th

Housings starts in Oct. (latest figs.) fell II.4Vo to an annual rate of 1.603 million single family starts dropped 7.IVo to 1.350 million; multi-family was at a rate of 221,000 for 5+ units ... permits rose l.7Vo ta a 1.763 million rate.