Callfornla Redwood essn, Glvlng 'llard Sell' to l95t lllerchandlefng for ll0ore Dealer Sales

"Markets for Jumbe_l in general, and California redwood in particular, are made-not iust accepted. Redwood Association mills have laid extensive p-lans f or 'selling hard' in redwooa auting LqS-8i;l"y; Ftiiip

T. Farnsworth, Executive Vice-President

of CnA.

Builders throughout the country agree that homes which feature California redwood sell more readily and give greater. satisfaction to the home owner than any other material. The eviden.., Noi.6;;;;i, mentions of "redrvood sidingt' or "redwood trim" or "all iedwood interior paneling" in the display adver'tising and classifiecl ads of the ne.rvspaper building pages throughout tl-re nation.

How can the redwood retailer get and hold his fair , share of this market? By tying in with the intensive

)':. ;, advertising and promotion campaigns of the California to* to go about it ?

.:, Redwood Association in 1958!

O'NE: KNOW YOUR STOCKS

' Your q11sf6ms1-the builder, specifier or ultimate con- ) : sutner, rvants to know r,vhat he is l>uying. Are 1,ou pre- pared to answer his questions about redrvood grades and their uses ?

..Talk with your wholesaler and the representatives of CRA rhem'ber companies. Some of tl-re companies have literature (in color) illustrating the various CRA grades of redu'ood :

VERTICAL GRAIN CLEAR ALL HEART-A speciatly selected grade for use in construction of highest possible quality. Standard grade for sidings only.

CLEAR ALL HEART-A superior grade used for exterior siding and millu'ork. Also used for interior paneling and trim.

VtrRTICAL GRAIN A-GRADE-A selected grade for interior and exterior surfaces. Contains clear sapu'ood. Standard for sidings only.

A-GRADE-Contains clear sapwood and is an excellent rnaterial for interior paneling and exterior surfaces.

Look up CRA Data Sheet 281-2 "Yard Grades" in your Retailer's Redwood File and study it. l l{norv it like the back of your hand.

Ask CRA member companies or their representatives to hold a meeting for your yard personnel to explain the grades-and to give them answers to many other questions u'hich yorlr customers .rvill have.

Above all-make yourself the "Headquarters for Redwood Information" in your sales area. It will pay off !

IJse your "Retailer's lledrvood File"-and if you don't h:rve one (or there is some doubt in yonr mind about how current your dog-eared or dusty copy is), .rvrite to the California Redwood Association, 576 Sacramento Street, San Francisco 11, California, for a current copy. (It contains data Sheet 5C-1, listing all sales and promotion aids available from CRA.)

STEP TWO: SELL THE CUSTOMER

Take advantage of the redrvood advertising in consumer magazines during 1958. It is planned that CRA rvill arrange special mailings to advise you of rvhen redrvood ads will appear-and in rvhich magazines. Reprints of these ads u'ill be available-some in the form of display material-to call the attention of your customers to these simple, elegant, dramatic presentations to homeowners (many of rvhom rvill

Redwood Mqrkets

Despite dips in redwood shipments during the last six months of 1956 and the first six months of 1957, California continues to account for just under 50/o of all redwood lumber business. Of the remaining redwood shipments, the Gulf states of Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas, Louisiana and Mississippi account for between 18 and 2oo/o. The state of Texas displaced Ohio in 1954 as the leading market for redwood, outside of California, and continues to hold that position.

be planning for the better home which they plan to build). The Theme: That the redwood home is eminently desirable. Present plans call for a schedule of six full pages (two in full color and four in black and rvhite) in Sunset, House Beautiful, House & Garden magazines, and a four-color page in the folloq'ing special annuals and semi-annuals: Better Homes & Gardens "llome Building Ideas Annual,,, Better Homes & Gardens "Garden Ideas Annual", House Beautiful "Building Manual" (Semi-Annual), and House & Garden "Book of Building" (Serni-Annual). The combined circulation of these magazines and s1>ecials is more than two million.

Let's have a look at the audience for these redwood ads: SUNSET. A magazine rvhich covers the Western states -the most important building area in the country. With ll A% of the population, this area accounted for B/o of. tlre nation's residential building in the first quarter of 1957. Sunset devotes 30/o of its editorial space to building and horne improvements. A recent survey indicates that 9/o ol Sunset's readers plan to build homes .ivithin the next tr,vo years; 38/o plan to remodel. And a report for September of 1957 shorvs that starts of Western dwellings in the $12,500 and upu'ard classes were up 4/o to as much as 2S/o over September of 1956.

HOUSE BEAUTIFUL. This magazine devotes over A/o of its editorial space to building and home improvements. It reaches a very high income group-a median of $10,000. Less than 8/o of. its readers are in the less-than-$5,000 income group. Home on'nership is high-83%, yet a recent survey shorvs that 29/o of its readers plan to build or buy a new home in the near future, and 3lc/o to plan to remodel.

HOUSE AND GARDEN. This publication also reaches a very high-income group, with a median income of $12,000. Approximately 88/o of its readers otvn their own homes. fts readers represent a market which in the past five years have built new homes at twice the national average rate.

The Building and Garden annuals and semi-annuals are the books r,vhich home and garden planners keep for refer- ence in talking to their architects and landscape architects about future plans.

Tie-in Advertising

Here is your chance to Jump on the Bandwagon by displaying the CRA and member company redwood ads. Use the CRA free ad mats (a new attractive series is in preparation) to tell your local community customers, through your newspapers, that your yard is the place to buy the redwood with which to execute the plans and ideas out forth in these beautiful ads !

Home Planner's and Garden Booklets

To answer inquiries generated by these customer ads, CRA is putting together a special home planner's edition

Phoro (left) from "Gorden ldeos frorn Cqlifornio" by the Colifornis Redwood Associolion, shows ouldoor living oreo creoted by on exlensive deck of redwood

Photo from "Home Plonners Edirion" of Redwood News (center) will show this residence enlrywoy of exterior siding cnd interior poneling of redwood longue ond groove

Another photo from the "Home Plonners Edition" will show this use of exlerior siding of resown longue ond 9roove redwood, fush redwood ceilings in wide soffts ond conslruction hecrt in plonting oreqs ond poving dividers of its famous Redwood Ne.ivs .lvith many illustrations in full color. This will be an enlarged version of Redwood News for Winter, 1957-58, and will be ready for distribution in February. And a new edition of the popular "Garden Ideas from California Featuring Redwood" will be off the presses in February. Display these prominently on your counters and in your redwood home planning centers. Plug them in your local newspaper ads.

A new CRA envelope stuffer in color with ideas for redwood fence designs will be a sales promoter mailing piece to send out to your customers, old and new.

Home Planning Center

Ask the CRA for ideas in setting up a "Redwood Home Planning Center" where you can sit down with your customers and shorv them the redwood literature and samples of interior and exterior applications of redwood. New redwood literature request cards have been designed to make it easy for you to refer particular inquiries to CRA-if you do not have all the answers ready at hand.

New Movie

A new l6mm film in color, "The Forever-Living Forests," is available for showings to interested groups in your community. This is a public service type film dealing with where redwood grows, how it is managed as a forest crop to ensure continuing growth and production, how redwood lumber is produced, and examples of its nse in industrl', l-remes, gardens, schools and churches. This 27-minute film is available through CRA or from Ideal Pictures. Black and rvl-rite copies are available for shorvings over local TV stations. (Talk to your local TV station about using it as a "public service" fi1m-then buy one minute of time and use the CRA free TV set of four slides, with announcer's cue sheet, to sell your redwood.)

Redwood Goes to School

Have you talked to your local school board about the economies which can be effected through using longerlasting redrvood ? Be sure that they have copies of "Redwood Goes to School," a recent CRA booklet with many illustrations of fine schools built of redn'ood. A nerv CRA film in color on tl-re use of redtvood in schools lvill be available for shorvings to school architects and school boards.

Motels and Churches

lTave you talked to your local builders of motels and churches about the many fine design possibilities using redwood ? Redwood Nervs frequently features structures in these design and building fields.

STEP THREE: HANDLE IT RIGHT

No matter hotv much expense and effort is made by the Technical and Research Division of CRA-on behalf of its member companies-to come.up rvith the answers on horv best to produce, apply and maintain this high quality product of great durability, their efforts are in vain if that information doesn't get to the ultimate user-yorlr customers !

Builder's File

Make certain that all builders rvho buy through you have a copy of CRA's "Builder's Redwood File"-and you s_lrould have a copy handy for anslvering their questions.

home-orvner (ask for "Mr. Contractor-Handle it Right") is available through your redwood supplier.

A copy should go rvith every truck load of California red'ivood 'rvhich goes out of your yard !

Finish Systems

Perhaps the most important assistance which you can give your redwood customers is the accurate word on proper finish application and maintenance. Throughout the past eight years, the Technical and Research Division of CRA has carried on an extensive finish testing program to determine which finish systems give the most satisfactory performance on redwood. It has been found that any finish rvill stand up better on redrvood than on any other type of exterior surface-the best take advantage of redwood's durability and beauty in the natural weathering process. Of some 300 natural exterior finish systems tested under laboratory conditions and on test fences in eight climatic zones in the United States, only some 20 meet the minimum durability standards of CRA. These are listed in a current "Supplement to Data Sheet 4B3-1, Exterior Finishes for Redwood." Both the basic data sheet and the supplement will be completely revised, rvith new color illustrations, and available during January of 1958.

Nailing Information

Do you have a copy of CRA's Nailing Chart, with actual size cross-section illustrations in color, prominently displayed in your planning center? And do you have a supply of the alnminum or hot-dipped galvanized nails and other ,redu'ood fastenings rvhich are specified in data sheets 4A1-1, "Nails and Nailing," and 4AI-2, "Timber Fastenings?" Can you come up 'with the answers ll'hen contractors and carpenters ask for advice on withdrau'al resistance u'here rvood is subjected to repeated changes in moisture content ? (See CRA data sheet 4.A1 : "For better .ivithdrarval resist:rnce in aluminum nails use those l-raving spirally-grooved shanks.") Can you advise the man rvho is laying up siding 'rvhen he has spiitting problems? (From CRA data sheet 4A1 : "Blunt pointed nails are an advantage where splitting is a problem, but their withdratval resistance is less than standard diamond pointed nails . . When it is necessary to nail close to the end of a piece, the nail should be driven into a prebored hole slightly smaller in diameter than the nail shank. This will decrease the possibility of splitting and increase holding polver. If boring is not feasible, a blunt pointed nail should be used, or the point of the standard nail should be blunted before driving.")

Siding Application

Do all of your salesmen kno.lv about the CRA data sheet No. 3A4-1, "Redr,vood Siding: Application" ? ft gives details, rvith illustrations, on: Proper Handling (of lumber on the job), Preparation

Priming and End-sealing; Weather

Recently, it has been shorvn that certain finishes will last up to tr,vice as long on rough-sawn redwood as they will on smooth exterior surfaces. The resar,vn patterns of red'ivood siding are proving to be popular with the home builder in many sections of the country, whether it be in the so-called "Western ranch style" or the "contemporary" style in combinations with native stone and brick. Many of the surfaced redlvood siding patterns are reversible, with resawn reverse faces.

Weathered Redwood

Many builders are discovering, as did the early builders of the West-the hrst users of California redrvood-that redrvood exteriors, left to 'weather naturally, have an inherent beauty-and the cost of maintenance is low. When redr,vood is exposed over long periods of time, the lveather-

I

Tight Construction

Building Paper, Careful Fitting, Flashing, Foundation Line ; Reducing Condensation (Insurance against finish problems later)-Moisture Vapor, Vapor Barrier, Ventilation; and Applying the Siding-.ivith suggested nailing methods for the different redwood siding patterns. A little pocket leaflet (in two colors) with a check-off list for the contractor, carpenter, painter and ing changes its appearance to a softer, neutral tone value which blends rvell with native stone and brick, and with landscape design using plantings.

Water-Repellents

There are certain advantages to using a water-repellent rvhen allorving redwood to weather naturally. The $'ater-