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NOFfrfA Sees lncreosed Demond For Ook Flooring; Shows New Methods For loying Ook on Concrete Slqbs

Confidence in the continued supremacy of oak in the residential flooring field and optimism. regarding 1962 sales keynoted the recent annual meeting of the National Oak Flooring Manufacturers' Association in Memphis, Tenn.

Executive Vice President Henry H. Willins and guest speaker Hubbard H. Cobb, editor of The American Home, declared that conditions and trends point to increased demand for oak floors in 1962 and the vears ahead.

A highlight of the meeting was th6 presentation of two new methods of laying strip oak floors on concrete.

President James R. May, executive vice president of Veach-May-Wilson, Inc., Alcoa, Tenn., was re-elected, along with Vice President W. R. Warner, Bradley-Southern Division, Potlatch Forests, Inc., Warren, Ark., Willins, and 12 directors. New directors chosen were Milton Craft, Chapman & Dewey Lumber Co., Memphis; W. N. Riddick, International Paper Co., Long-Bell Division, De Ridder, La.; and John F. Stewart, Stewart-McElrath Oak Flooring Co., Macon, Ga.

It is reasonable to expect 1,400,000 new housing units in the coming year, or an increase of 6 per cent over the 196l mark, Willins said. This is an encouraging outlook, he added, particularly since it takes into consideration a probable decline in the percentage of multiple-family dwellings due to an increasing vacancy rate for rental properties. That decline, of course, means a greater than 6 per cent rise in single-family units, which provide better markets for oak flooring, he said. New homes consume the bulk of oak flooring output.

Another favorable indicator, Willins pointed out, was the sharp builder interest in the association's exhibit at the National Association of Home Builders Exposition at Chicago in December. There the association unveiled the new systems for installing strip oak floors over concrete slabs.

"Never have we had so much interest," he said, "and never have we had more than a fraction of the number of builders who stopped into ask questions. The interest clearly indicates that builders want to provide oak floors in their homes and they want strip oak flooring for the most part."

Even many builders of slab-on-ground homes who have discontinued use of oak reported they were eager for information on improved installation methods that would enable them to return to oak, Willins said.

Cobb cited several trends in home building which he termed favorable to more extensive use of oak floors:

-Waning -popularity of open planning design and a growrng pertefence tor separate rooms, an arrangement which provides the privacy which families now find highly desirable.

A trend away from the one-story house and toward two-story and multi-level houses. Two story homes, he said, are going up even in such areas as Dallas, Tex., where the one-story house has been supreme since the end of World War -II.

-Wide acceptance of traditional design and traditional furniture, with which oak is the accepted flooring.

-Return of the separate full-size dining room to popularity.

Cobb lauded the association for its research efforts to devise a speedier, more economical method of applying strip oak over concrete and thus win for oak a greater share of the flooring market in slab homes.

One of the two new methods was developed for the association by Arthur D. Little, Inc., Boston, noted industrial research organization. The system, demonstrated at the meeting by representatives of the Little firm, involves use specially designed metal clips for tight lateral joining of the individual flooring pieces, which feature a irew profile for receiving the clips.-The flooring is s-ecu-red to th-e concrete by an asphalt adhesive. Strips can be laid individually or joined together in larger components before installation.

The procedure has been tested successfully in the laboratory and will be field tested thproughly before it is made generally available to the trade.

Thelecond system utilizes a double layer of 1 x 2-inch nailing strips niiled together with a polythylene film between them. The bottom nailing strips are secured to the concrete by rivers of adhesive.

Permitting a substantial saving over the method now widely employed, in which 2 x 4-inch staggere-d screeds are used as a nailing base, the system provides a -v_tr- tually perfect moisture barrier. It has been approved by the Federal Housing Administration, \Arillins reported.

Other speakers included J. G. Smith, Arkansas Oak Flooring Cb., Pine Bluff, Ark., chairman of the advertising commitiee, who told of the effective advertising and publcity programs being conducted by NOFMA; Holton Ruih, president of Greenhaw & Rush, Inc., Memphis, .who outlined the association's 1962 consumer and trade advertising program; and George M. Fuller, Washington_ representalive of NOFMA, who discussed government legislation and agency rulings affecting the industry.

ln Correction

In the March 1 issue of The California Lumber Merchant, in the story of the Stahl Lumber Company ExPglsion, it was erroneously implied that Quality Planing Mill, Los Angeles, had a tie-in with Stahl Lumber Company. We have since learned that this is incorrect.

Bill Hoglund, who has an interest in Quality Planing Mill as general manager and an owner' states there is no connection with Stahl Lumber Company.

Our apologies to all concerned for our incorrect reporting of this matter.

Three Building Industry Leqders Heod Communiry Clinic Compoign

Top leadership of a $100,000 operating fund cirqgaign for the nonprofit Reiss-Davis Clinic for Child Guidance has been accepted by three men who are prominent in the Southland building industry and allied fields.

Stanley M. StalTord, head of Institutional Mortgage Co. and theFidelity bank, will serve as carnpaign chairman and Philip S. Eisendrath, builder-developer, heads a manpower committee to rally all-out community support to meet the clinic's current deficit.

Working with them will be Stanley E. Brown, president of directois of the philanthropic center for treatment of emotionally disturbed children. Stalford and Eisendrath are members of the board.

Brown cited expanded services in the clinic's new twostory headquarters at 9760 W. Pico Blvd. irr explaining the rreed of an emergency community appeal to carry on the center's program.

Western Pine lssues "Publicqtions File 1962"

The Western Pine Association has issued a list of its literature and printed materials in its PUBLICATIONS FILE 1962, |ust off the press.

In a handy file-folder form which doubles as a literature order blank, the list includes 82 current technical, educational and merchandising publications about Western Pine region lumber products and their uses.

A free copy of the FILE is available on request. Write Western Pine Association, 510 Yeon Building, Portland 4, Oregon.

Timber last year in American forests lost would have built more to diseases and insects than 700,000 houses.