Deoler's Life Con Be Beoutiful With 'Pqckqged Lumber'

Portland, Ore.-Lumber retailers and wholesalers will find life more worth living, thanks to moisture-proof packaging of Fir uppers by Georgia-Pacific Corporation. This packaged lumber, available now from G-P, will do these things: (1) keep lumber clean from dust and finger marks, (2) keep it unmarred by shipping and handling, 13) assure top grading, (4) allow better inventorying, (5) make storage and handling easy, (6) control humidity and water damage, and. (7) prevent darkening of lumber with age. If retailers keep packages unbroken, it is possible, too, that a. greater q-uantity of finish will be sold with a resulting higher profit volume as well.

Ends of each package are labeled and show the dimensions of the lumber and the number of pieces. This labeling offers a new chance for retailer merchandising. There are no random lengths within each package. Packages may be slipped into bins where the size is clearly marked and the uniformity and color of the labels will likely be more attractive than the ends of unpackaged, unlabeled lumber.

Packages are made from plasticized kraft paper. These packages have an almost unbelievable flexibility, stretching and contracting with the stress of long lumber. It holds well even when loads are dumped, as G-P has proved in tests. Its surface resists moisture and you can set a glass of water upside dor,r,'n on the surface if you should wish to test it youiself. The dampness will not iome through.

Georgia-Pacific looks for other possibilities on this packaged lumber. It should provide "show room" merchandising possibilities. It should be more attractive to builders since it can be stored safely on site until use. Early indications are that it may be a highly acceptable venture.

The packaging process is a secret one. However, other information is available through Dept. 13,{, Georgia-Pacific Corp., Ecluitable Building, Portland 4, Oregon.

AITC Votes Promolion Progrom

The Board of Directors of the American Institute of Timber Construction gave the go-ahead signal for a combination program of quality control and national .television coverage at their 29th tri-annual conference, at Colorado Springs, Colo. The program will stress the dollar savings available to cornmunities and individuals through the best application of modern engineered timber.

The AITC has available a new brochure, "A Question of

Value and Your Community Dollars," which provides extensive information about engineered timber to school boards, church committees, university and college presidents, city and coullty school superintendents, and federal and state school offrcials.

Rosenbqum Buys Bielec Lumber

Twentynine PalmJ, Calif.-Morton N. Rosenbaum, who claims to have been "born and raised in the lumber business," has bought the former Bielec Lumber Co. at 6894 Adobe Road. lle owns another yard in Yucca Valley and both are known as Desert Builders Emporium. Before opening the first store in Yucca Valley, Rosenbaum was in the construction business in San Bernardino and, earlier, in Cleveland. Ohio.

Paul Stiff will manage the 29 Palms store. He has had 28 years' experience in the building materials and construction business.

Loborers Stort Poy Hike

Some 130,000 building trades workers in Southern California started drawing fatter paychecks May l. Joseph Christian, secretary-treasurer of the Los Angeles Building and Construction Trades Council, said automatic pay rises went into effect on that date under terms of the master contract negotiated last year for the 11 southern counties. The unions and their respective pay hikes are:

Operating engineers7% across-theboard boost from previous scale ol $2.74 to $3.56 an hour; Carpenters-lS-cent hourly hike from $3.22% to $3.471; Cement masonsl5-cent hourlv hike from $3.15 to $3.40; Laborers-l8-cent hike from previous scale of $2.50 to $2.86; Dump truck and material drivers2O-cent hourly increase from prior scale of $2.55 to $3.20, and Bricklayers-S-cent hourly hike from old scale of $3.80.

Stcrnton Heods HIC Drive

Leroy H. Stanton, Sr., president since l9L4 of. E. J. Stanton & Son, Los Angeles, which was started bv his late father. E. T. Stanton, in 1894, has been named president of the Los Angeles chapter of the national Ffome Improvement Council. The lumberman's acceptance of the post was made at an organizational meeting late in April initiating the HIC program in the Southland. He was introduced by Harry G. Stewart, executive director of the Building Contractors Assn., teeing off "Paint-Up, Fix-Up lMeek," Mav 3-10.

lVir. Stanton will coordinate HIC activities in the L. A. area, developing local chapters in various communities. Regional director is Mrs. Winifred Pike, executive aide to Builder Fritz Burns.

Heinley Nqmes Vclley Yord

Valley Lumber Company, of Palm Desert and Indio, has been appointed desert area distributor for the movable shutter panels created by Paul Heinley and will maintain a large inventory in 15 standard sizes. The product is widely used in Southland homes as well as hotel, restaurant and other commercial installations. The retail yard will handle sales from Blythe to Palm Springs.

Morch Gonslruction Off l2o/o

New York-Contracts for future construction in the United States in IVIarch totaled $2,721,228,000, a decrease of l2/o from the like 1957 month, F. W. Doilge Corporation reported.

In the residential building category, contracts for March totaled $1,070,556,000, down 3/o f.rom March 1957. Large residential building contracts showed a gain of 29/o in dollar volume, but this was more than offset by a decrease of 8/o in contracts for one- and trvo-family houses. The total number of dwelling units reported in March was 85,218, an increase of one percent above March a year ago. The number of one-family dwelling units decreased 9/o in March ; however, the number of units of apartments and trvo-family houses showed substantial increases.

The cumulative total of residential contracts for the first quarter of 1958 amounted to $2,567,698,000, down 8/o.