BPD July 2021 by 526 Media Group

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Building Products Digest

JULY 2021

THE VOICE OF THE LBM SUPPLY CHAIN — SINCE 1982

ENGINEERED WOOD SPECIAL ISSUE • BIG CHANGES IN TREATED WOOD INDUSTRY

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CONTENTS

July 2021 Volume 40 n Number 7

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Special Focus

Features

Departments

34 APA ON EWP

10 FEATURE STORY

8 ACROSS THE BOARD 20 OLSEN ON SALES 22 LUMBER 411 24 TRANSFORMING TEAMS 32 MOVERS & SHAKERS 60 NEW PRODUCTS 66 DATEBOOK 68 CLASSIFIED MARKETPLACE 68 IN MEMORIAM 69 ADVERTISERS INDEX 70 FLASHBACK

EXPERTS FROM APA–THE ENGINEERED WOOD ASSOCIATION WEIGH IN ON ALL SIDES OF EWP, INCLUDING CLT, LVL, GLULAMS, I-JOISTS, OSB AND PLYWOOD.

FIXING THE LUMBERING SUPPLY CHAIN

12 ON THE MOVE

CANADIAN TREATER DOMAN ENTERS THE CENTRAL US WITH HIXSON ACQUISITION

14 MARGIN BUILDERS BPD

Building Products Digest

JULY 2021

THE VOICE OF THE LBM SUPPLY CHAIN — SINCE 1982

ENGINEERED WOOD SPECIAL ISSUE • BIG CHANGES IN TREATED WOOD INDUSTRY

WHAT DEALERS SHOULD KNOW ABOUT OPEN-JOIST CLADDING SYSTEMS

17 COMPETITIVE INTELLIGENCE

MICHIGAN ACE DEALER EARNS “COOLEST STORE” HONORS

30 THINKING AHEAD WITH NAWLA THE WONDER OF LUMBER

58 INDUSTRY TRENDS Digest 7-21 Layout.indd 1

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BUILDING PRODUCTS DIGEST is published monthly at 151 Kalmus Dr., Ste. E200, Costa Mesa, CA 92626, (714) 486-2735, www.building-products.com, by 526 Media Group, Inc. (a California Corporation). It is an independently owned publication for building products retailers and wholesale distributors in 37 states East of the Rockies. Copyright®2021 by 526 Media Group, Inc. Cover and entire contents are fully protected and must not be reproduced in any manner without written permission. All Rights Reserved. BPD reserves the right to accept or reject any editorial or advertising matter, and assumes no liability for materials furnished to it. Opinions expressed are those of the authors or persons quoted and not necessarily those of 526 Media Group, Inc. Articles in this magazine are intended for informational purposes only and should not be construed as legal, financial, or business management advice.

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ACROSS the Board By Patrick Adams

What do you ﬁght for?

hat Do you fight for?” I recently asked a good friend. He has led a heroic and decorated life and survived countless things that most would not have. His kids are now grown and doing well. He has retired. All in all, he’s what you would call a “success.” But now, he is a shell of his former self. I’ve seen this happen too many times. So on this day, I risked being the “jerk” and called him out. After some animated challenges, and a few tears, he admitted that he didn’t realize he “flipped the retirement switch” in his brain and thought he could now “relax.” And there it was. I purposely let it hang in the air for a long time and then jumped in with many statements that are not fit for publication. About how he used to be a hero. How countless people used to count on him. How I knew deep down that he was one of my “holy cow, I’m in trouble” 02:00 calls that I could make. But not now, I told him—he wasn’t fit, mentally or physically, to handle a conflict with his postman. I realize that the word “fight” is probably the wrong word to get my point across. It is a conflict word. You need an adversary to fight. A fight involves violence—something most people try to avoid. That isn’t what I’m talking about. Perhaps it is mission, or passion, or inspiration instead. To me, it’s what gets me up every morning at 04:00 to begin the day working out in the garage. Is it pleasant or fun? No! Do I enjoy it? No! But I do it because I know I’m a better, more capable version of myself when I do it. I know it gets harder every year—every day to keep it up. But I know I must. The alternative is what we’ve seen or experienced countless times. Those seniors around us, who lived amazing lives, and now we can’t imagine the last time they smiled, or laughed, or tried something new. I’ve been in situations like that many times in my life. It’s called “surviving.” I got through “surviving” because I still wanted to live! I wonder how many people think about that? Whether they are living, or just surviving? I believe we are our best selves when we have something to fight for. The fight gives us purpose and a reason to jump out of bed every day. Some people call them “goals”… a horrible, overused and neglected word that to me is synonymous with “give up now.” Who actually writes down a goal and accomplishes it? That’s my “to do” list! However, tell me that I’m in a “fight” and you get an entirely different reaction. I train for fights. I research fights. I prepare for fights. I have a plan for fights. As a result, I usually win fights and when I do, it feels good, makes me grateful and eager to fight again.

“W

For me, I fight to be the best possible version of myself for my family and those closest to me. I fight to be a good father and husband. I fight to make good decisions that ensure our business and employees are taken care of. I fight to find new ways to serve this great industry for the benefit of the countless people who we serve. I fight to be a good example to those around me, to provide inspiration, and hopefully make a difference. Most of all, I fight to be someone that anyone can count on, regardless of the situation, timing or conditions. Every day, I wake up thinking of these specific fights and how I would feel if I lost them. I imagine the looks on the faces of those I care about should that happen. And then, I get out of bed at 04:00, go down to the garage, and begin my daily fight. Some days, I do fairly well and I go to bed feeling proud of myself. Other days, I fall short and I go to bed disappointed with myself and wake up the next day more determined to do better. So, I encourage everyone as we get back to “normal” to go out and “pick a fight.” Not literally, but I hope you all immediately think of something worth fighting for… and begin FIGHTING because our blessed lives are too short to not have something worth fighting every day for.

Patrick S. Adams Publisher/President padams@526mediagroup.com

n Building Products Digest n July 2021

Building-Products.com

FEATURE Story By Christopher Glander

CAN THE OPEN exchange of information help ease the current as well as future lumber crises?

Fixing the lumbering lumber supply chain y contractor, Monte, had good reason to be stressed, having spent much of the current lumber crisis wondering if he could scrape together the right materials to keep his projects moving and his construction business viable without frustrating too many customers along the way. And that meant Monte had little reason to discuss the nuances of the lumber supply chain with me, the oddly inquisitive client who had hired him to build a deck. The same could be said of Monte’s supplier, Mike, a lumber wholesaler who was contending with similar issues: a confounding lack of timely insight into his supply chain, difficulty providing his customers with clarity around product availability, and as a result, an uncomfortable degree of business uncertainty. Yet both Monte and Mike were kind enough to answer my questions and feed my supply chain fascination by providing a candid inside perspective on the lumber shortage’s impact on their business, its likely causes and potential pathways for avoiding similar squeezes in the future. It was in the latter area that I could share a bit of insight with them, based on my knowledge of the building materials industry, the workings of its supply chain, and the digital tools that can help resolve issues like these.

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To be clear, there is no silver bullet — no single, unilateral solution to the lumber shortage. There are, however, steps that the various segments of the supply chain can take multilaterally, and to some extent collaboratively, to relieve the current bottleneck, reduce the risk of recurring shortages, give people like Mike and Monte more business certainty, and with it, hopefully (and admittedly somewhat selfishly), the materials to finish my stalled deck project.

. Network the entire lumber supply chain. “I am extremely pleased with our first quarter results, as our businesses delivered Weyerhaeuser’s highest quarterly Adjusted EBITDA on record despite severe winter weather and supply chain disruptions,” Devin W. Stockfish, Weyerhaeuser’s president and chief executive officer, said this spring in announcing the company’s first-quarter 2021 earnings. When the very market conditions that prompt upstream lumber suppliers to rejoice cause major disruptions downstream, that’s a clear sign that the supply chain needs retooling. Rather than begrudging lumber mills their record profits, how about instead learning from the current shortage and taking steps to head off the next one by digitally networking the supply chain, so everyone is sync’ed to the same, shared Building-Products.com

data in real time? Doing so would essentially embed the various parties into one another’s supply chains, giving them much-needed visibility into supply, demand and logistics information, which they can use to strengthen their planning, decision-making and communications with customers. The networked approach would make the lumber supply chain more resilient and responsive by providing greater visibility into alternative supply and logistics pathways, and even alternative products. So, for example, Mike could learn from his suppliers exactly how much of which lumber products will be available, when, then plan customer allocations accordingly, while also making that information available to Monte and other customers. What’s more, Monte could use the network to access alternative lumber suppliers in his area and, when lumber is unavailable, suppliers of alternative materials like steel or cement. Likewise, mill operators would gain deeper downstream insight, so instead of idling capacity, as some did at the start of the pandemic in response to a temporary dip in sales, they could have maintained or even increased mill production, based on information indicating they would soon need that supply to meet pent-up demand. The benefits of this heightened visibility across the supply network eventually ripple down to end customers like me, in the form of more accurate project bids and timelines, as well as fewer delays and change orders. Ultimately, as part of a connected business network, the various parties within the network gain a common platform for collaborative problem-solving, risk-sharing, and better-aligned business interests.

munication across the supply chain, which has left him largely in the dark about the products coming from his suppliers, and the products his customers want. As a result, not only has he been reluctant to take on excess inventory for fear it will go unsold, he also struggles to provide even his best customers with information about product availability. What if Mike was privy to real-time information about exactly what’s coming from his suppliers and when, could make customer allocations accordingly, and, with a mobile app, URL or by text notification, promptly convey (or at least make accessible) information about product availability to his customers? What if mills provided real-time visibility into product availability and logistics to distributor customers like Mike, who in turn provided a similar level of visibility to his customers? What if Mike and his customers could then place orders digitally, in the moment, based on that insight? Not only would that help to resolve Mike’s concerns about carrying excess inventory, it could save customers like Monte time-wasting trips to multiple lumberyards in search of the right trusses to finish my deck. Due largely to Monte’s and Mike’s persistence in overcoming numerous supply chain issues—and despite stretching the budget, timeline and occasionally our patience—I can happily report that the deck project finally is complete. – Chris Glander is North America industry lead for mill products and mining industries at SAP Software Solutions (sap.com).

. Improve intelligence and eﬃciency inside the mill. At the root of the current lumber shortage is a lack of capacity to turn timber into lumber. Though most U.S. sawmills are running at or near capacity, the shortage persists, with mill owners apparently loath to outlay huge sums of capital to build new lumber production facilities. Another practical option for increasing output, at least marginally, is to optimize mill production assets and operations. A connected manufacturing approach, whereby assets within the mill are sensor-equipped and IoT (Internet of things)-networked, enables a mill operator to increase equipment uptime by moving away from a time-based maintenance model, to a predictive maintenance model, where the data streaming from a hydraulic press, for example, would indicate when that press likely will need a critical part replaced, so they can plan accordingly, minimizing disruption on the shop floor. With this level of asset intelligence, mill operators can minimize changeover time and scrappage, and be more responsive with their production scheduling, allowing them to shift from a fixed to a flexible schedule, so based on downstream demand data they’re receiving in real time, as well as information about shortages of materials like the adhesive required to make OSB, for example, they can sequence shortterm production of different products. Not only do their planning cycles become shorter and better informed by current data, their overall lumber output could well tick up a point or two as a result.

. Enable seamless communication between Mike, Monte and the mill. One thing Mike told me he’s been frustrated by during the lumber shortage is the lack of real-time comBuilding-Products.com

July 2021 n Building Products Digest n

ON THE Move By David Koenig

Canadian treater Doman enters Central U.S. with Hixson acquisition

MICROPRO preservative-treated wood has been offered by Doman’s existing treating plants in Canada and the western U.S., but Hixson’s facilities treat southern yellow pine, manufacture many additional products, and reach an entire new region.

eeKs after changing its name from CanWel Building Materials, Doman Building Materials is expanding into the Central U.S. with its acquisition of Hixson Lumber Sales, Dallas, Tx. Family-owned since 1959, Hixson operates 19 lumber treating plants from Texas up through Illinois, five specialty sawmills, and a captive trucking fleet, serving approximately 25 states. It will retain the Hixson name and leadership. Vancouver, B.C.-based Doman paid $375 million for all of Hixson’s assets, including inventory. They complement but do not overlap with Doman’s current operations, including in the West treater/distributors California Cascade and Hawaii-based Honsador, and in Canada CanWel, which has distribution centers, treating plants, a sawmill,

n Building Products Digest n July 2021

logging and trucking operations, and timberlands. In one fell swoop, Doman has increased from 13 treating facilities in North America to 32. Only Stella-Jones and UFP Industries own more wood treating locations in North America. “The acquisition was primarily geographic,” said chairman Amar Doman. “We grew across Canada and then down the U.S. West Coast. The natural next step was eastward, and we found the right partner. It’s an especially nice fit, because we already knew and had good relationships with most of the vendors.” The deal introduces a bounty of new product offerings to Doman, including a full range of southern yellow pine building materials and a long list of in-house manufactured fencing items, balusters, patterned stock, dog ear, and

much more. Another possible opportunity for expansion is that Hixson’s distribution yards concentrate strictly on lumber products. Many of the other larger wood treaters—including CanWel, Honsador and Cal Cascade—also distribute other building materials, such as composite decking and fiber cement siding. Doman said the company does not currently have plans to add such products at Hixson locations, “but will assess all growth opportunities that would add value to our customers and shareholders over time.” A few weeks before the Hixson purchase was finalized, in an unrelated move, Doman changed its name from CanWel, which was formed in 1989. “CanWel came from a merger of distribution from Canfor and Weldwood,” Doman explained. “It was time to drop that back into a more neutral name, and our family has been in the business since the 1950s.” The new name reflects “the company’s strategic growth and evolution from its original roots to where we are today with operations across Canada, the United States, and Hawaii. Our new identity will better reflect our corporate structure, as well as highlight the various market leading brands we represent and are involved with as we reach larger markets.” And what’s next for the fast-growing company? According to Doman, “Right now we have our hands full with Hixson, but we will continue to double-down in markets as the opportunities arise.” Building-Products.com

With a 25-year warranty against rot, decay and bugs. It’s the world’s first manufacturer-treated LVL with protection through every layer using innovative TRU-CORE® technology. Find out how this premium, preferred framing system can be built into your next project: sales@pacificwoodtech.com. pacificwoodtech.com/treated

MARGIN Builders By Kaylen Handly

What dealers should know about selling open-joint cladding systems pen-joint claDDing systems are growing in popularity—but they require a slightly different approach to the walls behind them. Open-joint cladding looks exactly as it sounds—siding (usually composite deck planks, exotic hardwoods, or reclaimed barnwood) installed with wider gaps between each board, creating a fresh aesthetic currently catching the eye of architects, designers, and homeowners. While this trend originally began in the commercial sector, it’s catching on in residential applications. The key to making these systems successful comes down to the durability of the materials as well as the installation details of the envelope itself. For open-joint cladding, the challenge is right in its name: the wider space between the boards, which subject the interior of the wall system to in-

DESIGNED specifically for open-joint cladding applications, this UV-rated rainscreen wall system features Benjamin Obdyke’s InvisiWrap UV black housewrap, HydroFlash UV+ ﬂashing, and Batten UV rainscreen. The products work together to provide 25+ years of UV exposure behind open siding and can be left exposed for a full year ahead of cladding install.

n Building Products Digest n July 2021

creased exposure to UV rays and moisture. Dealers should recognize that customers may have to adjust the materials they use behind the walls to prevent failures.

WRB Considerations Behind Open-Joint Cladding Architects often specify a black housewrap behind the open-joint cladding to further enhance the visual appeal. But that doesn’t make this a job for asphalt-based felt paper. When left exposed, felt material may become brittle and fall apart. Instead, a UV-resistant housewrap that also comes in black can protect against the long-term exposure while also increasing drying potential and protecting against moisture. Along with UV rays, open-joint systems also are more vulnerable to moisture, as more air and water can get past the primary cladding than with traditional siding installation methods. Cap fasteners should be used to better block water from getting behind the WRB; ideally in this type of installation, cap fasteners should be installed behind the furring strips. Taping all seams in this type of assembly also is crucial. Builders also will need to consider vapor permeability. With open-joint cladding systems, materials are naturally exposed to atmospheric pressures and humidity levels, which can cause a higher risk of vapor being driven inside the wall system, especially in Southern climates. Typically, the perm rating of the weather resistive barrier and flashing materials should be between 10-20 perms for these applications; this range provides breathability while resisting excess moisture from entering the wall assembly. Even with these installation keys in mind, aesthetics is still part of the conversation, as installers will need to consider what’s showing up in the spaces between siding boards. Combatting potential issues starts in the planning stages by outlining the placement of overlaps and fasteners. This can help reduce their visibility once the cladding is installed, maintaining the visual appeal of the system. The trend of open-joint cladding likely isn’t going away anytime soon. Dealers can help customers address the nuances of this building system by guiding them toward the right materials and installation techniques that help ensure a long-lasting, durable building envelope. – Kaylen Handly is technical innovation manager for Benjamin Obdyke (www.benjaminobdyke.com). Building-Products.com

THE FIRST STAIN

WORTHY OF THE YELLA TAG. Introducing YellaWood Protector® Semi-Transparent Stain and Clear Water Repellent. It takes a whole lot to earn the right to wear the Yella tag. Backed by fifty years of proven knowledge and quality, YellaWood Protector® products are specifically formulated by the makers of YellaWood® pressure treated pine. YellaWood Protector® products provide long-lasting, rich color and the superior protection homeowners demand. All with a limited warranty against chipping, peeling, water damage, mold, mildew and color fade. Since there are no long drying times or even in-store mixing or tinting required, your customers will love how easy it is to use. Call your sales rep today or visit yellawood.com/protector and finish like a pro.

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YellaWood® brand pressure treated products are treated with preservatives (the “Preservatives”) and preservative methods, and technologies of unrelated third parties. For details regarding the Preservatives, methods, and technologies used by Great Southern Wood Preserving, Incorporated, see www.yellawood.com/preservative or write us at P.O. Box 610, Abbeville, AL 36310. Ask dealer for warranty details. For warranty or for important handling and other information concerning our products including the appropriate Safety Data Sheet (SDS), please visit us at www.yellawood.com/ warranties or write us at P.O. Box 610, Abbeville, AL 36310. YellaWood and the yellow tag are federally registered trademarks of Great Southern Wood Preserving, Incorporated. All other marks are trademarks of their respective owners and are used with their permission.

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COMPETITIVE Intelligence By Carla Waldemar

Coolest store in the USA

MICHIGAN RETAILER Gemmen’s Home & Hardware has become ingrained in its community through such ventures as an on-site car show.

L GEMMEN MIGHT BE a little surprised—and maybe more than a little startled—had he lived to learn that the store he founded in Hudsonville, Mi., in 1955 would, 65 year later, be named one of the “coolest” in Ace Hardware Corp.’s vast family. Al died 12 years ago, after ceding ownership to his son, Larry, and his partner. Today Larry’s son, Andrew, serves as head of the outﬁt, which has morphed from Al’s sole employee manning a 5,000-sq. ft. space to a staﬀ of 55 operating in 42,000 sq. ft. on the original site. Andrew’s honorary title: CEO of Cool. Was it the addition of Carhartt clothing? Red Wing boots? Local artisans’ giftware? Mother’s and

Building-Products.com

Father’s Day events? The annual visit from Santa? Or maybe the uberpopular new toy department, which has become a destination? All of the above, and more on them later. Let’s first check out how Gemmen’s has kept spirits up, for customers and staﬀ alike, during the COVID pandemic. Sure, sneeze guards and stringent cleaning policies. But beyond that, “serving an important role as a social outlet. Never before,” notes Andrew, “has the American consumer had so much time on their hands—no kids’ ball games, no band concerts, no choir practice. Folks were virtually imprisoned, so they focused on their homes—which made us an important outlet. I’d hear, ‘My trip to Gemmen’s is the only thing I get to do’—so we

were selling more than hardware; our role quickly changed to maintaining customers’ sanity. “For the company, our biggest takeaway is that our team became closer and tighter than ever before—as in a ‘We made it through something, and did it together’ bonding. From a business perspective, it caused us to define and cement our lines, from Benjamin Moore to Scott’s. Cool, for sure. But, chances are, the award judges looked at Gemmen’s new toy department, an icon for that description. “It’s the result of extra space,” Andrew acknowledges. “Spring always is our best business season—strong L & G, patios, grills. But by summer, there’s a void. We added Carharrt, Red Wing boots and other apparel, but there was still a void—so, we tried toys. “We’d always carried some at Christmas, but this went well beyond. In selecting them, we had two caveats: no batteries, and no computerized screens. Instead, we offered nostalgic items—things parents used to play with—Lincoln logs, puzzles, Playmobiles—as a big part of what we brought in: an eclectic mix, but of the learning type.” And it’s earning its floor space, all right: “It’s bringing in customers from far and wide who love to shop here. “A lot of what we do,” Andrew explains, “is driven by the fact that we like to have fun! So much of our daily lives goes on within the building that we need to have fun doing it; you can only get so much enjoyment out of selling another can of paint.” Gemmen’s also supports local artisans by offering their wares. “We are a small business, so we respect others who need visibility and

July 2021  Building Products Digest 

WORKBENCH clinics teach topics related to the home, from DIY repairs to drawing and crafting.

PRESIDENT Andrew Gemmen touts his store’s status as a Traeger Gold Dealer—signifying its standing as one of the top 10% of all Traeger dealers.

exposure—makers of soap, lotions, art, even gas fireplaces, because they’re manufactured locally.” Andrew was made locally, too, in this town of 10,000, halfway between Holland, Mi., and Grand Rapids, which he calls “the most prosperous part of the state. Lots of growth. “I never imagined working anywhere else. As a kid, I’d wear my father’s Gemmen’s shirt as my Halloween costume! I worked here part-time in high school and college, then later at Target, which gave me some insight into retail, a good learning experience. Then Dad let me know there was an opening in the hardware department. I was soon to be engaged, around 2000, so it sounded like a good idea. “I came in with lots of plans, new ideas. But my first job was…” he pauses for a dose of humility… “sorting nuts and bolts. (I’d spent four year in college for this?’ I thought.) But in hindsight, it was the right idea. I worked my way up—department manager, than area manager, for 10, 15 years. And I love what I do today—commercial accounts, fostering relationships, in more of a marketing capacity. “Our business”—80% walk-in, 20% trade—“is driven by repeat customers, and that was ingrained in my brain my entire childhood. Sure, you sell for today, but you build relationships for a lifetime. And that’s what differentiates us from a massive store: a smaller environment, where customers feel safe. The West Michigan consumer still honors those traditional values, where they can walk in and talk to someone about , say, plumbing. Where the wife may need some assistance. “Nowadays, female shoppers are trending a little younger; they’re not used to being asked that question (‘Help you?’), so you’ve got to walk up slowly, change your posture, speak slowly. ‘No!’ they’ll answer. Then, ‘Well, actually….’ You’ve to show them how to do things.” Gemmen’s crew is on top of that. “They’re great people,” their boss attests. “I encourage them to make their own decisions, assume control, take ownership of a customer. As our mission statement says, ‘Provide knowledgeable solutions….’” Yes, there’s some turnover, “but that’s not all bad,”

n Building Products Digest n July 2021

in Andrew’s experience. “It can bring new life into the business—add some fun!” And newer, younger hires tend to be more tech-savvy. “We’re very active on Facebook and Instagram, which work the best for our customer base. And internally, tech savvy is a major-major part of managing our customer base. When it comes to our inventory system, technology is our friend!” he maintains. When it comes to customer satisfaction, Workbench is their friend. It’s the company’s name for a series of in-person clinics, focusing on subjects like lawn care, chain saw use, or paint, which draw from 10 to 40 participants, often led by a product rep. Services like this help keep Gemmen’s abreast of the competition, which is “fierce! All the boxes, plus Amazon. Nowadays, thanks to the Internet, the transparency of pricing is much greater, and in the early 2000s, price became king: lots of bitter competition. But now, it’s not always the deal-maker; it’s also about having a good shopping experience, the relationships. There’s a perception, however, that ‘This store is not big enough [in inventory] to complete my project.’ But we are!” Andrew demonstrates. “With 42,000 sq. ft., we do have both breadth and depth.” And fun, remember, such as special events for Mothers and Fathers Days, a Yuletide Santa. There’s always one constant factor, though, as Andrew is quick to note—and that is “Change! We’re willing to try things out, to listen to staff’s ideas. That can lead to occasional failures, too,” he’s upfront, “like adding sales of live plants; a matting and framing service; a hunting and fishing department we thought would be so popular, here so close to Lake Michigan.” But they didn’t show results. Why? “As Grand Rapids grew, more and more competition cropped up, picking off niche categories. So, to grow, we shrank categories in order to do better.” It’s always a work in progress, and that’s a huge reason Andrew is here for the long haul. “I love the fact that every day is different, every day is a challenge. I don’t vacation well,” he laughs, “and I don’t have a lot of hobbies, so this is my life. It’s in my brain 24/7, with my wife as my sounding board and moral compass. I have such respect for the individuals who work here, and for the community we serve.” As they’d respond, ditto. Carla Waldemar cwaldemar@comcast.net Building-Products.com

OLSEN on Sales By James Olsen

Differentiation Business Offering

Once we know the customer’s specifications, we start to send them quality offerings on a consistent schedule. Our offering has the products our customers buy with options on those items. Many sellers’ sales calls are a veiled or explicit “Whadya need today and whadya want to pay for it?” calls. These calls bring zero value. Just the opposite. These sellers are asking the customer to do their job for them and wonder why they get poor treatment. The Master Seller brings value by offering the customer multiple items.

Market Opinion ales is competitive. Good accounts have a lot of salespeople calling on them. How can we differentiate ourselves from the crowd and stand out quickly?

Persistent and consistent

Most sellers don’t call on prospective accounts in a consistent way. Many sellers work the accounts that are buying from them differently than the accounts they are working that are not buying from them. This is a mistake. We need to have an “active rotation” of accounts we are calling on. We work the accounts that aren’t buying from us just like the accounts that are buying from us. We call them on a regular basis. Ideally, we call our accounts on the same day at the same time. Like the mail carrier we want out accounts to count on us. The accounts we are already selling do, and the accounts we are working on will too, faster, if we call on them in a consistent manner.

Reception

The fastest (and easiest) way to stand out from the crowd is to take the time and energy to be nice to the receptionist. Most sellers treat the receptionist like furniture. They aren’t rude, per se, but dismissive. The Master Seller doesn’t rush the greeting with the receptionist. They slow down and are warm and charming when they greet them. They take the time to ask them how their day is going, ask for their name. Most sellers don’t even greet the receptionist!

Great Second Call

Master Sellers know how to get the correct information on the first call so that their second call brings value to the customer. I listen to a lot of very bad second calls. They are re-prospecting calls. This does not bring value and is frustrating to the customer. Why? Because most sellers do a poor job of finding out what the customers main items are. Master Sellers get the information they need to make a great second call (i.e., the item, the grade and the type or quality of stock the customer uses so that on their second call they can offer their potential customer something they use, not something close or something they don’t even buy!)

n Building Products Digest n July 2021

Most sellers are so afraid of being wrong that they won’t give their customers a strong opinion on the market. Master Sellers have an opinion on the market and use their knowledge to help their customers make buying decisions. They write out this opinion and send it to their customers.

Handwritten Thank You Notes

After the first order with a customer, we can send them a handwritten thank you. Postcards from our home state work great. Not an email! We take the time to write a sincere “thank you and I look forward to doing more business with you” note.

Humor

Some sellers are too nervous to try humor. Others don’t attempt humor because they are only there for the order. The Master Seller is relaxed. They try to make a human connection with their potential customers. Because the business part of their calls are prepared ahead of time (See Business Offering) they can and do relate to their potential customers. They know when and how to get to the “business part” of the call, but they are not in a hurry. “What if I’m not funny?” some of you are asking. Two things. Buy a joke book; dumb humor is funny—believe me, I know. I’ve been using dumb humor for years. Just trying to be funny is funny and helps others relax, so go for it.

Be Ourselves

The good news about sales is that we all get to be ourselves. “Be yourself, no one can beat you at that.” Master Sellers are comfortable with themselves so their customers are too. James Olsen Reality Sales Training (503) 544-3572 james@realitysalestraining.com Building-Products.com

LUMBER 411 By Jeff Easterling

A Special Series from Northeastern Lumber Manufacturers Association

Show these wood project photos to your customers ustic farmhouse. Modern farmhouse. Shiplap. If you haven’t heard these terms before, you’re not in the building and home improvement industry. Because those of us who are, have been hearing these design terms over and over again during the last several years, am I right? Here’s the big question: how are you as a dealer capitalizing on these design trends? Among the many “farmhouse” descriptors on the market right now, one component reigns supreme: real wood. It’s everywhere: wood floors, wood ceilings, beadboard accents, tongue-and-groove paneling, floor-

n Building Products Digest n July 2021

ing… if “farmhouse” is in the title of the design, there’s wood at the core. Photos speak louder than words (that’s a saying, right?), and it’s our pleasure to share several gorgeous project photos featuring eastern white pine. Show these to your customers when they ask what wood can do for any room in their house. Give them ideas and beautiful images to spark their imagination (and hopefully lead them to buy more eastern white pine from you). – Jeff Easterling is president of Northeastern Lumber Manufacturers Association. Reach him at info@nelma.org.

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TRANSFORMING Teams By Paige McAllister

Marijuana legalization’s impact on the workplace arijuana is now legal in some form in 35 states and Washington, D.C., with seven additional states having decriminalized marijuana possession and two states legalizing CBD oil use. Many experts expect the continued expansion of legalization of various forms. Much like alcohol, no law requires employers to allow employees to use or be under the influence of marijuana at work. However, unlike alcohol, testing for the presence of marijuana presents a problem because it can be detected for much longer than a person experiences its side effects or symptoms. So, what do you need to know and do as an employer?

Know the laws in your state: Currently 18 states have legalized medicinal marijuana and 17 states and DC have fully legalized marijuana for medicinal and recreational purposes. Several states also have laws preventing employers from taking employment actions against employees for legal off-duty conduct. Understand the different uses: Recreational marijuana can be used by adults (usually 21 years of age or older) in limited amounts as they wish. Medicinal marijuana requires a prescription from a health care provider due to covered reasons, which vary

Q. We do not have formal drivers in our company. Do I need a driving policy?

A. Yes, we recommend even companies without formal driving positions have a Driving for the Company policy in their handbook. In fact, some business insurance carriers recommend or require it as well. Most companies have employees who may drive on behalf of their employer at some point. It could be to mail a package, pick up office supplies, or make a lunch run. If the employee gets into an accident while doing any of these tasks, the company could be liable for any damage or injury which happens during that drive. While a policy cannot mitigate all liability, it can serve as a tool to institute certain procedures to demonstrate the company’s commitment to safety while driving.

n Building Products Digest n July 2021

state-to-state. By definition, an employee who has a prescription for its use has a condition which may be protected under the ADA and ADAAA. Cannabidiol (or CBD oil) is oil derived from the cannabis plant which is used to relieve a long list of issues including pain and inflammation as well as anxiety and depression, migraines, MS, epilepsy and Parkinson’s disease. It does not cause mind-altering effects as those seen in marijuana. Learn common side effects and the length of time they are felt or observed: To have a better chance of recognizing if an employee is under the influence while at the workplace, you need to become familiar with common tell-tale signs including the stereotypical dilated pupils and odor of marijuana, but also: ● distorted sense of time, ● impaired memory, ● impaired coordination, ● difficulty in thinking clearly, ● mood swings, ● hallucinations or delusions, ● fear or anxiety, and/or ● increased appetite. Various factors including amount consumed, concentration of THC, body weight, metabolism, if anything has been eaten, and general tolerance impact how long these side effects will be observed. Building-Products.com

Understand the different testing options and standards: Marijuana can be detected using saliva, blood, urine or hair testing methods, each having different detection parameters and timing. Again, factors such as form (i.e., smoke or edible), repeated and regular usage, age, and weight will impact if marijuana is detected and how long it will show up in a person’s system, ranging from 36 hours to 90 days. Also, CBD oil itself may result in a positive THC drug result even though it does not cause the “high” of marijuana. Update your pre-employment procedures: Background checks: You may not be able to consider past marijuana-related criminal convictions once decriminalized. Even in the states where use is still illegal but past convictions are decriminalized, you must disregard any reference to these convictions if they appear on a criminal history report. Pre-employment drug screening: Unless the position falls under stricter federal regulations (such as DOT), consider the practicality of testing for marijuana after making a conditional offer of employment to a candidate. ● If your state has fully legalized marijuana use, you will be prohibited from taking any action on this result so you may be paying for something you cannot use or enforce. Furthermore, if legal off-duty activities are protected in your state, then you may now have knowledge of an activity which, if you treat them adversely or differently during employment, can create legal exposure for you. ● If medicinal use is legal, a positive result may lead you to ask about medical information to verify the legal use. This could then create ADA/ADAAA exposure as the candidate would have to reveal medical information requiring marijuana as a treatment.

As mentioned before, there is no law requiring employers to allow employees to use, possess, sell or be under the influence of marijuana while at work. Given the negative impacts to performance and safety, employers can and should take a no-tolerance stance to marijuana as well as alcohol and mind-altering drugs (even if prescribed) in the workplace. Clearly and repeatedly state this expectation and the repercussions for failing to meet this expectation to all applicants, candidates, and employees throughout the hiring process and the employment relationship. Explain the company’s drug testing procedures and disciplinary action, including immediate termination, for failing to meet that expectation. Stay up to date on this constantly evolving area of employment law: Given the changing regulations, we recommend staying current on the marijuana laws in your state. If you have applicants or employees based in other states, you also need to learn the laws in those states as well. Consult with your employment attorney or HR consultant before implementing, revising, or enforcing your marijuana/drug testing policy.

Paige McAllister, SPHR Affinity HR Group contact@affinityhrgroup.com

In both these situations, consider removing marijuana drug testing from your pre-hire process to eliminate this exposure. If you do keep it in your process, train anyone involved as to what is and is not allowed and what can and cannot be asked to clarify. Enforce policies prohibiting the use, possession and being under the influence at work: Given the impact on safety and productivity, employers are allowed to take action if an employee shows multiple side effects, especially if involved in a workplace accident. If you suspect an employee is under the influence of marijuana you should: ● have another manager confirm multiple side effects being exhibited. ● remove the employee from their workspace, especially if they could cause harm to themselves, others or property. ● have someone take the employee for a drug test. (Do not let them drive themselves!) ● take proper disciplinary action, including possible termination if the side effects are verified by a positive test. In states where marijuana is only legal for medical use, if the employee justifies the positive result claiming they have a prescription, verify their prescription card or ask for a note from their health care provider. Clearly state your expectations before and during employment: Building-Products.com

July 2021 n Building Products Digest n

US LBM to Acquire ACS–American Construction Source

US LBM has reached an agreement to acquire American Construction Source, Springfield, Mo. Adding ACS’s 70+ locations will increase US LBM’s holdings to nearly 400 facilities nationwide. Of ACS’s 12 brands, Meek’s has stores in Arkansas and Missouri, Arrow Building Centers in Minnesota and Wisconsin, and Contractor’s Truss Systems in Arkansas. Other divisions operate in Arizona, California, Colorado, Nevada and Washington. “With the addition of the ACS portfolio, US LBM will strengthen our position in the Midwest and California, and expand our reach to Colorado and Washington, two quickly growing construction markets,” said US LBM president and CEO L.T. Gibson. “We look forward to working with the ACS team and their local operators to continue leveraging their strong relationships, experience and teams to grow in their respective markets.” “ACS joining US LBM is a perfect outcome based on the alignment of our shared strategy to preserve longstanding local lumberyard brands and operations while delivering a great customer experience,” said James Drexinger, CEO of ACS. “We are grateful to our customers, suppliers, leadership team, salespeople and associates for their support. Together we have built a significant industry platform while simultaneously honoring the 100-plus year heritage of the local brands and family legacies we have acquired.” ACS was founded in 2018 by Angeles Equity Partners and Clearlake Capital.

Canfor Building Louisiana Sawmill

Canfor Corp. will invest $160 million to build a new stateof-the-art sawmill near DeRidder, La. The facility will have an annual production capacity of 250 million bd. ft. on a two-shift basis and will directly employ about 130. Expected to start up late in the third quarter of 2022, it will have manufacturing capacity and flexibility to produce a wide variety of high-value wood products.

Spahn & Rose Buying Atlanta Dealer

Spahn & Rose Lumber Co., Dubuque, Ia., has agreed to purchase 30-year-old Metro Building Products, Marietta, Ga. “Metro Building Products shares the same values and corporate culture as Spahn & Rose,” says Dave Davis, Spahn & Rose CEO. “Like Spahn & Rose, Metro provides outstanding service to both contractor and homeowner customers. This was a unique business opportunity, and we’re very proud to have Metro join Spahn & Rose.” Spahn & Rose has no plans to change Metro Building Products’ name, marketing focus, or local management. The deal will unite two successful longtime LBM companies. Founded in 1904, Spahn & Rose operates 23 locations in Iowa, Illinois and Wisconsin. Metro Building Products was founded in 1991 by Joe and Tina McKenzie to serve the metro Atlanta area and northwest Georgia.

Digger Expanding Production

Westbury aluminum railing producer Digger Specialties Inc., Bremen, In., will break ground in August on a new manufacturing facility in Brady Township, Pa. Expected to begin production in the first quarter of 2022, the plant will initially employ 150, with room to grow.

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DEALER Briefs Curtis Lumber held a grand opening June 25 for its replacement store in East Greenbush, N.Y. At 25,500 sq. ft. on 12 acres, it’s about 7,500 sq. ft. larger than the old facility, which will be repurposed as a warehouse. McCoy’s Building Supply opened a new 15,000-sq. ft. store with drive-thru lumberyard June 7 in Liberty Hill, Tx. (store mgr. Matthew Pool; assistant mgrs. Tyler Volek and Alan McCarthy). Pratt-Dudley Builders Supply Co., Augusta, Ga., closed after 86 years, with the retirement of owner Mark Pratt. Taylor’s Do it Center will open its 12th Taylor’s location in November in Gloucester Point, Va., and its 9th Pleasants Hardware store in October in New Kent, Va. Bay to Bay Hardware, South Tampa, Fl., has been sold by Lisa Jacobson, who will continue operating its pool supplies business from an adjacent site. The new owner will renovate the 74-year-old hardware business into an Ace Hardware. Cotton’s Ace Hardware is adding a second location in Eureka, Mo. At 25,000 sq. ft., it will be more than twice the size of its original location and have room for a lumberyard. Grovetown Ace Hardware/Augusta Ace Hardware owner Mike Hubert purchased Wheeler True Value,

Warrenton, Ga., which had been closed since February 2020. The store will be remodeled, rebranded as Ace, and reopened this summer under manager Vanessa Barnes.

Trexler Hardware & Rental, Leland, N.C., has closed after 37 years, with the retirement of owner Richard Trexler. Ace Hardware is opening new stores in Terre Haute, In.,

and Canton, Oh.

Tenenbaum True Value Hardware, Lakeview, Il., is

closing next month after 98 years.

Great Lakes Ace Hardware, Newport, Ky., has moved into larger quarters about a half-mile away from its previous location. Lakes Area Home Center opened in Glenwood, Mn. ABC Supply has acquired the assets of Exterior Supply, Elizabethtown and Somerset, Ky. Menards will build a 173,204-sq. ft. store with 27,678sq ft. garden center and 42,698-sq. ft. lumberyard in Green Township, Oh.—its fifth in the Cincinnati area. The chain also received planning commission approval to proceed with a larger replacement store in Bradley, Il. Ward Lumber, Jay, N.Y., held a “board cutting” ceremony June 25 to celebrate its successful transition to a WorkerOwned Cooperative. Anniversaries: Stewart Builder Supply, Brentwood, Tn., 100th ... Stetson Brothers Ace Hardware, North East, Pa., 75th. Building-Products.com

US LBM Buying Hart of Texas

US LBM will grow to 65 locations in Texas with its planned acquisition of eight-unit J.P Hart Lumber and Hart Components, San Antonio. Founded in 1939 by J.P. “Jimmie” Hart, Hart’s operations serve the major markets in Texas with five building materials yards and one window distribution facility across Austin, Houston, Dallas-Ft. Worth and San Antonio. Hart Components operates two roof truss and wall panel manufacturing facilities in Austin and San Antonio. “Joining with US LBM in our 82nd anniversary year will allow us to continue to grow, provide new solutions for our valued customers and opportunities for our dedicated people,” said W.B. “Speedy” Hart and Greg Wright, who will both remain with Hart, with Wright continuing to lead day-to-day operations following completion of the acquisition. The deal is expected to close during the third quarter of 2021.

Interfor Adding 4 G-P Mills

Interfor Corp., Burnaby, B.C., has agreed to purchase four sawmills from Georgia-Pacific Wood Products: Bay Springs, Ms.; Fayette and DeQuincy, La.; and Philomath, Or. The $375 million price tag includes working capital. “This acquisition enhances Interfor’s growth-focused strategy as a pureplay lumber producer, and provides significant economies of scale given the complementary geographic fit with our existing U.S. operations,” said CEO Ian Fillinger. “We’re excited to acquire

these high-quality assets as part of our balanced approach to capital allocation to drive shareholder value.” The mills have a combined annual lumber production capacity of 720 million bd. ft. Bay Springs, Fayette and Philomath are currently running full shifts. DeQuincy sawmill, which was idled in May 2020 during the pandemic, has an annual capacity of 200 million bd. ft. Interfor is evaluating a possible re-start plans.

Katerra Suddenly Shuts Down

Mass timber giant Katerra, Menlo Park, Ca., is abruptly shuttering its operations. Founded in 2015, the CLT manufacturing and construction firm had raised about $2.2 billion from investors. The company filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy and has begun issuing notice that it will be pulling out of ongoing construction projects and closing its operations across the country, including a CLT manufacturing plant in Spokane, Wa., and roughly 10 branch offices across the country, from Centennial, Co., to Jersey City,

Huber to Build 6th OSB Mill

To increase the firm’s production of ZIP System and AdvanTech structural panels, Huber Engineered Woods, Charlotte, N.C., will build a new OSB facility on 400 acres in Cohasset, Mn. Contingent upon site acquisition, approval of certain legislative initiatives, and financial assistance from additional state entities, the location will become Huber’s sixth mill in the U.S. and first presence in Minnesota.

SUPPLIER Briefs Louisiana-Pacific Corp.

broke ground June 8 on a $150-million conversion of its mill in New Limerick, Me., to increase the production of SmartSide engineered trim and siding.

Frank Miller Lumber Co.

sustained damage to the debarker operations at its Union City, In., sawmill from an early-morning fire June 9.

Overseas Hardwoods Co ., DuxxBak Composite Decking’s complete

Mobile, Al., will distribute

product line to dealers throughout the Southern U.S., from Florida to Arizona, with plans to expand to additional areas.

Forest Products Supply/F.P. Supply is now stocking KLEER Lumber PVC trim, mouldings and sheets at its facilities in Columbus, Oh., and Indianapolis, In., supplying LBM dealers in Indiana, Ohio, Kentucky, and western West Virginia.

NSE Windows has opened a new showroom in Water Mill, N.Y., featuring Marvin windows and doors. Feldco Windows, Siding & Doors added its 10th showroom in

Weston, Wi.

Viance received the 2020 Ron Blank Award for Continuing Education Excellence for helping to serve architects with its continuing education courses. Western Forest Products, to support its new strategy of marketing branded products to the professional, has launched a new Products section on www.westernforest.com. The addition should improve the online customer experience through inspiration, education, professional tools, and where-to-buy functionality. Roman Products, Calumet City, Il., acquired the Gardner-Gibson portfolio of wallcovering adhesives, primers and removers formulas. Weston Forest is once again a recipient of the Canadian Business Excellence Awards for Private Businesses.

n Building Products Digest n July 2021

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Give your customers a choice of style

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THINKING Ahead By Bethany Doss

The wonder of lumber hen reflecting on lessons learned from the pandemic, there were a number of angles I could take for this article. How did our company react in the initial months of the pandemic? How has remote work affected our team culture? What are we doing to navigate the resulting rise in lumber prices and supply constraints? But we’re all living that daily and there are only so many lumber memes I can handle in a year. So instead, I decided to write about a 10-year-old boy who exemplifies what I think is the most important lesson from the pandemic. I am extremely passionate about the lumber industry, and just as passionate about recruiting the next generation into this business we all love. A recent experience at work underscored this passion, and reminded me of just how exciting our careers can be. A co-worker’s son—let’s call him Tyler—was assigned a school project focused on the state of California and its history. With the support of his dad, who works in Capital’s Southern California location, he chose to focus his project on forest management and the history of the redwoods. They woke up early and visited one of our suppliers in Northern

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California and watched a logger cut down a tree. His father filmed the experience and captured the look on Tyler’s face when he saw the tree come down—a moment of pure joy, excitement and wonder. That evening, they came over to our house for dinner, along with our coworkers, and we had a great time talking about the fun they had that day. In the midst of him playing tag with my son, I asked what he liked most about the day and he replied

simply: “I didn’t know my dad worked at such a cool place.” In his little 10-year-old way, he was saying he was proud of his dad. My small heart grew three sizes that day! What does this say about our industry? First, there’s a reason why he reacted the way he did. The lumber industry is fun, exciting and sustainable—I’ll say it over and over again. Second, the whole experience—from Tyler joining his father at our supplier’s forest to our colleagues joining

Building-Products.com

A Special Series from North American Wholesale Lumber Association

About NAWLA North American Wholesale Lumber Association is the association that delivers unparalleled access to relationships and resources that improve business strategy and performance through sales growth, cost savings, and operational efficiencies for wholesalers and manufacturers of forest products and other building materials that conduct business in North America. Learn how NAWLA can help your business at nawla.org.

VALUABLE

INDUSTRY RESOURCES

us for dinner—highlights how we view each other: as one big family. All of these things are important to younger generations as they choose where to start their careers. Now is the time to seize the moment and build your best teams. So what is NAWLA doing to encourage them to choose lumber? • First, our Young Emerging Lumber Professionals (YELP) program is designed to engage lumber professionals under 40 by connecting them with a cohort of their peers to get tailored education and networking time. It’s a great way to mentor our up-and-coming leaders. • Our Many branches. One industry. campaign is spreading the word about the benefits of working in lumber – and, importantly, debunking myths about the sustainability of the forestry and lumber industry, showing how forestry and lumber jobs are green jobs.

Building Products Digest The industry’s most read & trusted publication since a e sure all y ur ey sta re ei e t is leadin in r ati n res ur e

• Our Wonder of Lumber campaign encouraged kids to create something new out of wood—and got the younger generation thinking about the versatility and necessity of lumber.

www.building-products.com

These are just some of the ways we’re doing our part to recruit the next generation of lumber leaders. What are you doing at your company to hire the next Tyler?

The industry’s most read and trusted publication… n at y ur fin erti s any ere

– Bethany Doss is business manager of Capital Lumber, Healdsburg, Ca. ( c a p i t a l - l u m b e r. c o m ) , and chair of the North American Wholesale Lumber Association.

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July 2021 n Building Products Digest n

MOVERS & Shakers

Wendy Stine, granddaughter of Stine Lumber founder J.W. Stine, was named president of Stine LLC, Sulphur, La.

Joel Lambert, ex-Klumb Forest Products, is new to inside sales at Everwood Treatment Co., Spanish Fort, Al.

Sam Strickland, ex-McCray Lumber & Millwork, is now millwork mgr. for Boise Cascade, Sugar Land, Tx.

J. Scott Riley is now outside sales mgr. for Khaf Building Supply, Garland, Tx.

Tom Bartlett has been named vice president of operations for Palmer-Donavin, Columbus, Oh.

Jennifer Herbst is new to millwork sales at Chace Building Supply, Foxborough, Ma.

Vontice Hembree, ex-Niser Polymer Floor Co., has moved to the sales team at EC Barton, Jonesboro, Ar.

Eric Huffman, Builders FirstSource, Norfolk, Va., has been promoted to general mgr. Jamie Schoenemann is now sales mgr. in Middleton, Wi.

Jim Sheets, ex-Tri-State Forest Products, has joined Lyons Lumber Co., Frankfort, Ky., in purchasing and sales.

Martha Noble has retired after 35 years as a lumber trader with Seaboard International Forest Products, Nashua, N.H. Andrew Zanovich, ex-Building Solutions, has been named general mgr. of Apex Lumber Co., Tulsa, Ok. Tim Whelan has retired as executive VP after 29 years with TAMKO Building Products, Galena, Ks., but remains on the board. He is succeeded by Rob Keeling. Stephen McNally has been promoted to senior vice president of TAMKO Building Products, Galena, Ks. Alex Hines succeeds him as VP of sales & marketing. Mike Carder, talent development mgr., has retired after 41 years.

Matthew Houk is now production supervisor at Great Southern Wood Preserving, Fombell, Pa. Kelsey Stithem is a new truss component estimator for Millard Lumber, Omaha, Ne. Wayne Hill, ex-Lowe’s, is now assistant store mgr. at National Lumber, Newton, Ma. Jim Henderson, Curtis Lumber, has moved to outside sales in New Berlin, N.Y. Mitch Foley, ex-Builders FirstSource, is now in builder sales for Guido Companies, San Antonio, Tx.

Steve McLendon is a new sales rep with American Lumber Co., Fort Worth, Tx.

Joe Barnum, ex-Builders FirstSource, has rejoined 84 Lumber as outside sales in Charlotte, N.C. New mgr. trainees include Michael Marchione in Mars, Pa., and Roland Schenk II in Fayetteville, N.C.

Stelios Fakiroglou has joined Bliffert Lumber & Hardware, Milwaukee, Wi., as commercial architectural consultant and outside sales rep.

Mark Sollauer, ex-ABC Supply, is now New England regional sales mgr. for United Window & Door Mfg., Springfield, N.J.

n Building Products Digest n July 2021

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Jerry Wolfe, ex-Builders FirstSource, is a new engineered lumber technical specialist with BlueLinx, based in Rock Hill, S.C. Julie Palmer, ex-GAF, has joined James Hardie Building Products, as regional account mgr. for New Jersey. Joe Dwyer has joined the inside sales team at ABC Supply, La Crosse, Wi. David Cook has joined The AZEK Co., Chicago, Il., as retail operations & e-commerce mgr. Pete Torres III, ex-Richelieu Hardware, has been appointed branch mgr. of Lansing Building Products, Houston, Tx. Steve Van Dyke is new to inside sales with Lansing in Fort Myers, Fl.

Building-Products.com

Dave Turpchinoff is a new building materials trader with Do it Best Corp., Fort Wayne, In. Also new are consumer marketing specialist Tracey Mazock, and demand forecasting analysts Ryan Jordan and Michael Filosa. Recent promotions include Jarek Hoppe, now forest products specialist; John Brinker, associate lumber trader; Ann Aguirre, outbound logistics service coordinator; Robby Ehlerding, category management planner; Kari Ann Ezzell, associate m e r c h a n d i s e m g r. - m i l l w o r k , cabinets, flooring & major; Lisa Ellert, merchandise coordinatorhousewares, cleaning & storage; and Tyler Mosher, associate merchandise mgr.-housewares, cleaning & storage.

Paola Nuncio is now Austin, Tx.based area sales mgr. for Engage Building Products. Vicki Christiansen, chief of the USDA Forest Service, is retiring next month after a 40-year career as a professional forester, wildland firefighter, and land manager including 11 years with the Forest Service. Chris Hines, Boral, has been appointed chair of the National Concrete Masonry Association’s Manufactured Stone Veneer market segment committee. Alf A. Romero is a new driver for Mungus-Fungus Forest Products, C l i m a x , N v. , a c c o r d i n g t o co-owners Hugh Mungus and Freddy Fungus.

July 2021 n Building Products Digest n

APA ON EWP

APA’S MARKET RESEARCH Director Joe Elling discusses the crucial role homebuilding plays in post-COVID-19 economic recovery and what it means for the industry.

Homebuilding plays critical role in economic recovery BY JOE ELLING SUPPORTED BY THE Federal Reserve’s easing of monetary policy as the U.S. economy fell into recession from business closings in March and April of 2020, the rate on a 30-year fixed rate mortgage fell to a record low of 2.75%. This, plus the sense of urgency to move to homes offering more space to accommodate work from home and privacy, led to a surge in new and existing home sales in the third quarter of 2020, and sales have remained at robust levels since (see Figures 1 and 2). The strength in new home sales sent a clear message to homebuilders to increase the rate of construction, and they responded as well as possible. In the fourth quarter of 2020, single-family starts averaged a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1.23 million units. Single-family starts fell back to an annual rate of 1.16 million units, as homebuilders were challenged by fractured supply chains that delayed the arrival of critical building materials (see Figure 3).

n Building Products Digest n July 2021

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Is US Economic Policy Too Aggressive? Despite recent upticks in inflation measures, Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell continues to assert the system will not veer from its stated policy course of supporting low interest rates through 2022. At the same time, the Biden Administration is focused on stimulating the economy via spending programs. Given this policy mix, the consensus outlook is real GDP growth in the U.S. will be near 7% in 2021 and 3.5% in 2022 (see Figure 4).

The prevailing view among policymakers and other forecasters is that this rate of growth can be accomplished without setting off an acceleration in inflation because the disruptions to supply chains are temporary. Perhaps that is the case, but it is not clear if business investments in new plant and equipment capacity are progressing at a rate fast enough to accommodate the likely increases in demand driven by the policies being pursued. Also, business leaders throughout many industries are reporting that it is difficult to find the needed workers for staffing their operations. It also seems consumers are not buying into the storyline that the rise in the inflation rate is temporary. In the May consumer sentiment survey, respondents said they expect the inflation rate to average 3.1% over the next five years. Given money supply growth is in the range of 25%, there is upside risk to the inflation outlook.

existing home sold in April was up 19% from April 2020. The biggest challenge facing homebuilders is the availability and rising cost of building materials. Earlier this year, the National Association of Home Builders surveyed its members and roughly 90% said building material costs would be a significant problem in 2021. Based on a measure of input costs compiled by the Bureau of Labor Statistics, input costs for residential construction in April 2021 were up 14% compared to April 2020 (see Figure 6).

Given the strength in the demand for new housing, both for homeownership and rental purposes, housing starts in the U.S. are projected to run between 1.5–1.6 million through 2022. The split is single-family starts centered at 1.15 million units and multifamily starts centered at 400,000 units (see Figure 7).

Housing Starts in 1.5-1.6 Million Range From a demand standpoint, there appears to be little on the horizon pointing to an imminent slowdown. The reported rate of existing homes sold has slowed over the last few months, however that points to a lack of inventory available, which is at a historical low in absolute terms or on a months of supply basis (see Figure 5). This helps explain why the median sales price of an

Although starts at this level for two years will be the best performance since 2005–06, this may not be enough to solve the problem of an adequate stock of affordable single-family housing. There are several studies suggesting the single-family housing stock in the U.S. is underbuilt by 3 million units. This is an important consideration because the millennial generation is at an age where homeownership is a desirable goal, and they are out looking. Perhaps after over a decade where single-family starts did not exceed 1 million units in any one year, the 2020s could be much different. For this to be the case, the capacity to build 1.2 to 1.3 million affordable single-family units per year sustainably will require a stable and skilled labor force and public policies that are more favorable to supporting homebuilding and apartment development. – Joe Elling is market research director for APA – The Engineered Wood Association (www.apawood.org).

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APA ON EWP

WHEN SELECTING and specifying CLT, there are several key characteristics to consider, including allowable design capacities, grades, laminations and adhesives.

How to select and specify cross-laminated timber CROSS-LAMINATED TIMBER (CLT) is a prefabricated, solid engineered mass timber panel. CLT is manufactured with kiln-dried lumber boards or structural composite lumber (SCL) laminated in alternating directions and bonded with structural adhesives to form a solid, straight, rectangular panel. Panels are comprised of an odd number of layers, usually three to seven. While at the mill, CLT panels are cut to size, including door and window openings, with a state-of-the-art CNC router that can make complex cuts with high precision. CLT panel size varies by manufacturer, but typical widths are 2 ft., 4 ft., 8 ft., and 10 ft., with a thickness of 20” or less and a length of up to 60 ft.

Applications CLT is frequently used in multistory mass timber structures, with concrete podiums and other types of buildings. CLT may be used in the construction of a wide variety of structural elements, such as structural and non-structural wall elements; floor/ceiling, parapet wall and roof elements; pre-insulated wall and roof sections; and solid partitions with or without interior finishes. CLT’s high load-bearing properties extend its applicability to the construction of bridges, carports, ancillary buildings and wood/ concrete composite ceilings. Other applications include cantilevered floors/balconies, load-bearing elevator shafts, and stairs.

Advantages Cross-laminated timber is proving to be a highly advantageous alternative to conventional materials like concrete, masonry or steel, especially in multifamily and commercial construction. • CLT is lightweight yet incredibly strong with superior acoustic, fire, seismic and thermal performance.

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• CLT provides design flexibility and low environmental impacts. • CLT offers fast construction times and easy installation, with virtually no onsite waste. Because CLT is prefabricated, most components arrive ready to assemble, and fewer joints are needed between elements, which enables faster construction. • CLT delivers incredible strength. The crosswise arrangement of board layers lends integral structural stability to the panel, considerably increases dimensional stability and ensures uniform load transfer to all sides for excellent structural capacities.

Selecting and Specifying CLT When selecting and specifying CLT, there are several key characteristics to consider, including allowable design capacities, grades, laminations and adhesives.

Allowable Design Capacities There are five basic “E” grades, six “V” grades and three “S” grades for CLT products and layups. “E”, “V” and “S” indicate a CLT grade with layup of E-rated or machine stress rated (MSR) laminations, visually graded laminations or structural composite lumber (SCL) in the longitudinal layers, respectively. Visually graded or SCL laminations are used in the transverse layers for both “E” and “V” grades and “S” grades, respectively. Custom layups of CLT are also permitted, as stipulated in ANSI/APA PRG 320, Standard for Performance-Rated Cross-Laminated Timber. The allowable stress design (ASD) reference design capacities for CLT grades with layups of three, five and seven layers are shown in ANSI/APA PRG 320. The ASD reference design capacities for different CLT products are typically published in APA Product Reports or manufacturers’ literature. Building-Products.com

Trademarks and Acceptance

CLT Specification Guide

Chapter 10 of the 2018 National Design Specification (NDS) provides design procedures, reference design values and other information for CLT, while engineering design of connections using dowel-type fasteners in CLT is covered in Chapter 12 of the 2018 NDS. Sections were also added to the 2018 and 2015 International Building Code and International Residential Code regarding CLT used as different structural elements. Clause 8 in the Canadian Standards Association CSA O86-19 provides design procedures, resistance values and other information for CLT used in Canada.

Laminations Any softwood lumber species or species combinations recognized by American Lumber Standards Committee under PS 20 or Canadian Lumber Standards Accreditation Board under CSA O141 with a minimum published specific gravity of 0.35 are permitted for use in CLT, provided that other requirements specified in ANSI/ APA PRG 320 are satisfied. SCL should meet the requirements of ASTM D5456, Standard Specification for Evaluation of Structural Composite Lumber Products, and have an “equivalent specific gravity” of 0.35 or higher. Lumber grades are required to be at least 1200f-1.2E MSR or visually graded No. 2 in the longitudinal layers and visual graded No. 3 in the transverse layers. Moisture content is required to be 12 ± 3% for lumber and 8 ± 3% for SCL at the time of CLT manufacturing unless a lower moisture content is specifically qualified in accordance with the standard.

Adhesives In the U.S., adhesives used for CLT manufacturing are required to meet ANSI 405, Standard for Adhesives for Use in Structural Glued Laminated Timber, with the exception that some gluebond durability tests are not required. This is because CLT manufactured according to ANSI/APA PRG 320 is limited to dry service conditions, and some gluebond durability tests are designed for adhesives in exterior applications. In Canada, CLT adhesives must meet the requirements of CSA O112.10. In both the U.S. and Canada, CLT adhesives must meet ASTM D7247 for heat durability and CSA O177, small-scale flame test. In addition, CLT adhesives must comply with the requirements for elevated temperature performance in accordance with the full-scale compartment fire test specified in Annex B of ANSI/APA PRG 320.

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General CLT shall be furnished and installed in accordance with the recommendations provided by the CLT manufacturer and the engineering drawing approved by the engineer of record. Permissible details shall be in accordance with the engineering drawing.

Manufacture 1. Materials, Manufacture and Quality Assurance — Product quality shall conform to ANSI/APA PRG 320, Standard for Performance-Rated Cross-Laminated Timber. 2. Trademarks — CLT products conforming to ANSI/APA PRG 320, Standard for Performance Rated Cross-Laminated Timber, shall be marked with CLT grade, CLT thickness or identification, mill name or identification number, the APA logo and “ANSI/APA PRG 320.” The top face of custom CLT panels with unbalanced layup used for roof or floor shall be marked with “TOP” stamp. 3. Protection for Shipment — Members shall be protected with a water-resistant covering for shipment. – Find more information on the selection and specification of structural engineered wood products in the APA Engineered Wood Construction Guide, available as a free download at www.apawood.org.

July 2021 n Building Products Digest n

APA ON EWP

LOOKING FOR A BEAM that’s strong, dependable and easy to source? LVL offers a simple solution.

LVL offers a simple solution LVL IS IDEAL for a variety of beam and header applications because it enables the designer and builder to meet size and strength requirements with just the right design capabilities for the job. Since LVL is an engineered wood product, it can be manufactured to necessary strength and design values while optimizing the forest resource.

of the wood fiber. In an era where the environmental footprint of building materials must always be considered, specifying the right-sized structural members for the application is the most cost-effective and resource-efficient choice. Specifying beams with the 1.8E, 1.9E, and 2.0E design values is also a key step in value engineering.

LVL: Predictable Performance, Solid Value

Choose the Product That’s Easy to Source

LVL is one of several engineered wood products in the structural composite lumber (SCL) family. It is produced by bonding thin wood veneers together with moisture-resistant adhesive to form a large billet. The grain of all veneers is generally parallel to the long direction. The LVL billet is then sawn to desired dimensions, depending on the construction application. Because LVL is made with scarfed or lapped jointed veneers, LVL is available in lengths far beyond conventional lumber. LVL outperforms conventional lumber when either faceor edge-loaded. It is a solid, highly predictable, and uniform engineered wood product that is sawn to consistent sizes and is virtually free from warping and splitting.

LVL Storage and Handling Tips

Optimize Fiber Bending Strength and MOE In header and beam installations, the bending strength and stiffness of the beam or header are key design considerations. The allowable bending stress is typically indicated as an Fb value, such as 2400Fb, 2900Fb, 3000Fb, or 3100 Fb. In longer beam installations, deflection—measured as the modulus of elasticity (MOE)—is the critical property. Typical MOE values for engineered wood beams range from 1.8 to 2.2 x 106 psi, which is generally indicated as 1.8E to 2.2E. For most window and door header applications, engineered wood beams in 1.8E, 1.9E and 2.0E provide the ideal stiffness. Specifying beams with a higher MOE value, such as 2.2E, for typical header applications is often over-design that results in excessive use

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Production of LVL beams and headers has grown significantly in the last decade, and today these highly resource-efficient beams in the 1.8E, 1.9E and 2.0E values are widely available from multiple manufacturers throughout North America. APA members are a diverse group of large and small manufacturers, all dedicated to producing the highest quality engineered wood products available. The Association’s trademark appears only on products manufactured by member mills and is the manufacturer’s assurance that the product conforms to the standard shown on the trademark. LVL products are usually shipped in water-resistant wrapping that protects them from moisture, soiling and surface scratches. However, proper care must be taken to protect LVL in all transit periods, from the point where the product is delivered, to job-site handling and storage, to final installation. • LVL packages should be set on level, well-drained surfaces. • Lumber bumpers or blocks should be used to keep LVL packages from direct contact with the ground. • For long-term storage, cut slits in the bottom of the wrapping to allow ventilation and drainage of any entrapped moisture to reduce the possibility of water damage, staining or decay. • For long storage periods, storing LVL in a covered area is recommended. – For more information on LVL and to find a list of manufacturers, visit www.apawood.org. Building-Products.com

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5 common misconceptions about glulam beams

GLUED LAMINATED TIMBER, or glulam, is a highly innovative and versatile construction material engineered for a host of residential and commercial construction applications. High design values and proven product performance make the cost-competitive material a natural choice for projects from simple beams and headers in residential construction to soaring glulam arches for domed stadium roofs spanning more than 500 ft. Glulam beams are one of the original engineered wood products, yet their perceived status as a commodity has led to many misconceptions over time. Here’s a look at common myths—and how to dispel them—that can help dealers sell glulam more effectively and help builders specify glulam in their designs. MYTH: Glulam is only for custom, exposed applications. REALITY: Glulam beams are often chosen for their beauty in exposed designs such as rafters in vaulted ceilings or long clearspan ridge beams, but they’re also ideal for hidden, in-the-wall structural applications. Common residential uses for stock glulam beams include garage door headers, floor edge and center girder beams and headers for window and door openings, as well as headers for large openings such as patio doors. MYTH: Glulam beams don’t have the same span capabilities as some engineered wood products. REALITY: Glulam is inherently strong and dimensionally stable, making it suitable for a range of applications, including long-span roof beams and heavily loaded floor beams. It has the same range of design values that is typical for other engineered wood products. Stock beams come in 60-ft. lengths and are commonly used to create spans of 20, 24, and 28 ft. and greater. Stock glulam is an ideal option for framing large window openings and for creating great rooms without column supports that interrupt flow. MYTH: Glulam beams are only available cambered. REALITY: While glulam beams are available with camber to negate the possible adverse effects of long-term deflection, uncambered beams are common and are readily available. Because most residential applications require very little or no camber, uncambered stock glulam is an ideal choice. Stock beams are typically supplied with a relatively flat camber radius of 5,000 ft.,

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or zero camber. Thus, they have just the right camber for most residential construction applications. If, however, more camber is required, such as for long-span roof beams, custom beams are available through local lumber dealers to meet the most exacting specifications. MYTH: Glulam beams are expensive. REALITY: Stock glulam beams that are found in most contractor yards are cost competitive when compared with other wood and engineered wood building materials in the same range of sizes and dimensions. MYTH: Glulam beams are hard to get and are limited in size availability. REALITY: Glulam beams are readily available in stock and custom sizes. Stock glulam beams are available in all major market areas. They’re available in widths that match standard 2x4 and 2x6 wall construction, so there’s no need for furring when connecting headers to walls. Stock beams are manufactured in commonly used dimensions and cut to length when the beam is ordered. Typical stock beam widths used in residential construction include 3-1/8”, 3-1/2”, 5-1/8”, 5-1/2”, and 6-3/4”. Stock glulam beams are also available in I-joist-compatible (IJC) depths. For nonresidential applications, where long spans, unusually heavy loads, or other circumstances control design, custom members are typically specified. Glulam is available in a range of appearance classifications, but the appearance designations do not relate to structural characteristics. “Framing” quality beams, for example, are used in concealed applications and provided in widths designed to fit flush with 2x4 and 2x6 wall framing where appearance is of no importance. “Architectural” beams are typically used for applications where members are exposed to view. In addition, pressure-treated glulam beams are available for exterior applications such as for deck beams, allowing for longer deck spans with fewer columns. – For more information on the properties of glulam beams, visit www. apawood.org/glulam. Building-Products.com

THE

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3 keys to content marketing success BY DANA OHLER IT’S A BIG worldwide web out there. With nearly 2 billion live websites on the internet and an estimated 5 billion internet users, about 4 billion of whom are on social media, it’s all too easy to get lost in the crowd. But there are ways to improve search visibility through crafting content that’s more friendly to search engines—and to humans alike. Here are three ways to boost your signal to get the most out of contentbased marketing.

Content vs. Copy: Writing Titles and Headings with Search in Mind Copy writing usually refers to printed material, while content writing refers to web publishing. There’s definitely overlap— good writing is good writing—but the real difference is that copy writing is not necessarily web-optimized, while content writing purposefully integrates best practices for SEO. In other words, content

writing is web search friendly. To illustrate the difference, here’s an example of a title for the same content about plywood manufacture, copy versus content: 1. The ABCs and 123s of the Original Panel Product 2. Plies, Adhesives and Orientation: How is Plywood Made? The first one is a playful title that alludes to the actual subject without mentioning it. It’s fine for copy writing, but it’s the wrong approach if the content is destined for the web. Basic as it may seem, it will get lost in the web search shuffle— and your content along with it—because it is too abstract. The second one is much more searchable. It’s phrased as the kind of question that people enter into search engines, and it uses keywords related to the subject. Wherever possible, write

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headings and titles that mimic search terms or queries. DO: Cut right to the chase of what your content is about and use keywords or ask basic questions. DON’T: Use abstract titles that metaphorically touch on the topic. Titles, subtitles and headings can go a long way towards optimizing SEO. Search engine crawlers are constantly indexing websites, and they make note of what is in headings (the <h> tags in HTML). If you omit headings, or use headings that don’t make use of keywords, you’re missing a golden opportunity to win at the web search game.

Accessible Content Is Good for Business Accessibility is sometimes overlooked but doing so is a major blunder. Not (Continued on page 44) Building-Products.com

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3 Keys to Content Marketing Success (Continued from page 42)

only can inaccessible content frustrate would-be customers, omitting accessibility features is also unfavorable for SEO. A sizable portion of the population uses accessibility features to read web content, and this population is well represented among customers, as a rule. How sizable a portion? 15% of Americans 18 and over have trouble hearing, according to the National Institute on Deafness and Hearing Disorders. According to the National Institute of Health, 6% of Americans experience vision impairment. Additionally, an estimated 8% of men and 1% of women have some form of colorblindness, according to the National

A high-contrast color scheme is best, but avoid inverted text (light text on a dark background); it’s notoriously difficult to read. DO: Make content accessibility a priority. DON’T: Pass up a large customer group by skimping on accessibility measures. Add alternative text, AKA “alt text” or the “alt” attribute, to every digital image, web, email or social post. If there’s no option to add alt text, write an explanatory caption. The alt text clearly and briefly explains what the image shows and prevents frustration for those who can’t see the image—and that’s not only folks with visual impairments, but folks whose email client suppresses images, or any of the other technical issues that can result in image suppression. And, as mentioned earlier, alt text is important for SEO. Like titles and headings, web search crawlers index alt text for site search. Because of its weight in web search, it’s worth taking the time to write alt text that uses keywords to clearly describe the relevance of the image and what it depicts.

Test Repeatedly & Implement Feedback

WHEN DESIGNING your marketing, take into account that a growing percentage of people suffers from some form of colorblindness.

No matter how good the writing, graphic or image is, personal quirks and content habits are all too easy to overlook by those who have them. The best content has the widest appeal, and one of the best ways to broaden appeal is by committee. Ask others to review content—as many other folks as practical—and thoughtfully implement changes based on their feedback. You don’t have to take every suggestion, but always consider the possible benefits and drawbacks of suggested improvements and thoughtfully address the concerns that were raised.

DO: Test, test and test again. Thoughtfully implement feedback to make improvements. DON’T: Skip the review process because the content seemed fine last time. Test digital content. No need to guess if your content meets accessibility standards. There are many free tools that allow for thorough testing. For graphics, WCAG’s Contrast Checker at contrastchecker.com checks for visibility issues, including colorblindness, that could render the graphic indistinguishable. Microsoft’s Accessibility Insights tool at accessibilityinsights.io is a browser extension that checks webpage compliance with Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG). These are free, among many other utilities for graphics and websites available through a quick web search. HTML email testing, on the other hand, is not free, but highly recommended. There are many different email clients (Outlook, Gmail, Yahoo! mail and so on) that users receive email through, and each client renders emails differently. What looks good in Gmail can flop in Outlook, and vice versa. Some good subscription-based email test providers include Litmus PutsMail, Email on Acid and MailTrap. These services test emails amongst a broad array of clients and help identify changes so that marketing emails display at their best. For images and graphics in email, always include alt text; an estimated 60% of email clients suppress images. For this reason, it’s not recommended to use an email that is only one large image. The whole thing may be suppressed, and the message will be lost. The classic recommended text-to-image ratio is 80% text to 20% graphics. – Dana Ohler is the publication and website manager for APA.

Eye Institute. These numbers don’t account for those with temporary hearing or vision loss, either, so even with some overlap, combining those groups suggests approximately 20% of the population requires accessible content. With an aging population, these numbers are projected to grow over time. Make it easy for your customers to understand your message. For audio-heavy content like podcasts and videos, offer transcripts and subtitles, as appropriate. For graphics, make sure there are no issues with low-contrast colors that people with vision impairment will have difficulty seeing; the same goes for combining colors that people who are colorblind will have difficulty reading or distinguishing.

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Barry Beightol – Plywood Sales Assistant

Charlie Doby – Sales Manager Plywood & Veneer

Fulton, Alabama • 334-636-4424 • 800-936-4424 • www.scotchplywood.com

APA ON EWP

A FULLY SHEATHED wall of plywood or OSB, properly connected to the foundation below and roof above, is a powerful barrier against earthquakes and strong winds.

Wall bracing & lateral loads How to build for resilience THE OVERALL STRENGTH of a building is the function of all the components—walls, floors, roof and foundation—working together as a unit. When an earthquake or high wind strikes a building, the walls and roof endure these forces. A fully sheathed wall of plywood or OSB, properly connected to the foundation below and roof above, is a powerful barrier that resists the persistent forces of wind and earthquakes. A structure must be built to safely resist the lateral loads that result from high-wind events and earthquakes. Wall studs alone can’t resist the racking forces. Wall bracing helps keep walls square during these events. Understanding the International Residential Code (IRC) wall bracing requirements can be challenging, but following them is critical to a home’s structural integrity.

Why Is Wall Bracing Critical? The load from gravity is easy to understand and is constant on every house. Lateral loads are just as constant, but they vary in force and are not as recognized. The most common lateral load is wind, with design velocities that vary from 85 to 150 miles per hour across the United States. Tornadoes, the strongest wind loads, are not predictable and randomly occur in every part of the country. While it is not affordable or reasonable to design structures to withstand the strongest tornadoes, experience has taught us how structures can be designed and built to resist wind speeds of up to 150 mph and protect not only the inhabitants but also the integrity of the structure. Similar experiences with seismic activity have also helped us learn how to design and build structures to better withstand earthquake forces. When applied per building code requirements, prescriptive lateral wall bracing provisions help structures resist the lateral loads that result from wind and seismic events.

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Wall Bracing Basics & On-Demand Guidance While wall bracing is one of the most important structural elements, it can also be one of the most confusing. The IRC defines 16 bracing methods and defines minimum widths for wall bracing segments based on the construction material and type of bracing method. Fully sheathing a house with plywood or OSB panels is an easy and effective solution because wood structural panel sheathing is the only IRC-approved way to reduce the width of bracing segments to as little as 16 inches.

On-Demand Webinars: Wall Bracing Provisions APA’s three-part webinar series provides an in-depth overview and step-by-step guidance to the 2018 IRC wall bracing provisions. The series begins with a one-hour introductory session covering load path, lateral forces and limitations to wall bracing. Additional sessions address related topics, including the simpli-

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fied wall bracing method and bracing for higher seismic and wind zones. The series is presented by APA engineered wood experts experienced in providing engineered wood product building and design support and recommendations. The webinars are ideal for building professionals looking for clarification and guidance to the 2018 IRC code requirements. • Wall Bracing I: IRC Load Path, Lateral Forces and Limitations – This introductory session examines how horizontal forces act upon a structure and how they are resisted, details code-prescribed limitations to prescriptive wall bracing and provides an introduction to braced wall lines. • Wall Bracing II: Meeting the 2018 IRC Bracing Provisions for Wind and Seismic – The second part of the series addresses wall bracing methods, reviews the steps in determining the required length of bracing in higher seismic and wind zones, provides an overview of the 12 code-prescribed intermittent bracing methods, the four code-prescribed continuous bracing methods and how to determine required length of bracing and placement requirements. • Wall Bracing III: Simplified Wall Bracing & APA Wall Bracing Calculator for the 2018 IRC – The concluding webinar provides real-world examples of IRC wall bracing methods and introduces the alternative IRC Simplified Wall Bracing and APA Simplified Wall Bracing methods as well as the APA Wall Bracing Calculator.

2020 APA SAFETY & HEALTH AWARDS APA has announced the winners of its 2020 Safety and Health Awards. The program celebrates safety and operational excellence in the structural panel and engineered wood industry.

INNOVATION IN SAFETY AWARD Equipment-Based Innovation Winner Resolute-LP Engineered Wood, Larouche, Quebec Jeff Wagner Process-Based Innovation Winner Boise Cascade EWP, Thorsby, Al. SAFEST COMPANY AWARD Three or Fewer Mills PotlatchDeltic Corp. Four or More Mills Norbord ANNUAL SAFETY AND HEALTH HONOR ROLL Division I (Plywood) 1st place – PotlatchDeltic St. Maries, Id. 2nd Place – Murphy Plywood Rogue River, Or. Division II (OSB) 1st Place – LP Brasil Ponta Grossa, Brazil 2nd Place – LP Chile SA Lautaro, Chile Division III (Glulam, I-Joist, LVL and SCL) 1st place – LP Red Bluff, Ca. 2nd Place – Anthony Forest Products Washington, Ga.

On-Demand Webinars: Lateral Load Path Basics APA’s two-part lateral load path webinar series is intended to help building professionals understand the complete lateral load path, recognize basic components of the lateral load resisting system in wood buildings, understand the consequences of an incomplete path, learn code requirements for critical construction details and common framing errors to avoid. • Lateral Load Path Basics: Tracing a wind load through a woodframed structure – This session outlines the path a wind load takes through a wood-framed structure, as well as the importance of a complete load path and associated construction details. • Lateral Load Path Basics II: Tracing a seismic load through a wood-frame structure – This session looks at the path lateral loads take in wood-frame structures, provides examples from catastrophic events, discusses load path continuity and common detailing and examples of successful and unsuccessful connections. The entire three-part wall bracing series and two-part lateral load path series has been approved by AIA and ICC for continuing education credit. Both series are available for on-demand viewing at no charge at apawood.org/webinars.

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3-YEAR SAFETY AWARD Division I (Plywood) RoyOMartin Chopin, La. Division II (OSB) Norbord Nacogdoches, Tx. Division III (Glulam, I-Joist, LVL and SCL) Boise Cascade White City, Or. SAFETY IMPROVEMENT AWARD (2018-2020) Division I (Plywood) PotlatchDeltic, St. Maries, Id. (97.6% improvement) Division II (OSB) Norbord, Joanna | Kinards, S.C. (100% improvement) Division III (Glulam, I-Joist, LVL and SCL) LP, Red Bluff, Ca. (100% improvement)

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APA ON EWP

Reflections, celebrations and introductions Changing of the guard for APA presidents BY TARA MATTINA IN APA – The Engineered Wood Association’s 88 years of representing the industry’s North American manufacturers, change has been a constant. And, in Ed Elias’ 44 years with the association, he has been involved with many of its most significant evolutions. As the association transitions to a new president with Elias’ July 1 retirement, he reflected on the organization and the changes he has seen within the engineered wood industry. “What we look like today is far from what we looked like even 15 years or 30 years ago, but this association has always been committed to our three core functions of product quality, market access through technical research and testing, and effective marketing,” Elias said. Elias joined APA in 1977 as an associate scientist. After 10 years in various roles within the Technical Services Division, he went on to lead the International Marketing and Financial & Administrative Services divisions. Elias also served as corporate secretary and VP before being named president in 2013. During those years, advancements in products, construction assemblies, standards and technology have prompted growth and innovation. The association has grown, expanding from prescriptiveto performance-based standards. That evolution alone has seen the introduction of new manufacturing technologies,

RETIRING APA PRESIDENT Ed Elias reflects on the association as well as industry changes over his career.

adhesive systems and a whole new family of engineered wood products. “We have expanded from our base of softwood plywood to embrace oriented strand board, glued laminated timber, structural composite lumber, structural wood I-joists and mass timber,” Elias said. “Our production capacity in structural wood panels alone has grown from 17 billion sq. ft. in 1977 to over 35 billion sq. ft. today.” APA represents about 85% to 90% of engineered wood products in North America under one trademark. This representation follows strong strategic direction led by a proactive APA Board of Trustees. The association has diversified product representation, expanded the geography of the industry it serves and continually strived to open new market opportunities. “This association and its members have shown a global approach toward growth in product demand,” Elias said. “We have been able to focus our energies emphasizing fair trade and the harmonization of standards and building codes around the world.” Even during 2020’s global coronavirus pandemic and 2008’s deep financial 19-0307 EEWP-BldgProdDigest April recession, while other industry

associations contracted or folded, APA’s membership grew, and the industry prospered. Elias attributes this success to the industry’s proactive approach, led by APA’s members. One of the most visible investments in the industry’s future can be seen in the recently expanded capabilities at APA’s research center in Tacoma, Washington. Built in 1969, the 42,000-sq. ft. lab has long been recognized as one of the leading wood research facilities in North America. The $4.5-million expansion raised a portion of the roof to 40 ft. high and added a 4-ft.-thick reinforced strong floor, 10 strong wall blocks with anchors, twin 5-ton cranes and whole range of new equipment to accommodate full-scale multistory structural assembly testing. The significant upgrades to APA’s research and testing facilities support innovative design and construction of timber structures using wood structural panels, engineered wood products and mass timber assemblies. “Our members’ products will find new and expanded markets in wood-frame construction with a mix of lumber and other wood materials and in buildings that Ad-HI.pdf 1 3/7/19 5:08with PM engineered blend concrete and steel

wood product assemblies,” Elias said. APA’s market access through research and testing dovetails into new innovative marketing schemes. The association has more than 600 publications in its library of titles, with nearly all of them available at no cost from apawood.org. Videos, “how-to” guides, webinars and other digital content are also available, which became more important as people sought safety from COVID-19 by avoiding in-person meetings. “Our communications programs have evolved away from defending this industry’s behavior under concerns for the spotted owl and forest management practices to the attributes of carbon sequestration and the role of forests in addressing climate change,” Elias said. When the coronavirus pandemic prompted states and provinces to lock down in spring 2020, the association took proactive steps to safeguard the health of its employees and the people it serves. Mills were audited remotely, lab services were split into shifts and field staff implemented video conferencing to continue educating designers, builders and code officials. “We embraced technology to connect

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July 2021 n Building Products Digest n

with our members and others,” Elias said. “We not only maintained our services during a difficult time; we increased productivity and developed new capabilities we can carry even beyond the pandemic.”

Contractors of America, Tag and Label Manufacturers Institute, Thermostat Recycling Corporation, National Electrical Manufacturers Association, and American Public Works Association. “For someone who has harbored a lifelong interest in residential construction

Introducing Mark Tibbetts, Incoming APA President After a three-month transition period, Mark Tibbetts officially assumed the president position July 1, when Elias formally retired. Tibbetts was selected by the association’s Board of Trustees through a lengthy search process. “Mark Tibbetts’ passionate interest in and understanding of the role APA undertakes for its members and the industry clearly set him apart,” said Jim Enright, chair of the APA Board of Trustees. “The Board endorsed him as the new APA president because of his experience with team building, leadership and communication, and we are excited to add his expertise to our talented team at APA.” Tibbetts brings more than 15 years’ experience in association and nonprofit program management, environmental policy and business development. He has held leadership and management positions in the Air Conditioning

and building design, I’m thrilled to be taking on this role,” Tibbetts said. “APA has a proud history of supporting members by growing the market for engineered wood products through product promotion, quality assurance and technical support. I look forward to working with the membership, the staff team and our industry partners to build upon this legacy of leadership and exceptional service.” These may be different times, and just as APA has demonstrated over its almost90-year history, new challenges require new approaches. The association’s fundamentals, however, are unlikely to change. “It has been my honor to contribute to the growth of this industry over the past several decades,” Elias said. “I am confident that through Mark and the APA staff, the Board of Trustees and the support of this industry, this association will continue to grow, capitalizing on a fluid marketplace and becoming more globally relevant every day.” – Tara Mattina is the market communications director for APA – The Engineered Wood Association.

MARK TIBBETTS becomes the 12th executive leader in APA’s almost 90-year history.

INDUSTRY SUPPORT IS OUR SPECIALTY For nearly 90 years, APA has proudly supported the industry in creating structural wood products of exceptional strength, quality and reliability and helped building professionals create resilient, sustainable and code-compliant structures.

QUALITY ASSURANCE

TECHNICAL AND PRODUCT SUPPORT

ON-DEMAND EDUCATION

CONSTRUCTION AND DESIGN GUIDANCE

Tap into our expertise and explore our resources at www.apawood.org

n Building Products Digest n July 2021

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Founded in 1977 by Ed Norris, The Building Center is one of the nation’s largest privately held building material suppliers, with five lumberyards, two truss plants, and two custom millwork operations throughout the Carolinas.

Fire Damages Arkansas Sawmill

PotlatchDeltic’s sawmill in Ola, Ar., was damaged by a fire on Sunday morning June 13. The damage was principally to the primary log breakdown area of the mill. The planer mill, dry kiln, and shipping department were not affected. PotlatchDeltic is assessing its options and timing for repair to the damaged areas.

Cornerstone Selling Insulated Metal Panels Business to Nucor

CHARLESTON area dealer will become The Building Center’s sixth lumberyard.

North Carolina Chain Buys into Charleston

The Building Center Inc., Pineville, N.C., has purchased Harleyville Builders Supply, Holly Hill, S.C. The acquisition provides The Building Center with access to the South Carolina low country and coastal markets near Charleston. Harleyville Builders Supply has supplied building materials and hardware to builders, remodelers and homeowners since 1978.

n Building Products Digest n July 2021

Cornerstone Building Brands, Cary, N.C., has entered into a definitive agreement to sell its Insulated Metal Panels (IMP) business to Nucor Insulated Panel Group for $1 billion in cash. The deal, expected to close in the second half of 2021, includes products sold under the Metl-Span and CENTRIA brands. The IMP business Nucor is acquiring has seven manufacturing facilities located throughout North America, which are said to complement the footprint of Nucor Buildings Group, as well as its existing IMP division, TrueCore. In conjunction with the sale, Nucor and Cornerstone Building Brands will enter into a long-term supply agreement, enabling Cornerstone to continue to offer IMP products as part of its metal buildings and components product offerings.

Building-Products.com

With New Location, Randall Brothers Phases Out PMC Name

This fall, Randall Brothers and its PMC Building Materials division, which it acquired in 2019, will open a new joint headquarters and branch location in Atlanta, Ga. The facility will boast a state-of-the-art showroom and millwork operations. Locations to be replaced have not yet been announced. All locations will now carry the company’s full line of products—and the Randall Brothers name.

Costello’s Ace Buys into Virginia

Costello’s Ace Hardware has purchased Rankin’s Hardware, a three-location True Value Hardware chain in northern Virginia. Costello’s Ace now operates 41 locations in New York, New Jersey, Maryland and now Virginia. The stores in Warrenton, Colonial Beach, and King George, Va., are currently liquidating their inventories and will be converted to the Costello’s Ace brand and format over the summer.

The new location opened on Memorial Day with 15 employees, but is expected to quickly expand to 20.

Distributor Buying RailFX, Ultra-Tec

PrimeSource Building Products, Irving, Tx., agreed to acquire NWI Enterprises, Santa Monica, Ca., provider of branded railing systems and fence, gate and security hardware. NWI divisions include RailFX, Tacoma, Wa.; Nationwide Industries, Tampa, Fl.; and Ultra-Tec, Carson City, Nv.

TAMKO Rolls Out Loyalty Program for Roof Contractors

84 Reopens Tornado-Damaged Yard

84 Lumber has reopened its Dayton, Oh., lumberyard— exactly two years to the day after it was heavily damaged by a powerful tornado. In order to continue serving its customers, for the past year 84 Lumber has been leasing another site as a temporary store. The new facility features a similar footprint to the original 30-year-old building, as well as some modern touches and a bigger showroom.

TAMKO Building Products has launched a new contractor loyalty program, The TAMKO Edge, featuring multiple contractor tiers and a state-of-the-art digital portal, where pros can register enhanced warranties, manage rewards, and access digital marketing tools and vendor discounts. With multiple enrollment options to fit every business, the program incorporates a Team TAMKO tier for non-certified contractors, and TAMKO Pro or TAMKO MasterCraft Pro tiers for qualifying certified contractors. “We want to give contractors an edge in their business and help them separate themselves from their competition,” said TAMKO VP of sales & marketing Stephen McNally. “The TAMKO Edge was designed to offer more of the benefits that roofing contractors have been asking for like digital tools, marketing services and better enhanced warranty offerings.”

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n Building Products Digest n July 2021

Utah Lumber Company – A versatile, multi-faceted company specializing in commodity and industrial lumber products. Building-Products.com

PELLA reportedly has become the first national window and door manufacturer to offer the ability to customize product, see price and purchase windows and patio doors completely online.

Pella Cashing in on E-Commerce for Doors, Windows

In addition to its more than 200 retail showrooms across the country, Pella is now direct-selling windows and doors to homeowners online. The new e-commerce capabilities offered on Pella.com allow consumers to customize options, view prices, and then purchase replacement windows and patio doors—reportedly a first for a national window and door manufacturer. “Our customers wanted a path for online purchase, and we’re delivering that by bringing e-commerce to our category. This is the fastest way to customize a window and have it delivered directly to the homeowner. No other company in our category is doing this,” said chief marketing officer Emily Videtto. Pella recently conducted a survey which revealed that 47% of customers in the market for windows and doors would consider purchasing them online, making a strong case for this direct-to-consumer model.

n Building Products Digest n July 2021

Pella is currently beta-testing its e-commerce offering in select Midwestern markets, powered by Elastic Path, to ensure that the experience meets customer expectations before rolling it out nationally. The online offering is available now in Cedar Rapids, Davenport and Waterloo, Ia.; Chicago, Il.; Cincinnati and Dayton, Oh.; Detroit and Grand Rapids, Mi.; Green Bay, Wi.; Indianapolis, In.; and Minneapolis, Mn. Homeowners in those markets can shop Pella’s collection of wood and vinyl windows and doors now. The company plans to have most product lines available to purchase online later in 2021. Homeowners will be able to filter by material type, product line, and price range. Future plans call for additional features and options like professional in-home measurement verification, and Pella Certified installation. To get started homeowners simply go through customizing their window with the features and options they want and create an account upon checkout. A variety of helpful tools are available online to help measure and select the right windows for their project.

MFM Readies for Big Growth

Marking its 60th anniversary, MFM Building Products has broken ground on a significant expansion project at its Coshocton, Oh., headquarters and manufacturing complex. The manufacturer of a full envelope of waterproofing and weather barrier products is adding nearly 50,000 sq. ft. to its production area and has purchased new production equipment to meet rising demand. MFM has been acquiring additional raw materials to ensure product availability for their customer base and the new facility will accommodate this additional inventory. The building is planned to be completed by the fall of 2021, and the new production equipment to be installed and operational by early 2022. The project also encompasses constructing new offices in the main headquarters building and adding a new, stateof-the-art research & development laboratory.

Building-Products.com

INDUSTRY Trends Orgill Expansion

Orgill’s new DC in NY to beneﬁt entire distribution network In the fastest start-to-finish completion of a ground-up distribution center in the company’s modern history, Orgill has announced that its new Rome, N.Y., facility is now fully operational and has begun servicing customers in an eightstate region in the coming weeks. The Rome site is Orgill’s eighth distribution center, joining existing facilities in Tifton, Ga.; Inwood, W.V.; Sikeston, Mo.; Kilgore, Tx.; Post Falls, Id.; Hurricane, Ut.; and London, Ont. The new facility serves dealers in New York, Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Connecticut, Rhode Island, and northeastern Pennsylvania. It effectively doubles Orgill’s distribution capacity in the region. “We are extremely pleased that our Rome distribution center is now online to provide even better service, speed and responsiveness to our customers,” said president/CEO Boyden Moore. “We broke ground on the facility in April 2020, just as the COVID-19 pandemic was hitting, nevertheless we were able to push through and get the facility built in record time,” Moore added. “We are truly appreciative of our amazing team in Rome, our construction partners and the local officials who helped us in this process and whose ef-

forts will result in improved service to our customers.” Plans for the 780,000-sq. ft. facility were first announced in the spring of 2019 as a way to better accommodate Orgill’s growth throughout the Northeast and mid-Atlantic regions. However, the impact of the new DC will be felt beyond its immediate service area. “Adding the Rome distribution center to our network will undoubtedly help us provide more efficient service to the customers in the Northeast and mid-Atlantic areas, but adding a large facility like this also has a ripple effect on the other distribution centers in our network,” said Randy Williams, executive VP of distribution. “In reality, Rome will create greater capacity at almost all of our DCs and allow us to better service our growing customer base across much of our service areas.” Williams said the Rome facility will serve as a proving ground for new distribution and logistics best practices that Orgill can learn from and roll out to other DCs in the future. For example, the DC was designed using what’s known as a very-narrowaisle (VNA) layout. As the name suggests, this uses aisles that are more narrowly spaced and special equipment

NEW DC was designed using a very-narrow-aisle (VNA) layout that’s navigated with special equipment.

n Building Products Digest n July 2021

to navigate those aisles. The narrower aisle spacing allows for more merchandise to be stocked in less space. The VNA layout is just one example of Orgill’s commitment to leading-edge distribution practices and technology to better service its customers, according to Mark Scanlon, VP of Northeast distribution. “In addition to the VNA layout, the Rome facility also takes advantage of features such as utilizing a multi-tiered conveyor system instead of the traditional spiral conveyor. The multi-tiered system is more efficient and helps reduce any unwanted slowdowns if there are any issues with the conveyor. The DC was also designed with receiving docks on one side of the main aisle and shipping docks on the other side. This will reduce congestion and create a more natural product flow.” Another first for the Rome DC is the hiring of an employee who will serve in a tech support role dedicated to ensuring the facility finds ways to use technology to enhance the overall operations and interactions with customers. “The creation of this position is an important step for us as we continue to look for ways we can harness technology through all aspects of our operation to create efficiencies, improve customer service and better fulfill our mission,” Williams said. “We will definitely learn from this new addition to the team and use those lessons to see how we can improve our entire distribution operation.” Orgill has not finished growing. Its next move is to nearly double the size of its Utah distribution center, adding more than 425,000 sq. ft. of under-roof storage at the facility as well as new systems to improve workflow. “Effective and efficient distribution of products is at the heart of what we do and it is core to how we ensure that our customers can manage and run their businesses profitably,” Moore said. “Just because we have one of the most modern distribution networks in the industry doesn’t mean we are going to shy away from making investments and incremental improvements wherever possible.” Building-Products.com

THE POSSIBILITIES KEEP GROWING:

Nature’s majestic pillars. Redwood is one of the strongest and fastest growing softwood species. It thrives in some of the most productive timberlands in the world. Redwood is known for its timeless durability without the use of chemicals. Due to its flawless formation, there has never been a Redwood recall. There is a grade of Redwood for every application, every budget, and every customer.

“Growing beyond measure.” Call or visit us today. Our family of Redwood timberland owners will continue to be your reputable and reliable source of Redwood.

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NEW Products

Nylon Siding Clips Nova USA Wood Products has expanded its line of rainscreen siding clips with a new ExoClad QuickClip designed with 6/6 ballistic grade nylon. Lightweight and easy to handle, the new nylon clips are highly resistant to abrasions, dampen noise, and offer enhanced thermal bridging properties, which can reduce energy costs by minimizing the amount of heat transferred through the building envelope. They join aluminum siding clips as the latest additions to the product line. n NOVAUSAWOOD.COM (503) 419-6407

More Exotic Colors Deckorators has added two new vertical-grain color options to its line of Vista WPC composite decking, which offers the appearance of exotic hardwoods without the maintenance. Silverwood (light gray) and Dunewood (medium brown) join Driftwood (gray) and Ironwood (brown) to give builders and their clients more color pairing possibilities. All Vista colors are available 3-1/2” wide in 20-ft. solid-edge and grooved-edge profiles, and 5-1/2” wide in 12-, 16-, and 20-ft. solid- and grooved-edge options. n DECKORATORS.COM (800) 556-8449

Woodsy Bead Boards Wolf Home Products has launched its new Woodlands Collection as part of the Wolf Trim line. The edge and center bead boards include four new colors: Ash, Cherry, Mahogany and Silverado. The panels come tongue-and groove for a hidden fastener installation. Due to its lightweight and high-cell density PVC, the Woodlands Collection is low-maintenance and will not absorb moisture or swell, rot, split or delaminate, making it ideal for a variety of climates. Each board measures 1/2”x6”x 18 ft. n WOLFHOMEPRODUCTS.COM (800) 234-9653

n Building Products Digest n July 2021

Prefab Polyiso Roof Insulation Atlas Roofing’s new SureSlope prefabricated tapered roofing products effectively reduce standing water, while minimizing jobsite waste, labor, fabrication and installation time. The new brand incorporates and rebrands Gemini Pre-Cut Tapered Polyiso Roof Insulation, as well as the new SureSlope DST 8x8 Drain Set, developed to help contractors minimize installation errors, reduce jobsite waste, and increase installation speed. n ATLASROOFING.COM (800) 478-0258

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Yellawood Stain & Sealer YellaWood Protector semi-transparent stain and clear water repellent sealer provide long-lasting, rich color and superior protection. The first to ever bear the YellaWood name, the professional-grade, acrylic-oil hybrid wood stains and sealer are water repellent and provide excellent protection for all outdoor projects like decks, fences or outdoor furniture. In accelerated weather test exposure to UV light, condensation and high temperatures, they demonstrated color fastness and coating durability equal or superior to the leading competitor’s tested products. The stains contain iron oxide pigments for rich, long-lasting color. The premium alkyd oil finish in the deck stains penetrates wood, providing superior moisture damage protection, while the acrylic finish repels water, resists wear, and fends off mold and mildew. For homeowners who prefer a natural look, the clear, water repellent deck sealer is loaded with UV stabilizers to maintain that stunning appearance provided by Mother Nature herself.

Twin Powers Metabo HPT has expanded its MultiVolt System to its lineup of cordless pneumatic tools and nailers. In addition to the lightweight 18V battery, users can now choose the universally compatible 18V/36V MultiVolt battery, which can run at either voltage. As well, the tools can be attached to a unique AC Adapter for all-day runtime, saving battery life. The battery is backed by Metabo HPT’s ongoing Lifetime Lithium Ion tool body warranty and twoyear Lithium Ion battery warranty. n METABO-HPT.COM (800) 706-7337

n YELLAWOOD.COM/PROTECTOR (334) 585-2291

Measuring Up

Makita USA’s new 40V MAX and 80V MAX XGT lines feature a new standalone cordless system for various Makita tools, including hammer drills, impact drivers and table saws. The XGT delivers over 50 higher-powered cordless product solutions to applications dominated by cords, gas, and air. The system delivers exceptional water repellency and protection against UV, moisture, blackening, discoloration and wood rot.

Crescent Tools is launching an upgraded collection of Crescent Lufkin Chrome Power Tape Measures featuring improved designs that make them easier to carry, easier to read, and easier to use. The chrome-plated case offers a new compact design, up to 20% smaller than the competition and optimized for comfort and utility and are up to 20% smaller than the competition. A wider blade provides up to 10 ft. of reach, while the nylon coating provides abrasive protection. A matte finish on the blade coupled with enlarged print make for vastly improved visibility, while the flatter blade design makes marking measurements easier. The devices also have an upgraded lock button design with a reduced path to lock and unlock. This means that the user can more easily go from locked to unlocked, no matter what size hands they have. The line includes six different models: 12-ft. SAE, 16-ft. SAE, 25-ft. SAE, 35-ft. SAE, 5-meter/16-ft. Metric/SAE, and 8-meter/26-ft. Metric/SAE.

n MAKITATOOLS.COM (800) 462-5482

n CRESCENTTOOL.COM (800) 621-8814

Power Surge

n Building Products Digest n July 2021

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DO YOU HAVE WHAT IT TAKES TO MAKE THE GRADE?

Introducing The Grader Academy by NELMA, a FREE interactive on-line grader training program. Built by the Northeastern Lumber Manufacturer’s Association as a grader training tool for Eastern White Pine and Spruce-Pine-Fir species, The Grader Academy is now available to the entire industry. *Learn about lumber grading standards *Test your grade rule knowledge *Play Above-Board, the real-time Grader Game *Compete with your friends and colleagues

Visit www.graderacademy.org to test your knowledge and skills at the lumber grading profession.

Wall Upon Wall of Glass Jobsite First Aid Kits Milwaukee Tool is adding to its Packout Modular Storage System with two new Packout First Aid Kits—a 204-piece Class B Type III Kit and a 76-piece Class A Type III Kit. Both kits are packed with first aid essentials tailored to the most common injuries users encounter on the jobsite. The kits are included in the most versatile and durable modular storage system. n MILWAUKEETOOL.COM (800) 729-3878

Weather Shield’s new VUE Collection aluminum windows and patio doors feature ultra-thin frames and large expanses of glass to maximize views. Offering outstanding thermal performance, all VUE products seamlessly connect with one another to create any imaginable combination of glass walls. Options such as three distinct glazing beads and a range of anodize and AAMA 2605 rated paint finishes enable architects and homebuilders to create a tailored aesthetic for their projects. n WEATHERSHIELD.COM (800) 222-2995

On the Level

Marvin has rebranded the impact-resistant products of recently acquired SIW Windows & Doors as Marvin Signature Coastline windows and doors. The openings combine premium aesthetics, design flexibility, and advanced coastal performance. Their reinforced impact glass and solid extruded aluminum frames reportedly withstand flying debris generated by tropical storms and hurricanes. Each unit does not require additional protective measures like shutters or wood boards prior to storms.

DeWalt has unveiled its first 20V MAX* 3x360° Green Line Laser that is compatible with the DeWalt 12V MAX* and 20V MAX* battery platforms, offering versatility across both battery systems and a runtime of 10 hours per charge. A fine-adjust knob allows for manual adjustments on the horizontal axis to position the vertical beams quickly and accurately over distance for efficiency and productivity. With an extensive working range of 100 ft., the laser provides accuracy of up to 1/8” at 30 ft. Incorporating green beam diode technology, the tool delivers outstanding visibility in bright conditions and on expansive jobsites.

n MARVIN.COM (888) 537-7828

n DEWALT.COM (800) 433-9258

High-Impact Rebrand

n Building Products Digest n July 2021

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Commerce Advises Doubling Duty

The U.S. Department of Commerce issued its preliminary determination in the second administrative review of softwood lumber imports from Canada, proposing that tariff rates be more than doubled for most firms (categorized as “all others”). The Commerce Department advised that the current 8.99% combined anti-subsidy and anti-dumping duty rate be increased to 18.32% by the end of the year. Previously, the rate had been set at 20% in 2018, before being lowered to its current level late last year. The U.S. Lumber Coalition applauded the announcement. “A level playing field is a critical element for continued investment and growth for U.S. lumber manufacturing to meet strong building demand to build more American homes,” said Jason Brochu, Coalition co-chair and co-president of Pleasant River Lumber Co. “The U.S. Lumber Coalition applauds the Commerce Department’s continued commitment to strongly enforce the U.S. trade laws against subsidized and unfairly traded Canadian lumber imports.” National Lumber & Building Material Dealers Association and the National Association of Home Builders, however, criticized the plan. NLBMDA president Jonathan Paine called the duty “a tax on American consumers” that will further aggravate the shortage of affordable housing. Paine vowed NLBMDA would lobby “to reverse this decision by the Department of Commerce and will continue to fight for the renewal of a Softwood Lumber Agreement with Canada.”

Royal Building Products Parent Westlake Buying Boral NA

Australia’s Boral Ltd. has agreed to sell its North American building products business to Westlake Chemical Corp. for $2.15 billion in cash. Expected to close before the end of the year, the deal includes Boral’s roofing, siding/trim, decorative stone, and windows products businesses and nearly doubles the size of Westlake’s building products business. “This transaction will bring well-established and high-quality architectural solutions and premium product brands to complement our existing businesses, including Royal Building Products’ siding, trim and molding, DaVinci composite roofing, NAPCO Pipe and Fittings, and specialty PVC compounding business,” said Westlake president and CEO Albert Chao.

MI Windows & Doors Expanding

DATE Book Listings are often submitted months in advance. Always verify dates and locations with sponsor before making plans to attend. Coverings – July 7-9, Orange County Convention Center, Orlando, Fl.; www.coverings.com. National Wood Flooring Expo – July 7-9, Orange County Convention Center, Orlando, Fl.; www.nwfaexpo.org. Mississippi Lumber Manufacturers Assn. – July 8-11, annual convention & show, Beau Rivage, Biloxi, Ms.; www.mlmalumber.com. Southeastern Lumber Manufacturers Association – July 11-14, annual conference, JW Marriott Marco Island Beach Resort, Marco Island, Fl.; www.slma.org. Rhode Island Lumber & Building Material Dealers Association –July 14, golf outing & clambake, Green Valley Country Club & Kempenaar’s Clambake Club, Portsmouth, R.I.; www.nrla.org. New Hampshire Retail Lumber Association – July 15, golf outing, Lake Sunapee Country Club, New London, N.H.; www.nrla.org. Southeast Building Conference – July 15-16, Gaylord Palms Resort & Convention Center, Kissimmee, Fl.; www.sebcshow.com. Mid-Hudson Lumber Dealers Association – July 19, golf outing, Powelton Country Club, Newburgh, N.Y.; www.nrla.org. Construction Suppliers Association – July 20-21, basic estimating/ blueprint take-off; July 22, advanced estimating, Hilton Garden Inn, Flowood, Ms.; www.gocsa.com. Northwestern Lumber Association – July 20-22, heritage roundtable, Alexandria, Mn.; www.nlassn.org. Atlanta Build Expo – July 21-22, Cobb Galleria Centre, Atlanta, Ga.; www.buildexpousa.com. Building Material Suppliers Association – July 22-25, summer conference, Myrtle Beach, S.C.; mybmsa.org. Long Island Lumber Association – July 23, baseball outing, Citi Field, New York, N.Y.; www.nrla.org. Eastern New York Lumber Dealers Association – July 26, golf outing, Pinehaven Country Club, Guilderland, N.Y.; www.nrla.org. American Wood Protection Association – July 27-29, 117th annual meeting–online and in-person, Nashville, Tn.; www.awpa.com. Massachusetts Retail Lumber Dealers Assn. – Aug. 2, eastern golf outing, Pinehills Golf Club, Plymouth, Ma.; www.nrla.org. Michigan Assn. of Timbermen – Aug. 5-6, annual meeting, Bavarian Inn Lodge, Frankenmuth, Mi.; www.michigantimbermen.com. Central New York Retail Lumber Dealers Association – Aug. 7, Day at the Races, Oswego Speedway, Oswego, N.Y.; www.nrla.org. The Inspired Home Show – Aug. 7-10, McCormick Place, Chicago, Il.; www.housewares.org.

MI Windows & Doors, manufacturer of vinyl, aluminum and fiberglass windows and doors, recently broke ground on a 90,000-sq. ft. addition to its factory in Gratz, Pa. Set to be completed early next year, the $27-million expansion will bring two additional vinyl window production lines, a new automated glass room, and a training center.

New Jersey Building Material Association – Aug. 9, annual meeting, Neshanic Valley, N.J.; www.nrla.org.

Water-Based Paints Dominate

Wallace Hardware – Aug. 11-13, dealer market, LeConte Center, Pigeon Forge, Tn.; www.wallacehardware.com.

World demand for architectural paint is forecast to rise 2.5% per year through 2024 to 33.8 million metric tons, according to a new Freedonia Group study. Water-based paints increasingly dominate the global architectural paint market, representing 77% of total demand in 2019. Water-based paints account for the majority of demand in developed regions due to strict VOC regulations, technological advances, and large DIY markets that prefer water-based paints’ low odor and ease of use.

n Building Products Digest n July 2021

Austin Build Expo – Aug. 11-12, Palmer Events Center, Austin, Tx.; www.buildexpousa.com. Forest Products Machinery & Equipment Expo – Aug. 11-13, presented by Southern Forest Products Association, Georgia World Congress Center, Atlanta, Ga.; www.sfpaexpo.com.

JLC Live Show – Aug. 12-14, Rhode Island Convention Center, Providence, R.I.; www.jlclive.com. Central New York Retail Lumber Dealers Association – Aug. 19, 17th annual clambake, The Spinning Wheel, North Syracuse, N.Y.; www.nrla.org. Southwest Forest Products Expo – Aug. 23-24, Hot Springs, Ar.; www.arkloggers.com. Building-Products.com

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• Norfolk Southern Mainline Served • Easy Access to I-85, I-77 & I-40 • Company Owned Truck Fleet • Outdoor and Indoor Storage • 12 Acres Fenced with Security Lighting • 25+ years Reload Experience (704) 872-3148 • Fax (704) 872-3146 Email Tom Lakeman shavers.reload@gmail.com

IN Memoriam Herbert Eberhard, founder of Eberhard Lumber Co., New Braunfels, Tx., passed away May 15. He was 93. After serving in the U.S. Army during the Korean War, he established Eberhard Lumber in 1953. In 1993, he retired after selling the business to Dennis and Diana Eberhard. In 1992, Herbert was honored as Lumberman of the Year by the Lumbermens Association of Texas. James “Jim” Warnick, retired manager of Hundman Lumber, Decatur, Al., and its predecessor, Thompson Lumber Co., died June 15. He was 94. He joined Thompson Lumber in 1951, unloading cars of lumber. He was promoted to yard superintendent in 1958, to assistant manager in 1963, and to manager in 1983. He semi-retired in 1993—cutting back to 30 to 40 hours a week. The yard was purchased by Hundman in 1994 and by Alexander Lumber in 2011. Jim officially retired in 2013, at age 86.

Harry Walter “Wally” Bennett II, 63, owner of Bennett’s Do it Center. Louisville, Ms., passed away June 19 in Jackson, Ms. Stephen John “Steve” Williams, 77, and kid brother Paul David Williams, 56, co-owners of Gilmer Lumber Co., Gilmer, Tx., passed away recently, 11 days apart. Steve, a Texas A&M University grad who served as president of the second-generation yard, died May 13. Paul, a Stephen F. Austin University grad who worked as treasurer, died May 24. Kenneth Gray Berrier, 92, co-owner and operator of Tuttle Lumber Co., Winston-Salem, N.C., since 1951, died June 6.

Jimmy Roscoe Thrift, 77, co-owner of Thrift Lumber, Westminster, S.C., died May 26 in Seneca, S.C. He and his brothers took over the lumber company founded by their father in the 1960s.

Paul D. Webster III, 90, former president of Webster Lumber Co., Minneapolis, Mn., passed away June 2. He served in Korea from 1951 to 1953 as a member of the Navy’s newly formed Underwater Demolition Team, precursor of the Navy Seals. He then spent his career with the family sawmilling business, serving as president from 1962 to 2007. In 1992, he wrote a book, The Wood Crosstie: A 150 Year Success Story, for the Railway Tie Association. For years, he was a tariff and trade representative in Asia and Europe for the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

Bruce John Eveland, 78, founder of E-Z Lumber Co., Backus, Mn., and Hackensack Lumber & Hardware, Hackensack, Mn., passed away June 3. Over his career, Bruce started a wide range of businesses, including E-Z in 1977 and Hackensack Lumber in 1980.

James D. “Jimmie” Pitts, 79, president and owner of Pitts Lumber Co., Saluda, Va., died June 4. A graduate of Smithdeal Massey Business College, he spent his entire career with the lumber manufacturer established in 1898 by his grandfather.

n Building Products Digest n July 2021

Wesley C. “Wes” Knapp, 90, former owner of Knapp Lumber Co., Goodfield, Il., died May 31. He spent two years as a Marine during the Korean War, returning home in 1953 and joining Goodfield Lumber, Goodfield, Il. He stayed on after the yard was purchased by Mathis Lumber in 1958 and bought it himself in 1982, renaming it Knapp Lumber. Wes sold to a new owner in 1996 and retired a year later. Ronald C. Puchalski, 86, co-owner and operator of Como Lumber Co., Lake Como, Pa., died June 4. Certified as a grader by the NHLA, he spent his entire career with the family business. Robert Amos “Bobby” Rothe, former co-owner of D’Hanis Lumber Co., D’Hanis, Tx., died May 9 at age 87. He and his wife bought the yard in 1964 and operated it for 10 years. Robert D. “Bobby” Downey, 61, longtime salesman and yard manager with Allen Lumber Co., Lacon, Il., died on June 3. He spent more than 20 years with Allen Lumber. Margaret Magdalena Hennen, 90, former co-owner and office manager of Maple Lake Lumber, Maple Lake, Mn., died of arterial sclerosis June 13 in Maple Lake. In 1965, she and her husband Ken purchased Salzer Lumber Co. and renamed it Maple Lake Lumber. Marge worked full-time managing the office and keeping the books. In 1992, they retired and sold the business to the next generation. Building-Products.com

ADVERTISERS Index

ATURES

d wood product on the market b-300Fv-2.1E Page r installation - 3 1/2” and 5 1/2” 56 s Timber wood framing systems Initiative (SFI®) Certified nce uperior strength e MSR Lumber 43 strength solution for ral applications

800.221. B E A M

American Wood Technology www.americanwoodtechnology.com

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Madison Wood Preservers www.madwood.com

Anthony Forest Products www.anthonyforest.com

Manufacturers Reserve Supply www.mrslumber.com

National Hardware Show www.nationalhardwareshow.com

Anthony Forest Products is part of the Canfor Group of Companies |

W W W. A N T H O N Y FO R E S T. CO M

APA–The Engineered Wood Association www.apawood.org

Anthony Forest Products Company, LLC

12/17/18 1:25 PM

BC Wood www.bcwood.com

North American Wholesale Lumber Assn. www.nawla.org

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Biewer Lumber www.biewerlumber.com

Northeastern Lumber Manufacturers Assn. www.nelma.org

Boise Cascade Building Materials Distribution www.bc.com/distribution

Paciﬁc Woodtech www.paciﬁcwoodtech.com

Boozer Beam www.boozerbeam.com

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PPG www.ppgpreﬁnished.com

Building Products Digest www.building-products.com

ProWood www.prowoodlumber.com

Coastal Plywood Co. www.coastalplywood.com

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Redwood Empire www.buyredwood.com

Crumpler Plastic Pipe www.cpp-pipe.com

Rigaku www.rigakuedxrf.com

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Culpeper Wood www.culpeperwood.com

RoyOMartin www.royomartin.com

Do it Best Corp. www.doitbestlbm.com

Scotch Plywood www.scotchplywood.com

Eastern Engineered Wood Products www.eewp.com

Simpson Strong-Tie www.strongtie.com

Everwood Treatment Co. www.everwoodtreatment.com

Swanson Group Sales Co. www.swansongroup.biz

526 Events www.526.events

Timber Products www.timberproducts.com

Great Southern Wood Preserving www.yellawood.com

TIVA Building Products www.tivabp.com

Hoover Treated Wood Products www.frtw.com

U-C Coatings www.uccoatings.com

Iron Woods www.ironwoods.com

Utah Lumber Co. www.utahlumber.com

Jordan Lumber www.jordanlumber.com

West Fraser www.westfraser.com/osb

Lonza Wood Protection www.wolmanizedwood.com/ewp

Weyerhaeuser www.weyerhaeuser.com

Building-Products.com

July 2021 n Building Products Digest n

FLASHBack 49 Years Ago This Month

F orty-nine years ago this month, in July of 1972,

we celebrated the 50th anniversary of BPD’s sister publication, The Western Lumber & Building Materials Merchant, with an array of history-minded and forwardlooking features. (And, if you can do the quick math, you’ll realize our magazines will be celebrating a major milestone in 2022.) The lead story was a forecast by Pete Niebling, western manager for the North American Wholesale Lumber Association, who peered ahead into the thendistant decades, attempting to predict what the industry’s distribution chain would look like in the next decade. You judge how prescient he was: • Fewer geographic separations. Niebling anticipated “a further decline in provincialism in the U.S. Mass communications and mobility will continue to dilute environmental influences that are local in nature.” The ability to look beyond the barriers of local borders would provide lumber companies with access not just to larger markets, but also to more sources and a wider base of knowledge. One consequence, he thought, would be greater conformity among marketing and operations, as industry best practices became better known.

THE JULY 1972 issue, sponsored by Rounds Lumber Co., celebrated the publication’s 50th anniversary.

• A transformed retailing structure. Niebling explained that traditionally retailing depends on “derived demand” (in other words, the consumer’s desires). Consequently, the pace of change among retailers is often dictated by the wants of the customer. Change, he admitted, was not one of the lumber industry’s strong points—perhaps, he reasoned, because its raw resource (the tree) was slow in growing and little in changing. Yet Niebling was confident greater change was coming. “We should not underestimate consumerism and its growing influence,” he wrote. • Far fewer unaligned and wholly independent dealers. Niebling noted the “increasing concentration of retailers,” notably the fast expansion of home improvement chains and the rush for independents to join franchises and purchasing groups. As a representative of wholesalers, he did fear that as retailers grew larger and more affiliated, they were more likely to seek to buy direct from manufacturers.

MY, HOW INDUSTRY training materials have changed. Back in 1972, APA offered its state-of-the-art plywood sales training program on cassette tapes and 35mm slides.

n Building Products Digest n July 2021

• New technology would come—with limits. Niebling predicted that while more automation was inevitable, customers might push back. “As technology increases, machines and sophisticated computers can help the large companies in these costs,” Niebling wrote. “However, today we see the consumer asking for more personal attention than machines can give. The quality of life along with the quality of bigness is seriously being questioned by much of society today. It remains to be seen whether our society will opt for dull, highlyorganized conformity or will demand higher quality, better service, and the ‘pleasures of difference.’” He noted that wholesalers remained optimistic for the future, evidenced by the massive upsurge in the formation of new forest products wholesale firms over the preceding 18 months.

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BPD

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Change Service Requested

Madison Wood Proudly Presents Our latest shipment tracking techology, MADtrak. Available exclusively for our premier Blue Diamond Dealers. “Though 2020 was a strange and challenging year in our industry, the one Vendor Partner that exceeded expectations was Madison Wood Preservers. Though it was not easy, their communication and order tracking system, “Madtrak”, kept us informed as to the status of our treated orders. This allowed us to relay arrival dates to our customers and keep our delivery dates accurate. We know that our treated lumber will be of the highest quality and backed by the ﬁnest treater in the country.” Kevin Potter, Purchasing Director Tague Lumber

BPD July 2021

Articles inside

FLASHBACK

ADVERTISERS INDEX

DATEBOOK

NEW PRODUCTS

INDUSTRY TRENDS

APA ON EWP

MOVERS & SHAKERS

THINKING AHEAD WITH NAWLA

TRANSFORMING TEAMS

LUMBER 411

FEATURE STORY

ACROSS THE BOARD

COMPETITIVE INTELLIGENCE

ON THE MOVE

OLSEN ON SALES

MARGIN BUILDERS