WWPI SPECIAL ISSUE By David Koenig
Change continues for wood treaters
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or many U.S. wood treaters, the last two years have been a time of record sales and extreme challenges, coping with unprecedented demand and volatile pricing in the midst of a worldwide pandemic. According to Culpeper Wood Preservers director of business development Chris Brown, “Lumber prices are sky high. Fuel and freight rates are rising daily. Labor shortages are still prevalent. With everything going on in our nation and overseas, we might see people sit on their money this year not knowing what the future holds for inflation.” Most treaters interviewed expect an eventual drop on the price side, as residential lumber sales drop back to preCOVID levels, while industrials likely hold steadier. Consequently, Brown says, “everyone is basically just plugging holes on inventory until that happens because
no one wants to be heavy on the inventory side.” Last year was also a period of significant consolidation, as several of the nation’s largest wood preservers got larger via acquisition (see below). The biggest move was Doman Building Materials purchasing Hixson Lumber Sales, which saturates eight Central states. Doman has begun converting the Hixson operations to DMSi Agility ERP, which it already uses at its California Cascade division facilities in the West. Hixson anticipates having all 19 Hixson treating plants up to speed by the end of this month, after which it will start upgrades at the Hixson sawmills. Industrywide consolidation is likely to continue. Stella-Jones, among others, stated it intends to continue pursuing “selective” acquisitions this year. Change will certainly remain a hallmark for treaters in 2022.
2022 Top Treaters
The following 14 companies are those that operate at least three treating plants in the U.S. They are ordered by number of facilities, not by production volumes. Stella-Jones has 12 pole-peeling plants and 40 treating facilities (26 of them in the U.S.) following its purchase last year of Cahaba Pressure Treated Forest Products and Cahaba Timber, Brierfield, Al. Treatments include CCA, creosote, CuNap, borates, MCA, CA and ACQ. UFP Industries has 193 affil ted operations in nine countries, including 23 treating plants from Colorado eastward, primarily along the East Coast, Midwest and Texas. Treatments include Prowood brand MCA, CA-C, borates and FRTW. UFP also owns Sunbelt Forest Products, Bartow, Fl., which acquired Spartanburg Forest Products in 2021 and now operates 11 plants in the Southeast and mid-Atlantic regions, utilizing Ecolife, TimberSaver borates, Preserve CA, Preserve Plus CA with water repellent, Wolman E MCA with BARamine technology.
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Doman Building Materials, Vancouver, B.C., last year took over Hixson Lumber Sales, Carrollton, Tx., and its 18 treating plants, fi e specialty sawmills, two planers mills, and one large timber mill in the Central U.S. They offer MCA, C -C, EcoLife, CCA, borates and FRTW. Other Doman treating operations include Honsador in Hawaii, four California Cascade facilities in California and Oregon, and seven CanWel treatment plants in Canada. Great Southern Wood Preserving, Abbeville, Al., is among the nation’s highest volume treaters from its 15 facilities throughout the South, Midwest and Eastern Seaboard—the latest acquired last year from Escue Wood Preserving, Millwood, Ky. Its YellaWood brand family of products includes YellaWood Select and SuperSelect KDAT products, YellaWood Columns, MasterDeck
n The Merchant Magazine n April 2022
decking, and Rainwood with water repellent, plus fencing, railing, specialty products, fasteners, stains and sealants. Treatments are MCA, borates, FRTW, CCA and CA-C. Culpeper Wood Preservers, Culpeper, Va., operates 13 facilities in Virginia, Indiana, Maryland and the Carolinas, following its acquisition last year of Eden Wood Preserving and Coastal Wood Industries, Fruitland, Md., and Bestway’s treating facility Lancaster, Ma. Treatments include MicroPro MCA, Advance Guard borates, CCA, FlamePro interior FRTW, and CAC. Koppers Utility & Industrial Products, a division of Koppers Holdings, operates 13 industrial plants, concentrated in the Southeast plus Arbuckle, Ca., treating with CCA, penta, CuNap, and creosote. Hoover Treated Wood Products, Thomson, Ga., is best known as an originator of fi e-retardant treatments, but also operates 10 of its own treating plants, from coast to coast, offering Py o-Guard interior FRTW, Exterior Fire-X exterior FRTW, CCA, permethrin/IPBC-based Clear-Guard, Cop-Guard CuNap, Micro-Guard MCA, and Dura-Guard ACQ. Allweather Wood is the largest waterborne preservative-treated lumber manufacturer and distributor in the western U.S., with fi e treating plants in California, Colorado, Oregon and Washington. Treatments include borates, CA-C, CCA, MCA and interior FRTW. Bestway, Cortland, N.Y., has four treating plants (in New York, Pennsylvania and North Carolina) that offer olmanized Outdoor Wood, Wolmanized Heavy Duty CCA, and D-Blaze interior FRTW. Fortress Wood Products’ three plants in North Carolina produce MicroPro MCA and CCA, including KDAT. Biewer Lumber’s three treating plants (in Lansing, Mi.; Seneca, Il.; and Prentice, Wi.) have a combined annual capacity of 350 million bd. ft. of CA-C, MCA and Dricon FRTW. Southeast Forest Products, Montgomery, Al., operates three treating plants in Louisville and Nauvoo, Al., and Richmond, In., utilizing CA-C, Ecolife, MCA and borates. C.M. Tucker Lumber, Pageland, S.C., runs three plants in the Carolinas, treating fencing, decking, lumber and plywood with Ecolife, Preserve CA, Wolmanized MCA, and FlamePro interior fi e retardant. Conrad Forest Products treats in North Bend and Rainier, Or., and Arbuckle, Ca., using Wolmanized Heavy Duty CCA, Chemonite ACZA, Wolmanized Outdoor Wood CA-C, Sillbor/FrameGuard borates, interior and exterior FRTW, and QNap.
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