Let's Look This Green Lumber Fact in the FaceMr. California Lumberman

By Jack Dionne

Not long ago there rvas reported in these colunns the fact that in San Francisco a splendid new home rms being builg u"ing recond hand timbers for franing, the architect and builder stating that he was doing that because he could not buy dry stock and would not use the green that seemed to be the only thing on the market.

That might have seemed to be an isolated case, but there is so nuch additional evidence developing along the same line that it seems as thowh the time had come to take this ques. tion up without gloves, and tdk it over.

There is now working in California Mn Reginald T. Titus. Mr. Titus ic spending two montrhs in this state. He is a field engineer and trade extension worker with the West C-oast Lumber Trade Extension Bureau, of Seattle, Washington, which is the merchandisiog "nd advertising end of the organized lumber industry in the Pacific Northwes! and his work in California at the present time ir ca[ing on the architects of the state in the interest of wood generally, and Northwestern wood pro. ducts pa*icularly.

Mr. Tituc has been several weeks in the state already, and his findingr are indeed interesting. He sayr that fully three out of cvely four arfitects he calls on, make tlre voluntary state. ment to him that the chief reason why they do not sp€cify more wo'od in their construction work is because they cannot get seasoned lumber, and that they refuse to specify the use of a material that will shrink in the walls. Mr. Titus finds the architectural profession to be universally of the opinion that green lumber is not a frt building material, and will not be used by them when they can get any other materials.

M"rty of these architects have cited to Mr. Titus individual caser where they used wood framing, and when the shrinkage came the walls cracked, and had to be replastered after the shrinkage ceased. One architect told him that that Eame thing happened in every home where he has used green lumber, with the result that he would uEe no more except when it was impossible to do otiherwise.

Another anEwer that he got from numerous architects when he inquired why they did not give wood construction consideration when planning a building, rya! that they had never before been called upori by anyone ruggerting or promoting tihe use of wood, while tbe makerc of other commodities keep on their trail the entire time, advising, informing, ond asristing the architect in the selection of materials. Under such conditions, who gets the business? lf the architects are right, something ehould be done about it, shouldn't there?

The otrher d.y I read a letter on the subiect of green lumber written by one of the best known retail lrrmbermen in C-alifornia" It was a more or less confidential letter, written to a friend, and I will therefore not mention his name for that rearon, but will gladly give it to anyone interested enough to want to know. He lives in the San Joaquin Valley, and he toH of building a home for himgelf, using the customary green dimension, and within a year having to tear out some of the wallr and replace the studding, which had warped, and then rotted right in the wall.

Whatts the answer?

The experience of Mr. Titus with the California architects brings tfiis matter to the front in a r''anner that cannot be evaded. It is manifest that lumber and wood constnrction is guffering in California because tlre architects do not believe the grecn lumber ondinarily used here for construction purpos€r is a proper material.

And if they are wrong, it is someonets business to put tlrem right, and it ought to be done in a hurry. The West Crast Trade Extension Bureau, which is promoting the use of Fir and Hemlock all over the country, isntt going to tackle the job, because they will undoubtdly rgree with the architects. Mr. Titur, a wood and forest engineer, took no i$ue with tihem because his training and experience teach him that green lumber cannot make as good a building as seasoned lunben

The California Lumber M<irchant considers that there is no more important quection before the lumber industry of this state today than this one, and o.pens its columns to its readers for a discussion of the subiect, either side, or both.