New Grade of Douglas Fir Plywood Sheathing

Tacoma, Wash., June 2.-A substantial contribution to the current demand for practical low-cost housing is shown in the development of a new grade of Douglas Fir Plywood Sheathing which is being grade-marked and scored under the name PLYSCORD. Announcement of the availability of the new product was made today by W. E. Difford, managing director of the Douglas Fir Plywood Association.

The new grade has been standardized by all members of the Association to meet the needs ol architects. contractors, and builders for a sheathing that is easy to applI, economical to use and which will, at the same time, add strength and rigidity to homes.

During the month of June and continuing through the. summer PLYSCORD Sheathing will be backed by extensive advertising schedules in a wide list of trade papers and trade magazines. Dealer helps for direct cons.umer contact are ready for distribution.

Each panel of PLYSCORD will be plainly marked and scored with parallel lines across the panel. The lines are spaced 16 inches apart and when the carpenter lays the panel horizontally over the studs, the lines indicate their exact location for nailing. The scoring is also helpful in locating studding when siding is to be laid over the Sheathing.

The scoring lines on the panels consist of a substantial blue line over which the name PLYSCORD is printed every few inches. Allowance for imprinting the name of the individual producing mill is made between the words PLYSCORD.

PLYSCORD will be available in standard 8 feet lengths. 37' and 48" widths and in 5/16", /s" and ft" thicknesses. These sizes were decided upon after consulting architects, contractors, and builders for their suggestions. For most ordinary structures it was found that 5/l€' and /s" thicknesses would be suitable, but where maximum strength and rigidity is a factor, the sf" thickness is to be recommended.

The new Sheathing grade has an improved face and shall present a solid surface. There will be no large knot holes or pitch pockets and the stripping of paper tape will be reduced to a maximum of not more than two to each panel.

Extensive tests and research indicates that builders may expect a saving of more than fu/o in nailing. Because of the large panels, also, there will be labor savings in cutting and fitting as compared with ordinary types of horizontal or diagonal Sheathing.

The rigidity of PLY,SCORD Sheathing is shown by tests made by the U. S. Forest Products Laboratory at Madison, Wisconsin. Compared with ordinary horizontal Sheathing, PLYSCORD makes a wall 6 times as rigid.

while compared with diagonal Sheathing, it makes a wall 4O/o more dgid.

Many builders have commented on the appearance of model homes sheathed with PLYSCORD, adding that it has a favorable efiect upon prospective home-owners who visit the projects during construction. This type of Sheathing, they say, gives builders a realistic picture of the reasons why Plywood Sheathing makes walls warmer and windproof, while at the same time adding strength to the entire structure.

Some contractors prefer to cover the entire wall of the structure with PLYSCORD at the outset, cutting openings with a skil saw after the wall is in place. In many instances, such procedure has effected additional savings for the builder.

The current interest in vapor barriers adds an unusual feature to the announcement of PLYSCORD Sheathing.

Professor F. B. Rowley is quoted on Page ll? of. the March 1938 ARCHITECTURAL RECORD, as follows: ..A fundamental principle often overlooked is that a vapor barrier should be placed on the warm side and not on the cold side of the wall . "

This statement is of vital importance in consideration of the practicability of PLYSCORD Sheathing, Association engineering and research experts say, for this Sheathing will not seal vapors within the wall thereby causing moisture condensation and attendant structural problems. The vapors within the wall will be allowed to escape to the outside through PLYSCORD.

On the inner or warm side of walls where condensation may develop in wall or roof spaces, vapor barriers should be used, these men say.

They point out that condensation problems occur during cold winter weather in buildings of standard construction where humidities are maintained in excess of. 35 to 4A%, and, where highly efficient insulating materials and weather-stripping are used, at even lower humidities.

Douglas Fir Plywood deals with the condensation problem by attacking it from the inner or warm side of the wall. In this case, two coats of asphalt paint on the back of Douglas Fir Plywood interior wall paneling or a layer of asphalt coated and impregnated Sheathing paper weighing 50 pounds per roll of 500 square feet applied to the studs and ceiling joists below the roof before applying the plywood, makes a highly effective vapor barrier at very low expense according to tests made at the Forest products Laboratory, Madison, Wisconsin.

Lumber dealers all over the United States may secure additional information about PLYSCORD from their regular source of supply for Douglas Fir Plywood, according to Managing Director W. E. Difford.

Have You Off ered Them Paint?

Have you a list of the unpainted and paint-needing structures in your selling territory?

Have you made a deliberate, intelligent, direct effort to sell the paint IDEA to everyone on that list this spring and summer?

You haven't?

Then what a grand opportunity to exert some interesting salesmanship you still have before you. (To the selling enthusiast the fact that he has interesting selling opportunities constantly presenting themselves, is the spice of life and of business.)

Get out and see how many of those folks you can sell. Sell yourself first. Then sell your prospect. MENTALLY. Figure out your selling plan, your selling talk, your selling PRICE. When your campaign is in suitable shape in your own mind, go get that prospect, and do the job even better to HIM, than you did in preparation.

Know what he needs and what you think he should do and YOU can do, to supply those needs. Present those facts to him. Visualize them. Be certain you SHO.W something of a paint character to every man or woman you call on, because you can sell them beter through the EYES than you can through the EARS. Don't forget that. And it's particularly true of paint, because a paint job has a particular appeal to the average human. Its color, gloss, finish and the improvement it has worked on the raw surface, is most effective.

Paint is your best, most natural side-line, Mr. Lumber Merchant. See that the woo'den structures in your territory are well painted.

BACK FROM L. A. TRIP

Geo. R. Kendrick, California division manager of Pope & Talbot Lumber Company, San Francisco, was on a business trip to the Los Angeles office last week.

Will Vacation In Northwest

A. D. Davis, secretary of the Southern Division of the California Retail Lumbermen's Association, Los Angeles, irnd Mrs. Davis, will leave next week on a two weeks' vacation which they will spend at Portland, Ore.

With Rogers Lumber Company

Harvey W. Koll, who has been connected with the lumber business in Southern California for many years, is now with the Rogers Lumber Company of Inglewood, Calif., acting as sales manager in the wholesale department. Ife announces they are doing a wholesale business in Ponderosa and Sugar Pine.

Looks Over Redwood Country

W. B. Jefferson of the Greater City Lumber Company, San Francisco, recently took a few days,ofi to make a trip up the Redwood Highway. He crossed over to Grants Pass and returned by the Pacific Highway.