Southern California Builders Finding Greater Range o[ Uses lor Ponderosa Pine

Pressure of national defense on the lumber supply and a brisk building market are serving as joint introductory cards for wider uses of Ponderosa Pine in the Southern California building trades. That is the conviction of W. A. (Bill) Constans of Klamath Falls, Oregon, sales manager of the Weyerhaeuser Timber Company's mill at that point.

"The keen competition for lumber has stimulated build-

'ers to use increased ingenuity," said Mr. Constans, following a recent personal survey in which he gave particular attention to the Los Angeles area. "Although Ponderosa Pine has proved its merits in the lumber markets of the world long before now, f was interested in learning that many builders and contractors and carpenters have in recent months made use of this versatile lumber for the first time. f guess all of us tend to become fixed in habits and custom, but it is in times like these that we have to use greater ingenuity to keep going. Very often this break from usage and custom has its benefits."

Mr. Constans inspected a wide range of residential building running all the way from expensive residences individually designed by architects to multiple dwelling rental projects and minimum cost subdivision developments.

"I noticed that Ponderosa Pine doors, both interior and exterior, were being installed in a great many new residential units," the mill man said. "I talked with a number of carpenters, some of whom had never worked with Ponderosa Pine doors until recently, and all were enthusiastic about the ease with which the doors could be fitted for hardware because of the soft, even, grainless texture of the wood. The same enthusiasm went for the painters, who, in their case, remarked that Ponderosa Pine because of its light color could be covered with one less coat of paint, and further because of the smooth milling of the lumber they were able to get an unusually fine finish."

Mr. Constans was particularly impressed by the amount of wide Ponderosa Pine siding now being used in gable ends and other partial wall applications to provide pleasing contrast vrrith stucco.

"I made particular note," he said, "that many retail lumber dealers are now stocking small amounts of Ponderosa selects for general pick-up use and that the same held true for siding, both bevel and pattern numbers. In many cases these items were new to the dealers' inventories, but were being ordered to meet the widening demand for these better grades upon the part of contractors and builders.

"However, such increased stocks were not confined to