Freres Lumber Builds For The Future With New Mass Plywood Panels

Freres Lumber Builds For The Future With New Mass Plywood Panels

 

Tyler Freres, vice president of sales for Freres Lumber Co., walked through a new manufacturing plant between Mill City and Lyons, off of Cedar Mill Road, and pointed out a stack of wood panels destined for Oregon State University this week. “I don’t even think we’ve started to tap the products and the projects we can make out of this,” Freres said.

Freres Lumber Co.’s mass plywood panels were certified for use at the end of July, and the product is already being used in buildings and for other construction purposes. And Freres is thinking big. “We have quite a bit of projects in the works, probably 14 to 16 projects quoted,” said Freres, whose ideas led to the creation of the mass plywood panels by his family’s company.

The OSU shipment is the final delivery of the panels to be used in two new buildings that will form the Oregon Forest Science Center on campus, which is estimated to cost $80 million and scheduled to open in the fall of 2019.

The mass plywood panels will be used for the roof of the George W. Peavy Forest Science Center, and for the interior and exterior walls of the nearby A.A. “Red” Emmerson Advanced Wood Products Laboratory.

Both buildings are showcasing innovative wood products made in Oregon, and the mass plywood panels are the latest entry into the market. Freres Lumber was only the third United States producer of mass timber panels to meet the Engineered Wood Association’s standards.

From the Corvallis Gazette-Times: gazettetimes.com.

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EPA Updates, Clarifies Formaldehyde Emission Standards For Composite Wood

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has proposed technical amendments to its formaldehyde emissions standards for composite wood products.

Published last week in the Federal Register, the proposed changes primarily address concerns over testing and certification provisions of the rule published in December 2016, which require suppliers, importers, and manufacturers of hardwood plywood, MDF, and particleboard to limit the products’ formaldehyde emissions.

The EPA proposed removing the requirement for annual correlations between third-party certifiers and other mill quality testing procedures. The changes also clarify labeling requirements.

The changes are meant to streamline compliance and align more closely with the California Air Resources Board (CARB) Toxic Control Measures (ATCM) Phase II.

Public comments from a June meeting influenced the proposed rule. The meeting was held to address technical issues, like correlation and equivalence of testing methods, how test data is treated, and handling sampling requirements. Public comments on the latest proposed changes will be accepted until December 3.

Read more on this from Woodworking Network at https://www.woodworkingnetwork.com/news/woodworking-industry-news/epa-updates-clarifies-formaldehyde-emission-standards-composite-wood?ss=news,news,woodworking_industry_news,news,almanac_market_data,news,canadian_news.

Boise Cascade Selling Two Sawmills, P’Board Operations In Oregon To Woodgrain

Boise Cascade Company has entered into an agreement with Woodgrain Millwork to sell its northeast Oregon lumber mills in Pilot Rock and La Grande and the particleboard operations in Island City. The planned transaction does not include Boise Cascade’s plywood mill or the powerhouse and log utilization center, based in Elgin, OR.

Woodgrain is a manufacturer and supplier with a diverse product offering including moulding, door shop products, and window parts, headquartered in Idaho. “The sale to Woodgrain allows us to further focus on our veneer-based engineered wood products and plywood businesses,” said Mike Brown, senior vice president of operations, Boise Cascade Wood Products division. “Woodgrain is a family-owned company with a solid reputation in the industry. The products manufactured at these northeast Oregon facilities are a good fit with their business strategy.”

“Being a fully integrated company in each step of our supply chain has become one of our core strengths as a company,” said Kelly Dame, Woodgrain CEO. “Being able to grow the Woodgrain Lumber division is a key step in growing as a company. We are excited about the opportunity it offers.”

The details of the agreement were not disclosed and the transaction is contingent upon the results of the due diligence process, which is expected to take approximately 60 days.

First Mass Plywood Panel Gets APA Certification

First Mass Plywood Panel Gets APA Certification

Freres Lumber Company says it has achieved Mass Plywood Panels (MPP) certification under the APA – The Engineered Wood Association’s ANSI/APA PRG 320 standard.

The product is the first Mass Timber Panel constructed entirely out of Structural Composite Lumber (SCL) worldwide, making it much more cost effective than CLT (cross-laminated timber) options, according to a Freres news release. Mass Timber Panels will allow rapid construction of multi-story structures with pre-fabricated structural wood panels, the release says.

The predictable char rate of mass timber panels allows buildings to be built taller with wood, allowing multi-story structures out of wood up to 18 stories anticipated in the next iteration of the International Building Code (IBC). Wood structures carry a smaller carbon footprint, provide greater sustainability, faster construction with less waste and are an economically favorable construction method compared to concrete and steel, Freres says.

The company says it is continuing to refine the design values of the product line, and will roll out additional MPP product configurations.

From Building Design + Construction: bdcnetwork.com

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