Lumber Briefs: Countervailing Duty Preliminary Ruling...19.88%...Bearish For Lumber Matt Layman Preliminary CVD announced at 19.88% The pieces are falling into place. Department of Commerce has issued its preliminary countervailing duty on Canadian softwood lumber exports destined for the U.S. The rate of 19.88% is lower than the anticipated 30%. In addition, the four largest producers... Read More May 2017 Issue #10214 Page 65
All Things Wood: A Common-Sense Design to Create Durable Overhangs Frank Woeste Decay, or wood rot, requires three conditions to be present: liquid water, oxygen, and a favorable temperature (generally between 35 and 100 degrees F). Of the three, the only factor that can be managed by building design is liquid water. Hence, overhangs of sufficient width are critical to... Read More May 2017 Issue #10214 Page 66
Truss Robotics Joe Kannapell The path of factory innovation is leading us to automated systems rather than true robotics. Though industrial robotics has been used for 30 years in our industry, it has served mainly as a forerunner to later systems. Its earliest commercialization, the robotic arms of the Koskovich component... Read More April 2017 Issue #10213 Page 6
When I Cut My Lumber, Do I Affect the Lumber Grade? Glenn Traylor As a general rule, when you cut lumber to length, the lumber grade is unchanged. In those cases, care should be taken to transfer that grade verification along with the cut lumber. This can be done with a lumber crayon, segregation, tagging, or many other suitable ways. Ripping lumber,... Read More April 2017 Issue #10213 Page 30
Lumber Briefs: Transition From Multi-Family to Single Family Is Here Matt Layman For a few months now, I have detected an uneasiness among lumber buyers. Near term expectations are bullish, however, there is an underlying sense of caution. Something is just not quite right in the housing sector. I believe I know what it is. Winds of Change Several years ago, when... Read More April 2017 Issue #10213 Page 65
Lumber Briefs: Lumber Market Volatility About to Binge Matt Layman Have you heard the news? Lumber prices are up? Feel like punching me in the throat, don’t you? Over the past several months, we have been looking at ways to save money in the lumber market. Saving money adds money to your bank account, which means that saving money is part of our business... Read More March 2017 Issue #10212 Page 65
All Things Wood: Impact of Sustained Elevated Temperature on Wood Frank Woeste Unlike solid-sawn lumber, the mechanical properties of some materials are greatly affected by ambient temperatures and solar-radiation heating, as depicted by the photograph. However, while the engineering design properties of solid-sawn lumber are not affected by ambient temperatures, they can... Read More March 2017 Issue #10212 Page 66
Lumber Briefs: The Real Cost of “Not Discounting” Invoices Matt Layman Part Four in the Save Money Series Back in the good old days, when I was a rookie lumber broker, central zone SYP producers offered wholesalers a 5% discount which gave us incentive to work their wood outside Mississippi and Alabama. I offer that just to be aggravating. Also, back in... Read More February 2017 Issue #10211 Page 58
Is This an Allowable Repair? Glenn Traylor There is nothing worse than running a truss out the door and then realizing one of the truss members is broken. The question is – can I make a quick fix using a connector plate? The short answer is – no. But there are many who may not realize that specific engineering is required for... Read More January 2017 Issue #10210 Page 28
Lumber Briefs: Anticipated 2x4 Prices H1-2017 Matt Layman Part Three in the Save Money Series I certainly do not have crystal ball, but I do have something almost as good. I have history and the ability to analyze the market from a fundamental and technical perspective. Together they provide an 86% accurate forecast of when prices will rise and... Read More January 2017 Issue #10210 Page 59