Industry Announcements

Although the recent commotion about lumber design values has been centered on Southern Pine, traders and industry associations are also keeping their eyes on other lumber species.

The Gores Group, the primary owner of Stock Building Supply, has bought the remaining shares of the LBM company from UK-based Wolseley for an undisclosed sum. 

Single-family housing starts rose 3.9 percent to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 430,000 units in October

The American Iron & Steel Institute has published AISI S202-11: Code of Standard Practice for Cold Formed Steel Structural Framing, 2011 Edition.

SBCA and SFPA hosted the Southern Pine Design Value Forum, a two-day meeting which brought together component manufacturers, homebuilders, Southern Pine lumber producers, and lumber experts to discuss the SPIB's proposed changes to Southern Pine design values.

SFPA has experienced industry-wide interest in the Southern Pine Design Value Forum, to be held next week in Atlanta. SFPA wants to remind all interested parties that participation in this event is by invitation only.

The Southern Forest Products Association (SFPA) has posted on its website www.southernpine.com the maximum span capabilities for Southern Pine joists and rafters, using the Southern Pine Inspection Bureau’s (SPIB) proposed design values for visually graded dimension lumber.

BlueLinx Holdings, the Atlanta-based distributor of building products, has announced plans to launch a complete line of privately branded engineered lumber products.

Several former executives from ProBuild Holdings, led by former CEO PaulHylbert, have announced their plans to form a building materials distribution company called Kodiak Building Partners. 

Recently, there have been design value changes proposed for some visual grades of lumber. These decisions will have no impact on the design values of Machine Stress Rated (MSR) lumber and Machine Evaluated Lumber (MEL) because of the way these products are manufactured and tested.