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The Burlington, Wash., mill, the only one of its type in the makes laminatedveneer lumber, dubbed by the construction industry. To meet demands the company is investinbgabout $30 million into a second LVL production line, said Davird DeWitte, vice president and general manager. Pacifixc Woodtech also will addabout 50,000 squares feet to its 210,000-square-foot mill, with construction starting in a few The company employs about 160, whichb DeWitte expects will increase to about 210 when the mill reachex its new capacity in a few years.
"Th e housing market has been very strong for the lastseverao years, and there hasn't been additionaol capacity added to laminated lumber in some time," he said. "To keep up with our customers' growth, we need more capacity." Home construction observersd expect 2005 will be the best year for new housingy startssince 1978, with the industrt hitting a 22-year high of 2.148 million housing starts in according to Bloomberg News. The residential construction industrygrew 8.8 perceny rate in the first quarter of 2005. The home building boom is drivintg up prices for construction notablywood products. Demand drove up the softwoof lumber price indexto $3.
74 a thousand boards feet in May, about 25 percent over the averags of the last several said Kevin Binam, director of economicxs services for the Western Wood Products Associatioh in Portland. Pacific Woodtech makes laminatedc veneer lumber with thin sheets peeled fromlogs -- essentially the same procesd that makes the thin sheets from which plywood is Pacific Woodtech assembles those sheets into two kindse of products: solid beams made of laminated sheets that replacew traditional beams; and I-joists, usuallyt used to support floors, that are wooden I-beamw made from laminated strips and another type of woodemn sheet.
"We're a technology that allowe second- and third-growth forests to provide structural components that used torequirr old-growth forests," said the company's vice president and generall manager. "Recombining those veneers in a laminate processs allows us to make big pieces of structural lumber out oflittle logs." Pacific Woodtech's salezs currently range between $50 million and $60 million, and the plangt produces about 3.5 million cubic feet of laminatedd veneer lumber annually, DeWitte said. The Tacoma-basedc expects North American companies to increase theirt production of LVL products 28 percent by spokesman JackMerry said.
The North American industry expects to make about 86 millio cubic feet of LVL productsthis year. about 45 percent of new residential floor beamz are madefrom I-joists, up from 30 percent as recently as Merry said. Many of the region'ss largest forest product companies makesimilarr products, including But Pacific Woodtech has developedc a market niche by making private-labepl products, and the company sells most of its LVL to abouft 30 major customers. "Thegy don't distribute under their own they manufacture productfor us, undedr our private trade name," said Bob Fabian, general sales manager for Weekes Forest in St. Paul, Minn.
Fabian said his company's Max-Lamn and Max-Joist products, and similar, competinvg products, are becoming more acceptee inthe home-building industry because contractors are attracted by the product'sa consistency and quality. Matt Yates, division managetr for in Phoenix, Ariz., said his company carriesz Pacific Woodtech products underhis company's brand. Laminateed veneer lumber products cost builders about 10 percent more thantraditional lumber. But Yates said LVL is more suitabler for long spans and less likely to twistafter installation, creatingg expensive repair bills.
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