Tree huggers take heart

December 16, 12:21 AMHousing ExaminerDena Kouremetis

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Muir Woods

How about building your home with shrubs?

A species known as Western juniper (considered by many a worthless desert weed throughout parts of Oregon, Idaho and California) has now become one of the most ecologically correct sources of lumber.

In a report by SustainableIndustries.com, Mark Cobb, owner of West Coast Juniper Distributing admits that most people consider Juniperis occidentalis a type of landscaping. Cobb’s Chiloquin, Ore.-based company has now taken what was an invasive species (a target for federal eradication) and made it into a building product that costs about the same as using pine lumber. In the past, these junipers were being systematically removed and then burned.

Cobb sells five types of flooring, wall panels, decking, outdoor posts, moldings and trims, with the waste going to a door manufacturer that uses the high-fiber material for door skins. He works with mills in Idaho and Oregon and has reportedly brought logging jobs back to areas where jobs like these shrank due to rising prices for pine.

Engineered wood products are another alternative to traditional sources of lumber. Engineered (fabricated) wood is manufactured by bonding together wood strands, veneers, lumber or other forms of wood fiber to produce a composite unit that is stronger and stiffer than the sum of its parts, according to the Engineered Wood Association. North American production of most engineered wood products is forecast to rise significantly over the next decade.

As sources for traditional and public forest timber becomes less available, producers have had to improve existing methods and invent new ways to make more with less, and it looks as if the industry is responding to that challenge.

Engineered lumber costs less than dimensional lumber, offers easy installation, stability, and structural integrity, actually improving upon many of the inherent structural advantages of wood.

The consistent quality of engineered wood is a key advantage. The dry materials used means I-joists generally do not shrink or warp, even though there are added costs, making engineered wood more expensive per lineal foot than traditional lumber.

Manufactured wood products are also environmentally friendly, purportedly using up to 60 percent less wood fiber than solid-sawn varieties with very little or no waste, according to a senior engineer for the Engineered Wood Association.

Limitations for engineered wood include its use for structure to interior use only and workers must be educated in how to work with it as opposed to traditional lumber.

However, the association reports that ten years ago, fewer than 30 percent of the floors used engineered lumber. By 2004, approximately half of all newly built homes have had engineered-wood I-joists installed.