To offer the cheapest bulkhead materials you will find, Building Products Plus in Houston, TX has developed BulkheadMaterials.com (http://www.bulkheadmaterials.com) to promote their ultra low-cost vinyl bulkhead materials packages — especially for 3, 4, and 5 feet tall (exposed height) walls.

The prices are actually listed on BulkheadMaterials.com and include all wood and hardware required to build a basic vinyl bulkhead. The materials are shipped in what they call “ready to build” packages.

Vinyl Sheet Piling Has Become a Commodity

The vinyl sheet piling market has become thoroughly competitive during the last decade. 10 years ago there were only a few producers but now with abundant vinyl sheet manufacturers, advances in technology, and the spread of production knowledge vinyl sheet pilings have essentially become a commodity product.

Building Products Plus keeps prices low by maintaining relationships with multiple vinyl sheet piling producers and by purchasing opportunistically. The resulting low costs are passed to you. The manufacturer of the materials you purchase may vary but all vinyl bulkhead materials quoted on and sold from BulkheadMaterials.com meet minimum specified requirements for the wall size indicated.

Vinyl Bulkhead Design

To help plan your project, you will find some basic bulkhead design drawings on BulkheadMaterials.com at http://www.bulkheadmaterials.com/vinyl-bulkhead-design.htm. The drawings will be helpful for purchasing your bulkhead materials and understanding the basic elements of your wall.

Vinyl Bulkhead Quotes

You can get a quote for your specific wall, including delivery, by phone or online at http://www.bulkheadmaterials.com/contact.htm. Your quote will be created by an experienced project consultant who can help you make decisions about the best vinyl sheet piling lengths, best wood treatment levels, and hardware choices.

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Building Products Plus, LLP is a manufacturer and supplier of extended-life building materials for marine and shoreline, high-end commercial, and farm and ranch projects. Based in Houston, TX, Building Products Plus has been supplying long-lasting building materials since 1993.

The straw bale house is called the balehaus@bath and has set out to demonstrate the effectiveness of smart design and the use of renewable materials to decrease a home’s carbon footprint.

Straw – Renewable & Insulating
Straw is exceptionally renewable and has excellent insulating properties so it is a very energy-efficient building material when considering both production and the operation of the home. Additionally, hay (straw) can generally be grown locally (in most places) so carbon emissions from transportation are reduced as well.

Panels Resists Fire
Flammability tests of the pre-fabricated panels showed that they resisted fire very well – 4 times as long as required. Read more about that here.

See for yourself. Here’s the image gallery and you will also see a link to the “straw cam” where you can watch some videos of the construction.

The house is about more than just the straw bales. Design and other factors are considered as well. This might be one of many great options researchers find to develop greener homes for a “carbon-neutral” future.

Think about it – “treated” wood with zero chemicals – 100% natural wood.

Thermally Modified Wood
Although thermally modified wood has been proven effective in Europe since the mid-90′s, it is new to the US where it took on the brand name Nature’s Choice. Developed in Finland, thermally modified wood is kind of baked (for lack of a better word) until the composition of the wood changes such that it is no longer attractive to termites, fungus, and other forms of decay. Using special kilns, the wood is heated for about a day to just below flash point and cooled using carefully timed applications of water to maximize its strength and longevity.

As Green As It Gets
Nature’s Choice (http://www.NaturesChoiceDeck.com) is as green as it gets. It is made of easily renewable southern yellow pine from managed forest land and produced in the heart of Amish country in production facilities that use relatively zero electricity. It’s seriously green from start to finish. It contains no chemicals so you don’t have to worry about your gardens, lawn, ground water, or kids. And, finally, since it is long-lasting the wood will not need to be replaced often. However, when you do replace it the wood can be thrown away, re-used, or even burned (unlike chemically pressure-treated wood).

This is the stuff dreams are made of, eco-speaking.

Physical Properties
Its strength is up to par, too. You can cut, drill, nail, screw, and everything just like regular wood. No special fasteners are required but you can use a hidden deck fastener system is you wish. In other words, it is regular wood – except, you know, with no chemicals.

Here are the stats from Nature’s Choice Deck technical info page.

Beautiful Appearance – Darker Color
Nature’s Choice is made of premium grade (better than #1) southern yellow pine so the boards are about 100% free of wane and nearly totally free of knots. The faces of the boards are different (one side smooth, the other grooved) and since the wood is so highly selected, the boards are essentially reversible.

The thermal modification process darkens the wood to a beautiful light-mahogany color. The picture above is unstained pine (really!). See the Nature’s Choice Deck website for more pictures. According to the guys at Building Products Plus, all of the pictures on the site (as of the date of this writing) are southern yellow pine. Hard to believe but see the comparison image here.

Dimensions & Availability
Currently, Nature’s Choice thermally modified wood is available in 1″x5″ (actual dimensions) deck boards. They say they will offer more in the future. In fact, they mentioned plans for large timbers made with the stuff and maybe even pilings. Yes, chemical-free pilings. These guys are kind of quietly leading their own green movement.

Expect to see more Nature’s Choice Deck in the future. People have been looking for this sort of thing and it’s finally here.

“Sure,” said I. So, here it is.

Consumer Safety and Product Performance of Micronized Copper Technology Confirmed

GRIFFIN, Ga., Feb. 11 — On Feb. 9, 2009 in a negative public relations document apparently intended to scare users of treated wood, Charlotte, NC-based Viance criticized the effectiveness of micronized copper wood preservatives. “Viance is once again attempting to create unfounded concerns about consumer safety and product performance, using statistically insignificant and suspect data,” said Paul Goydan, President of Osmose, Inc.

Extensive laboratory and extended field testing have confirmed the effectiveness of micronized preservatives. Several world renowned scientists have confirmed the strong performance of this technically advanced preservative technology and have published their comprehensive findings, which support the micronized technology’s efficacy in providing wood protection for both above ground and ground contact applications.

So why this unfounded attack by a competitor? An attack based on an insignificant sample of a few posts selected by this competitor — out of the millions of posts in service? One might conclude the competition has not been able to create a viable alternative product to compete with our patent pending technology and the ever-increasing market penetration of the micronized copper preservative systems. Rather than offering similarly advanced technology, they have resorted to needlessly alarming the public.

MicroPro(R) Treated Wood Facts:

• Over 5 Billion board feet of MicroPro treated wood has been sold since the product introduction in 2006.
• Over 10 Million 4 x 4 micronized treated wood posts are presently in service and performing.
• MicroPro copper based preservative systems have been independently tested and evaluated in accordance with AWPA, ASTM and other internationally recognized laboratory and field test procedures.
• Micronized copper preservative systems are certified by the International Code Council Evaluation Service, Inc. (ICC-ES).
• Osmose’s micronized technologies have earned the Environmentally Preferable Product (EPP) certification from Scientific Certification Systems (SCS).
• Osmose provides a Residential and Agricultural Limited Warranty on MicroPro treated wood products.

Bottom Line

Extensive laboratory and field testing has confirmed the effectiveness of micronized preservatives. International experts have confirmed the legitimacy of this technically advanced preservative technology and published their findings in support of it. Billions of board feet of micronized treated lumber are in service and performing. Since the introduction of micronized copper technology, Viance, the only copper based preservative manufacturer that does not have the micronized technology to offer, has waged a desperate campaign against it in an effort to discredit it. Meanwhile, more and more consumers and retailers continue to embrace the environmental and performance benefits offered by our technically advanced micronized products.

Since 1934, Osmose has produced quality, tested, reliable wood preservatives such as MicroPro. We fully stand behind our products and back them with industry leading warranties.

For additional information regarding MicroPro, please contact Osmose at (800) 241-0240 or visit http://www.osmosewood.com.

CHARLOTTE, N.C., Feb. 9 /PRNewswire/ — Findings on 4×4 posts at residential locations reveal dramatic evidence that wood treated with micronized copper preservative(MCQ(TM)) is decaying more rapidly than anticipated. These decay findings raise serious concerns about the structural integrity and safety of outdoor structures, such as decks and fencing, built with micronized copper preservatives within the last three years.

“We are very concerned about the safety of possibly millions of consumers whose decks and other structures were built with micronized copper-treated wood because the wood may be subject to early failure and possible collapse,” said Steve Ainscough, president and CEO of Viance, a leading provider of wood preservation technologies that refuses to offer micronized copper preservatives due to ongoing concerns about the technology.

Residential Findings in Southeastern U.S. Show Evidence of Significant Decay

Today’s announcement is based on Viance’s in-service findings of decay on 4×4 posts located in multiple residential locations near Atlanta, Georgia and Baton Rouge, Louisiana. Timber Products Inspection (TP), a leading independent and accredited wood products inspection and testing organization in the United States, supervised the identification, extraction and testing of the decaying posts at these locations.

TP’s reports describe numerous posts receiving a rating of “less than sound” on the American Wood Protection Association (AWPA) rating scale. The decaying posts from these multiple subdivisions were rated at “9.5,” “9″ and “8″ on the AWPA’s scale of 1 to 10. One post removed from the Georgia location was rated a “7,” which the AWPA defines as having moderate to severe attack with 10 to 30% of the cross sectional area subject to decay. A decay rating of 7 or below is considered unserviceable by the building industry. TP verified that the average preservative penetration and retentions for the samples examined met the current retention requirements outlined in the International Code Council Evaluation Service (ICC-ES) requirements for MCQ products. The TP report is available in it’s entirety at Viance’s website; www.Treatedwood.com. Furthermore, TP’s reports indicate that the decay is present in the outside zones of the posts below the ground line, to a depth of nearly one inch on some posts.

According to Lee Gjovik, a widely published independent wood scientist, “Any decay on a post that’s only been in service for less than two years represents a significant amount of unexpected decay. Decay ratings of 9.0 or 9.5 should not occur until after many years of service.”

“Another cause for concern,” explains Ainscough, “is that the decay we’re seeing is below the line of sight where consumers may not be able to see or properly inspect the posts. A post’s strength comes primarily from the outer surface of the post, and it is also in this area that the preservatives are present and must prevent decay. The hidden or buried portion of a post must have preservatives that work and prevent decay or the post and structures will fail.”

These recent decay findings corroborate the results of Viance’s ongoing field tests, which were presented to the lumber and building products industries in the spring of 2008 and can be downloaded in their entirety at www.treatedwood.com.

An Overview Of Today’s Technologies

Micronized copper-treated wood products were first introduced to the marketplace in 2006. The manufacturers of micronized copper preservatives, Osmose(R), Arch(R) Wood Protection and PhibroWood(R), have not submitted any of these products to the AWPA for review or standardization. Micronized copper wood preservatives are sold to U.S. builders and consumers through more than 5,000 lumberyards and some leading national home center chains.

Viance remains committed to providing its customers with high quality, industry standardized preservatives, such as Preserve(R) ACQ(R) and Ecolife(R) Stabilized, Weather-Resistant Wood, and ongoing information, testing and investigations regarding the performance of micronized copper-treated products.

Viance LLC provides an extensive range of advanced wood treatment technologies and services to the global wood treatment industry. With an expertise in wood biocides and wood protection chemicals, Viance provides high-level product support to its customers to provide innovative, advanced solutions that improve the performance and durability of wood and wood products. Viance is a joint venture between Rohm and Haas Company and Chemical Specialties, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Rockwood Holdings, Inc. For more information about wood treatment technology and Viance products, visit www.treatedwood.com.

SOURCE Viance LLC

Lumber Talk’s Commentary
CCA was a great chemical. It would be nice if its removal from residential use because of its scary-sounding ingredient arsenate could be substantiated with proof that it was actually harmful (not to wish harm to anyone). It would make the idea that we now use inferior products like MCQ a little easier to swallow.

Osmose’s Rebuttal
Please see Osmose’s MCQ rebuttal which they sent almost immediately after this posting.

Pressure Treated Wood Posts
No additional work required – just buy wood posts treated for ground contact (usually .40pcf). Depending on the area where you are installing your pressure treated wood posts, they should last between 10 and 30 years (maybe more). 10 years if the area is pretty wet and/or has a bad termite problem and 30 years if the area is pretty dry.

Poly Coated Treated Wood Posts
I only know of one place that offers poly coated wood posts – American Pole and Timber based in Houston, TX. The coating is a UV-resistant “poly urea” coating (look and feels like heavy vinyl) and is obviously tough as hell and will not come off of the wood. They guarantee treated poly coated posts will last 50 years. Pretty impressive. The product has only been around for about 10 years but I would put money on 50 years for treated wood coated with a thick UV-resistant vinyl. They supply any quantity but if you are outside of Texas or Louisiana, you might need to buy quite a few to justify the freight expense. You only need to have the post coated from about 6 inches above the ground line to the bottom of the post.

Plastic Coated Wood Posts
Similar to poly coated wood but I wouldn’t put my money on it. Buy treated posts and spray the bottom of the post up to about 6 inches above the ground line with spray-on plastic in a can. You can get a can of spray-on plastic for about $5 at the major big-box hardware stores. One can should easily cover the bottom 3 feet of about 10 posts. It’s cheaper than the vinyl option and should add 10 years onto any posts life.

Sealants or Stains
If you are going to seal or stain pressure treated wood, make sure it is dry first since sealing in the moisture left from the treating process will only make your posts rot faster. Sealing untreated posts will add a few years to their lives but, seriously, just get treated posts – unless you just LIKE replacing fences.

Paint
Paint is for color – not protection. Yes, it protects a little but, again, if you are going to use paint to preserve untreated wood posts just go ahead and admit that you like replacing fence posts. Want color? Paint away. Want preservation? Use treated posts.

The BEST WAY to Preserve Wood Posts
In my opinion, the absolute BEST way to preserve wood posts is with pressure treatment – whichever treatment chemical you choose – and a coating of some kind. The longest lasting wood posts will be pressure treated and coated with the vinyl coating. The most bang for your buck will probably be to use pressure treated posts and spray-on plastic.

Now you know how to preserve wood posts and which methods will work best for you. If you choose paint, don’t call me because I hate replacing posts. I will gladly lay in my hammock – supported by my vinyl coated treated posts – while you install your second set of painted posts, though.

The advantages of ipe deck lumber are clear and include:

• Excellent fire-resistance rating (A1, the same as concrete)
• Naturally high decay and insect resistance (basically, it’s a non-issue)
• Beautiful dark wood
• Hardness rating is about 3 times red oak
• Easily lasts 25 years as decking

When exposed to sun over time, Ipe deck lumber develops a silver-gray tone but its original dark color can be renewed with a pressure washer.

Working with Ipe Deck Lumber

Because of its hardness, ipe decking requires a few extra drill bits, saw blades, and time. Pre-drill all holes and keep your saw blades sharp to avoid damaging the wood while cutting. Prepare to kill a few drill bits and blades.

There are a few deck clip options you can use if you buy ipe deck lumber with grooves cut on the edges.? This allows you to build your ipe deck without having visible screws on top.

Ipe does not easily accept stains or protective treatments but most people buy largely for the color and its natural resistance is so excellent it usually does not need protection anyway.

Ipe Deck Lumber is NOT for Hippies

Ipe wood comes mostly from forests ranging from Mexico to Northern Argentina and many of the trees logged for ipe lumber are probably taken illegally.? Fortunately, most of the ipe lumber now used comes from cultivated trees.? If you are concerned about the social and environmental issues around using imported wood, check that your ipe deck lumber is FSC certified.? Although, FSC certifications have been forged before, you can generally rest assured that FSC certified ipe deck lumber comes from legitimate forests, conscientious timber companies, and responsible lumber dealers. Of course, responsibility might cost more.

The Galloway home, a small cottage in southern Scotland, was built by Steve James for 4,000 Pounds (about $8,000). It began as part of project to help first time home buyers get their homes started and became an excellent experiment in just how cheaply a house can be built.

Construction actually began in 2004 when a foundation and heavy rains were erected. Those had to be demolished, though, because of heavy rains and failed tarps. The project was restarted in 2007 and recently completed.

The rock foundation holds a traditional wooden frame of joists and stringers. The walls are made largely of straw bales and the roof is made of turf. Some of the materials are salvaged (such a window and door) and some were cut from local trees. While the price is low, it is a very different and slightly more crude project than typical small home plans, which are designed to be small and refined while reasonably affordable.

Here’s a Breakdown of the Costs (in £)

£600 supplies for volunteers

£500 sarking

£400 floorboards

£400 pond liner

£300 straw

£200 plumbing

£150 reclaimed joists

£150 plywood

£150 equipment hire

£150 glass

£100 quicklime

£100 wiring

£100 tarpaulin

£100 paint/varnish

£100 batteries

£100 fixings

£100 miscellaneous

£100 fuel for power tools

£70 water pump

£50 water heater

£50 stove chimney

£30 cooker

It is an inspiring idea, really. I doubt that houses of mud and straw will start appearing on every street corner but the possibility of an ultra-inexpensive house looks more realistic. We could all have our Walden if it weren’t for local and state build codes, right?

Truss construction is a dangerous roof or floor design when exposed by fire. The large surface-to-mass
ratio of the truss and many small, interconnecting members makes it vulnerable to early collapse.
Wood truss roof collapses have killed 28 firefighters over the past three decades. Truss roofs kill
firefighters working below the truss, on top of the truss, and outside the truss roof building. When a
timber truss roof collapses, it can cause the collapse of an outside bearing wall.

28 firefighter deaths in the last 30 years are attributable to truss collapses. It seems to me this problem can be approached from at least two sides. First, designers might be able to consider fire retardant materials that will decrease the chances of truss failures due to fire. Second, if firefighters are somehow made aware that they will be working in or around a structure that has timber trusses, they may be able to avoid them in case they do fail. I have absolutely no idea how to deal with the the second approach. Posting signs with the design qualities of the burning building does not seem feasible and there is not time to look up the structural design elements of a building before running into it. Looks like this is might be a design issue.