NEWS

Kitchens with unpainted wood cabinets are a current trend as wood regains popularity in the home. Bright colors in window dressings and other furnishings highlight cabinets. One technique used to remodel small older kitchens is to remove non-structural walls, enlarging the space, and redo with a modern design.

Source: Houston Chronicle, NJ.com

When selecting new kitchen cabinets, consider lead time, think through the layout, collect measurements, and visit a showroom.

China has announced a new regulation aimed at eliminating potentially harmful products from the market, affecting imports of fiberboard, laminated wood, and wood furniture. These items will be closely checked for formaldehyde emissions and flame retardants. The new regulation took effect on March 1.

U.S. manufacturers of bedroom furniture have asked the Department of Commerce to determine whether items imported by a Chinese furniture company, Aspects Furniture, are subject to the antidumping order on Chinese-made wooden bedroom furniture. Items to be investigated include drawers, storage units, cabinets with minibar units, consoles, dresser units, and bed bench boxes. Commerce will make a determination within 120 days of the March 5 notice.

The "manufactured by" dates for the Formaldehyde Act of Title VI of the Toxic Substances Control Act have been set to June 1, 2018, for producers and fabricators of composite wood panels. Products certified by a CARB TPC that is also recognized by EPA will be recognized as compliant until March 22, 2019; after that, only TSCA Title VI compliant and labeled products will be allowed.

Photo © HPVA Laboratories®

This month, HPVA Laboratories® awarded TSCA Title VI certifications to Armstrong Flooring and Darlington Veneer.

Photo © HPVA Laboratories®

The Ontario government is actively supporting the Columbia Forest Products plywood plant expansion in Hearst and Rutherglen. The expansion will create nearly 350 new jobs.

Danzer recently presented numerous options for shaping wood using 3D-Veneer to a group of about 200 architects and construction company representatives in Dornbirn, Austria.

Roseburg Forest Products reached an agreement to purchase Pembroke’s medium density fiberboard and molding production facilities in northeastern Ontario.

How will tariffs affect your business? Will interest rates rise? Find out the answers to these questions and more at the Decorative Hardwoods Association® 2018 Spring Conference and 97th Annual Meeting, May 6 - 8, at the gorgeous Kiawah Island Golf Resort in South Carolina.

Don't miss your chance to see the new Decorative Hardwoods Association® headquarters and to tour the new state-of-the-art HPVA Laboratories® facility.

Wood, an abundant and renewable natural resource is suitable for many types of building construction. Be it residential or non-residential, light frame or heavy timer frame, low rise or mid-rise, wood can be used in various building applications.

Wood, an abundant and renewable resource, is the source of many consumer products. At its basic cellular level, the fibre in the wood is also the source of two new, revolutionary forest bio-materials.

Hundreds of millions of years ago, Antarctica was carpeted with prehistoric greenery. Now, scientists may have uncovered clues about what happened in the "Great Dying," or Permian extinction.

This is how to make a wooden katana using left-over hardwood flooring.

After a 2-year investigation, VicForests, Victoria's state-owned forestry corporation, has been charged with illegal logging of a rainforest in East Gippsland , Victoria.

The Ministry of Environment and Forests plans to increase India's forest cover, currently at 24%, to raise the carbon sink to 3 billion tons. The ministry will plant trees outside existing forests and in the agro-forestry sector.

Construction industry employment has accelerated over the past 4 months. 61,000 jobs were added in February alone. 254,000 jobs were added over the past year.

This week, the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency increased its scrutiny of immigrant workers in residential construction across the country. In at least one case, ICE is planning extensive audits of documents of all employees. Officials requested rosters of job site firms and workers, suggesting that ICE may inspect job sites and hold employers accountable for subcontractors.

Chart © Hanley Wood

Last year, home equity lines of credit fell 25% in Q4 after reaching a 9-year high in Q3. Home prices increased as the prices of wholesale construction products – particularly wood – rose faster than the prices of other wholesale goods. This has been mitigated by new, more relaxed mortgage regulations.

The upcoming BlueLinx purchase of Cedar Creek will combine 2 leading distributors of building and industrial products. BlueLinx is headquartered in Atlanta; Cedar Creek is based in Oklahoma City.

Factors that impact health, performance, stress and resiliency, sleep, and comfort to be scrutinized.

A Stanford University startup is taking the VR industry by storm through virtual performance training and human behavioral study.

Canada plans to ask the World Trade Organization (WTO) to set up an adjudication panel to judge its dispute with the United States over Canadian lumber exports, indicating that talks have failed to resolve the issue and Ottawa is pressing its case.

Troy Brown wants to reshape the skylines of American cities, and he says the U.S. is lagging behind other countries in using wood to build tall buildings. "There's taller buildings that are built in Europe with cross-laminated timber," says Troy Brown, President, Kretz Lumber Co.

A British government office has prosecuted a wood importer certified by the Forest Stewardship Council after it was found to have failed to ensure the legality of a shipment of timber from Cameroon.

The digitization of inventory and maintenance processes is helping Michigan better manage its 4 million acres of state forests.