The American Lumber Standard Committee (ALSC) Board of Review has approved the Southern Pine Inspection Bureau’s (SPIB) design value changes for all sizes and grades of visually graded Southern Pine dimension lumber, and recommended an effective date of June 1, 2013. SPIB will publish the new design values in its Supplement 13 to the Standard Grading Rules for Southern Pine Lumber, 2002 Edition.
“Southern Pine producers and their customers are pleased with the ALSC Board of Review’s decision on new design values,” says Cathy Kaake, vice president of technical marketing for the Southern Forest Products Association (SFPA), who testified at the ALSC hearing on January 30. “A June 1 effective date provides time for an orderly transition to the new design values,” she says.
The intent of a transition period is to minimize project delays and supply chain disruptions by providing time to manage design value changes. Producers and key customer groups should use this period to evaluate and prepare for the potential impact on their businesses. Establishing implementation plans will aid in a successful transition to this second set of new design values.
SFPA will continue to facilitate dialog among key industry segments to provide a unified approach to implementation of these new design values. “Throughout this transition period, SFPA will provide both the current design values as well as the ALSC-approved new design values,” Cathy adds. Detailed Q&As, as well as span tables based on both current and the new design values, will be available from SFPA at www.southernpine.com during the transition period.
Following publication of SPIB’s Supplement 13, the American Wood Council (AWC) will work with the International Code Council to incorporate the new design values into span tables in the 2015 International Building Code and 2015 International Residential Code. AWC will also develop addenda and other updates to use with new construction designed in accordance with its standards and design tools, as well as recommended revisions to previous code editions.
Southern Pine is Strong, Dependable
Southern Pine’s strength and stiffness is comparable to other softwood species used in residential and commercial construction. “Southern Pine users have many available product options including visually graded dimension lumber and an increasing supply of mechanically graded lumber,” said Cathy Kaake.
Southern Pine is one of the best construction products on the market today. Southern Pine lumber provides a great value in a wide variety of applications. From framing a house to building a deck, Southern Pine continues to be a dependable product for any project.