#Deck Builder columbia
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At Nation Builders LLC, we believe that your home should reflect your unique style and needs. Located in West Columbia, SC, we specialize in transforming houses into dream homes through our expert remodeling services. Our commitment to quality, customer satisfaction, and meticulous attention to detail sets us apart from other contractors.
Our core strengths lie in our ability to deliver personalized remodeling solutions that enhance the beauty and functionality of your home. We understand that every homeowner has a distinct vision, and we work closely with you to bring that vision to life. With Nation Builders LLC, you can expect transparency, integrity, and efficiency in every project we undertake.
Our Services
🥘 Kitchen Remodeling Unlock the full potential of your kitchen with our custom remodeling services. We specialize in creating kitchens that are both stylish and functional, tailored to your specific needs.
🚿 Bathroom Remodeling Elevate your bathroom experience with our expert west columbia bathroom remodeling services. Whether you want a spa-like retreat or a modern oasis, our team delivers exceptional results.
🏠 Complete Home Remodeling Revitalize your entire home with our comprehensive remodeling services. From concept to completion, we handle every aspect of your project with precision and care.
🌞 Sunrooms and Additions Expand your living space and increase your home's value with our custom sunrooms and additions. We create beautiful, functional spaces that blend seamlessly with your existing home.
🌳 Outdoor Living Spaces Enhance your outdoor experience with our custom-designed outdoor living spaces. From patios to decks, we build spaces that are perfect for entertaining and relaxation.
Why Choose Nation Builders LLC?
❤️ Customer Satisfaction: We prioritize your satisfaction by ensuring open communication, timely updates, and a seamless remodeling process. Our team is dedicated to making your remodeling experience as smooth and enjoyable as possible.
🛠️ Quality Craftsmanship: Our skilled craftsmen pay attention to every detail, ensuring that each project is completed to the highest standards. We use quality materials and innovative techniques to deliver lasting results.
🎨 Customized Solutions: We understand that each home is unique. Our remodeling services are tailored to meet your specific needs and preferences, ensuring that your home reflects your personal style.
👷♂️ Experienced Team: Our licensed professionals bring years of experience to every project. We are not just contractors; we are craftsmen committed to creating beautiful and functional spaces.
💰 Value for Money: With Nation Builders LLC, you can save time, energy, and money by utilizing our efficient remodeling process. We strive to provide cost-effective solutions without compromising on quality.
Our Process
🔍 Evaluate Your Needs: We start by understanding your needs and preferences to create a customized remodeling plan.
💬 Discuss Your Options: We present you with various design options and materials that suit your style and budget.
📋 Develop a Detailed Plan: Our team develops a comprehensive plan that outlines every step of the remodeling process.
🔧 Execute with Precision: We execute the plan with meticulous attention to detail, ensuring a flawless finish.
Ready to transform your home? Contact Nation Builders LLC today and experience the difference with our west columbia bathroom remodeler and other remodeling services. Let us help you create the home of your dreams. Visit our website or give us a call to schedule a consultation. Your dream home is just a renovation away with Nation Builders LLC.
At Nation Builders LLC, we don't just remodel homes; we create spaces where you can live, laugh, and make lasting memories. Trust us to bring your vision to life with our top-notch remodeling services west columbia. Engage with us today and take the first step towards a beautiful, functional, and personalized home.
Contact us:
Nation Builders LLC
4115 Edmund Hwy,
West Columbia, SC 29170
803-882-3320
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Proven Expert: https://www.provenexpert.com/nation-builders-llc/
BIA of Central SC: https://business.biaofcentralsc.com/list/member/nation-custom-builders-of-south-carolina-llc-290250
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Looking for a Beautiful Deck? Meet Columbia's Top Deck Builder
Would you want to improve your outside living area with a gorgeous deck? If you’re searching for a top deck builder in Columbia, go no further. Fence and Deck Connection, Inc. can take your idea and construct a room that perfectly combines beauty and utility thanks to decades of knowledge and creativity. Regardless of your preference for a small, private place to enjoy your morning coffee or a large space for entertaining guests, the experts can create a deck that will exceed your needs. We combine sharp communication, craftsmanship, and attention to detail from the first consultation to the final product, making sure that your deck is not only gorgeous but also long-lasting. Rely on the best deck builder in Columbia to turn your backyard into a wonderful paradise where you can enjoy and make memories.
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MD Deck Locations in Howard County, MD
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Red Isle Decks, Experienced Builders for Your New Trex Deck | Red Isle
Red Isle Decks is one of only 200 Trex Pro Platinum installers in the world, with over ten years of experience in the industry and backed by industry-leading warranties. We employ the most talented designers and skilled tradespersons to ensure that your vision comes to life the way you imagined it. Red Isle specializes in composite deck construction and installation of Trex decks in Alberta and British Columbia.
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Retired N.S. firefighter calls for better promotion of program designed to prevent wildfire destruction
Retired Halifax firefighter Paul Irving fought his share of fires over 34 years, including wildfires.
Now, in the aftermath of Nova Scotia’s destructive forest fires in both Halifax and Shelburne counties, he's fighting for awareness.
“If you ask 100 people, what FireSmart is, or what they can do or anything like that,” he says, “I'd be surprised if you got one that even understood the concept."
Irving blames provincial and municipal governments for dropping the ball.
Almost 20 years ago, Irving wrote a report for Halifax Fire on the benefits of FireSmart – a national education program, which offers advice on how to protect properties from the ravages of wildfire.
His report, entitled, “FireSmart and HRM” explained the often devastating effects of “Wildland Urban Interface” fires — in areas where forests or trees meet community buildings.
“Most of the major wildland fires,” he wrote, “are stopped by one of two things: a change in weather or running out of fuel. Since we can’t change the weather, the strategy that is used for many wildfires is to address the fuel.”
In his report, Irving recommended carrying FireSmart “into a lifestyle,” for fire departments, homeowners, and developers.
But he says officials didn’t give the program the attention he feels it deserved at the time, or since.
“I think it was the political will wasn't there, to go through and to promote this,” he says, “because there's a lot of ramifications for the municipality, there's a lot of things you have to do, developers wouldn't like it.”
The initiative offers advice to homeowners on how to assess the wildfire risk of their properties and offers solutions to mitigate or even prevent wildfire damage.
Tips include choosing wildfire-resistant building materials and foliage and keeping a 1.5-metre “non-combustible zone” around a home and deck.
For builders and municipalities, it recommends measures such as designing service roads to allow for both outgoing community evacuation and incoming emergency vehicles.
It also advocates for the inclusion of greenbelts in communities to act as firebreaks.
Irving says many of the principles are used by firefighters to assess which properties they can actively try to save and which ones are unsafe to do so.
“If a wildfire is coming towards the area a home is in, one of the things (firefighters) have to do, is triage,” he says, “An expert will look at the area surrounding your home, and if it has enough ‘defensible space’ then we can, not always, but we can make an effort to save your home.”
“If it’s not defensible … we cannot put a crew there because it’s too dangerous to put them there,” he explains.
In British Columbia, 100 neighbourhoods were certified as “FireSmart” as of 2019
In Nova Scotia, which signed on in 2018, there are two “FireSmart” communities: Bear River and Chateau Village.
According to the Department of Natural Resources and Renewables, 40 communities have engaged with the program in that time. Thirteen of those are in the Halifax area.
Thursday, the minister in charge of the department said more municipalities have recently reached out to inquire about the program.
“The unfortunate circumstances around the last few weeks have highlighted these conversations, and we're very willing to have those conversations,” said Tory Rushton. “It certainly should be a program that every municipality looks at … and if it’s a resources matter, then certainly by all means as minister, I’ll talk to the team and see where we need to put resources.”
Anyone who wants a FireSmart assessment can go to their provincial FireSmart page for information. In the Halifax area, a request form is found on the website for Halifax Regional Fire and Emergency.
CTV asked the city of Halifax how many assessments it has done, but didn’t receive a response by end of the day Thursday.
For more Nova Scotia news, visit our dedicated provincial page.
from CTV News - Atlantic https://ift.tt/ln5FMUm
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Pole Barn House
Our degree of service stands out in the business; it is our everyday means of doing business. Manchester City might be without Ruben Dias, Julian Alvarez and Kalvin Phillips when pole barn they return to Premier League motion at Leeds. Dias is set to be sidelined for a month due to a hamstring harm, whereas Alvarez has been given time off after serving to Argentina win the World Cup.
We can work with you on the design; checking 3D fashions of the ultimate idea to ensure it is what you want before the construction begins. This could additionally be in a conventional residential software, or in a pole building for use as a barn or store. Getting the land all set for a pole barn shall be added to the ultimate labor cost. If the land wants a lot pole barns of leveling or you choose a barn that requires a thicker construction, the expense will increase. Smaller-sized pole barns will sustain a lower per square foot labor cost, only based mostly upon the total measurement. There are a lot of the reason why you may want to construct a pole barn in your property.
You may have extra room for the likes of livestock, grain or machinery in a Future Buildings steel barn. Pole barns are a simple barn kind during which wooden poles or beams assist the external partitions and roof trusses. They are embedded in the floor and serve as vertical support pillars. Pole barns are constructed using a technique generally recognized as post-frame construction or pole building development. Another possibility is the superior Permanent Wood Foundation handled wooden post that has a fair greater stage of protection than regular handled wooden. New Era for Post Frame with Engineered Concrete Base for Post Probably the largest advance for submit body right now is the introduction of the Perma-Column.
Door hardware, decorative builders hardware, specialty hardware, barn door track hardware – you name it, we’ve obtained it. Whether it’s stress handled, cedar or composite, we've all of the supplies for constructing the fence or deck of your desires. Post Foundation is principally a Building by which Vertical load bearing members are Pressure Treated Posts (6″x6″) which might be positioned on a concrete footing 4′ under grade. The Posts serve the features of Foundation, Bracing, and Framework to which the partitions and roof are fastened.. We focus on Post Foundation construction, which is time-tested, durable, cost efficient, versatile in design and attractive. Use a guidewire to make sure that all of the posts are aligned.
Contact me and allow me to assist you seize your part of the American Dream in an economical method. The backside line is, it is possible for you to to turn any normal 1 or 1½ story house plans into pole barn house plans. There shall small pole barns be some structural particulars needing to be changed if you are working off an existing set of plans. Post locations will have to be added to the ground plan for the sake of correct development.
We are a staff of 3 native, educated builders situated in the Okanagan Valley of British Columbia. With 40 years of mixed expertise in the building business, OK Valley Barn Builders prides itself on having the data to convey to fruition the imaginative and prescient that you could pole barns for sale have on your building. Whether or not it's a easy pole shed or an exquisite horse barn, we can help you create precisely what you're on the lookout for. From customized to simplistic, we're able to help from design to completion.
Wind, snow, rain, soil, and extra are considered once we assemble our buildings. Over the years, Rural Roots Engineering has recognized a seamless need for simple, easy-to-use, engineer-stamped plans which might be out there for quick release. I would not hesitate to make use of, or advocate J&R Contracting for any future initiatives.
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Business name: Next America Deck Experts
Address: 8815 Centre Park Dr, Columbia, MD 21045, United States
Business Email: [email protected]
Phone: 443-998-8541
Description: The Best Deck Builders Columbia MD Has To Offer! We are one of the top decking companies around and we can handle both residential and commercial projects. Not only do we provide deck installation, but we also provide the high quality deck builder Columbia MD locals have come to rely on for decades. Adding a new deck to your property is a great way to build community and increase your homes property value. We also stain and paint decks! Our company offers you skilled workmanship and the best quality materials for all of our projects. Call the deck repair Columbia MD company that locals depend on to get the job done right!
Business Hours: Mon-Sat 8am-8pm
Website: https://www.deckbuilderscolumbiamd.com/
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Business name: Athens of Missouri Deck Solutions
Address: 803 E Walnut St, Columbia, MO 65201 USA
Business Email: [email protected]
Phone: 573-520-3641
Description: The Best Deck Builders Columbia MO Has To Offer! We are one of the top decking companies around and we can handle both residential and commercial projects. Not only do we provide decks Columbia MO contractors, but we also provide the high quality deck repair locals have come to rely on for decades. Adding a new deck to your property is a great way to build community and increase your home's property value. We also stain and paint decks! Our company offers you skilled workmanship and the best quality materials for all of our projects. Call the deck repair Columbia MO locals depend on to get the job done right every time!
Business Hours: Mon-Sat 8am-8pm
Website: https://www.columbia-deckbuilders.com/
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Business name: Soda City Deck Solutions
Address: 1301 Gervais St, Columbia, SC 29201
Business Email: [email protected]
Phone: 803-991-6230
Description: The Best Deck Builders Columbia SC Has To Offer! We are one of the top decking companies around and we can handle both residential and commercial projects. Not only do we provide decks Columbia SC contractors, but we also provide the high quality deck repair locals have come to rely on for decades. Adding a new deck to your property is a great way to build community and increase your home's property value. We also stain and paint decks! Our company offers you skilled workmanship and the best quality materials for all of our projects. Call the deck repair Columbia SC locals depend on to get the job done right every time!
Business Hours: Mon-Sat 8am-8pm
Website: https://www.deckbuilders-columbia.com/
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deck builder Columbia MD
Welcome to Lapinski’s. We, here, are ready to serve you with the best quality landscaping services. Our services include soft washing, retaining wall installation, exterior painting, etc.
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Vancouver Deck and Fence
"Vancouver Deck and Fence is your local Vancouver contractor for all things decks and fences. We build Pergola's Gazebo's, Swimming Pool Decks, Patio Covers, Deck repair, Cedar Fences, Aluminum Fences, and Vinyl Fences in Vancouver, Wa. Our local Deck and Fence builders are here to help make your home or business deck and fence fit your needs and look great. Our deck and fence materials are the highest quality available.
When you want to add a deck or re-do that old fence in Vancouver, build a pergola or cedar fence or just need some maintenance done on your fence or deck, give us a call. One of our local Vancouver contractors will come to your home and give you a free quote on your deck or fence."
Vancouver Deck and Fence
520 SE Columbia River Dr #228,Vancouver,Washington 98661,USA
360-322-1900
[email protected]
https://vancouverdeckandfence.com/
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Deck Builder in Columbia: Navigating Permits and Regulations
Hiring a skilled deck builder is crucial. Navigating permits and regulations demands expertise. Ensure your deck project complies with local standards. Trust our experienced team for a seamless process, turning your vision into a reality while adhering to all necessary legal requirements. Deck Builder Columbia will guide you every step of the way from concept to completion and you can rest assured.
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1952 Astra Coupe Custom Built by Jay Everett in the Early 50's When young Californian Jay Everett unveiled his hand-built coupe at the Petersen Motorama in 1953, it not only marked the beginning of his long and successful career as a designer and prototype builder; it also marked a new direction in the custom car business. At the time most American customizers - the vast majority of them plying their trade in Everett’s home turf in Southern California - were basing their work on pre-existing cars from Detroit. Everett took the more difficult and more rewarding path of building his own full-bodied creation from scratch, and that new approach made a huge impact, a fact evidenced by ubiquitous coverage in virtually every major custom and hot rod publication of the time. Everett’s time attending the famed Art Center College of Design was only one factor in the car’s success. His talent for envisioning the finished piece, and the abundance of mechanical and fabricating talent around him were crucial contributions. The unique tube frame was fabricated by Paul Koonz from 2 3/8-inch tubing, and then built up with smaller-diameter tubing to define the car’s shape. Jack Sutton, whose work included making bodies for Max Balchowski's Ol' Yallar race cars, and Dennis Powers hand-formed the car’s sheet metal, which Everett fastened to the car’s latticed framework, a technique borrowed from current aircraft construction methods. When first completed, the car bore the short-deck, long-hood proportions that have visually defined sports and race cars for generations since. It also showcased Everett’s talent for attention to detail, evident in its front end styling that foreshadowed the later Lincoln show cars, the split taillights that also formed into rear fins, a feature that would become common by the late Fifties, and the driver-centric controls and instrument layout that was then almost exclusive to European sports racers. The car finally officially bore the Astra name upon its reintroduction by Everett in 1956. It also featured a number of refinements to the original design, including fresh new Blue paint applied at George Barris’ shop. The hood featured an intricately cast aluminum air scoop and bore a longitudinal spear bordered by aluminum trim and marked by a cast name plate. The headlight openings were bobbed to shorten the fenders to more pleasing proportions, and the grille openings were refined with cleaner detailing. The overall result was a tribute both to Everett’s vivid imagination and his skilled craftsmanship. Like so many such creations, the Astra fell into neglect. Everett’s career as a master prototype-maker and designer took off; he sold the Astra, which eventually made its way to the Pacific Northwest, where Spokane artist Jeff Allison purchased it from an auto storage yard owner who had inherited it from her late father’s estate. The Astra then came to the attention of famed British Columbia coachbuilder JF Launier, who recommended it to one of his customers as a candidate for what became a painstaking 10-month restoration in his Osoyoos shop. The restored Astra made its first public appearance at the 2007 West Coast Customs show in Paso Robles where, as fate would have it, it was discovered by the late Jay Everett’s brother John, who phoned Jay’s oldest daughter to alert her to his startling find. It was an emotional reunion for all involved. The Astra coupe proved to be the beginning of Jay Everett’s great career in design, the fruit of a skilled and imaginative young man’s will to self-expression and excellence that presaged his later accomplishments. It took young Jay Everett fewer than 24 months to ready the car for its debut at the Petersen Motorama, but that was just the beginning of his work in refining and improving his design to his idea of perfection. JF Launier’s impeccable restoration pays homage to that ethos in every detail.
- Full custom built by Jay Everett in 1952 - Currently titled in Washington as a 1959 - Aircraft inspired tubular frame and aluminum body - Complete restoration
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Our contractors have 10+ years of experience working in the decking industry; we did all kinds of projects and we want to bring our expertise to provide you with the best deck renovation job that still fits in your budget.
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Everything You Need to Know About the Great Lumber Crisis of 2021
The hottest commodity of the last year was one you probably didn’t realize you needed to care about: Wood.
Lumber has long been the subject of debate over trade policy, ecosystem conservation, and climate change. But in a white-hot housing and remodeling/home improvement market, lumber prices spiked to new highs. DIYers grappling with cabin fever as well as increased demand for home remodeling contractors and home builders looking to increase housing supply sent the lumber market bonkers. Meanwhile, sawmills shut down and later faced a labor crisis, causing a shortage and subsequently causing record-breaking prices.
In some ways, the shortage is a simple supply and demand problem, but the great lumber crisis of 2021 also highlights all sorts of other things, including the global supply chain, climate change and environmental protection, labor shortages, US-Canada trade relations, and the out-of-control housing market. Here, we strive to explain the Great Lumber Panic.
THE SHORTAGE
As North America went into lockdown in March, 2020, a slew of businesses shut down. Lumber production facilities were no exception: Sawmills laid off workers, cut hours, and struggled to balance staying open with minimizing COVID transmission risk.
(Quick note: Though the terms are often used interchangeably, there’s a distinction between lumber and timber. Lumber is wood that’s been processed into rectangular beams used primarily to build homes; about 20 percent of all wood harvested in the US goes to lumber. Timber is unprocessed wood and trees, which can be turned into lumber or pulp, paper, fuel and other staple products.)
Initially, the sawmills closing down seemed broadly inconsequential; after all, Americans were stuck at home, and sending construction workers out put them at significant risk of contracting COVID-19. At the time, basically all economic activity stopped, which included homebuilding and remodeling.
Few producers anticipated that before long, there’d be an uptick in DIY home improvement projects like deck building and home office creation. Repair and remodelling (R&R) markets were responsible for the majority of the lumber demand spike, notes Paul Jannke, principal of Forest Economic Advisors (FEA). A June, 2020, survey by architecture firm The Farnsworth Group found that more than 70 percent of homeowners had started new DIY projects at home, many of them attributing long hours in lockdown to their sudden desire for refurbishments. Stimulus checks offered Americans more money to pay for these endeavors.
Interest in home-buying spiked over the pandemic, too, creating a housing boom that has yet to wane. But housing starts—new build construction projects—have been historically low since the 2008 recession, and haven’t quite recovered yet. The US is just not building as many houses as it used to. Many who couldn’t afford to buy during the COVID-19 housing boom had no choice but to channel their COVID-19 cabin fever into where they currently reside.
“Everyone's stuck in their houses, they're looking around, they're seeing all the things that are wrong with it, they have to work from home, and oh, by the way, their kids have to study from home too,” Jannke said. “I might just want to add on another room.”
MOMMY, WHERE DO 2x4s COME FROM?
According to Jannke, just over 70 percent of wood used in the US is grown here. The rest is imported, and around 83 percent that wood comes from Canada, much of it from British Columbia: This is highly valuable wood from Spruce, Pine and Fur (SPF) trees that many regard as better for homes than the more prevalent species of tree found in the US, like yellow pine, grown in the southeast, between Texas and New York.
The US is home to 514-million acres of timberland, 30 percent of which is managed publicly (by federal, state or local agencies), according to Rocky Goodnow, vice president of North American timber service at FEA. The remaining timber (359 million acres, Goodnow says) is owned by private companies and individuals. Many of these producers are small operations—47 percent of lumber is produced by non-corporate entities—competing in a deregulated environment. But in Canada, lumber production is managed by provincial governments, and, critics say, is unfairly subsidized.
This rubs some in the American lumber industry—like the US Lumber Coalition—the wrong way. Some say Canada is able to sell logs to US clients at lower prices because federal subsidies keep costs low. Others have accused the country of “dumping,” that is, selling wood to the US at a price below the cost of production and crowding out the market, making it harder for American sawmills to compete.
For decades, the US has gone back and forth on tariffs it imposes on Canadian lumber; a recent tariff proposal has proven polarizing: The US Lumber Coalition lauded the move as a step toward “a level playing field,” while the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) critiqued it for threatening the already surging cost of homes. (The NAHB says the rising cost of lumber has made the average single-family home $36,000 more expensive on average).
The years-old trade dispute is often used to explain fluctuations in the lumber market. But researchers say this time around, the argument is overblown (the closing of the border between U.S. and Canada has also not had a direct impact; trade has continued more or less as normal).
“It has nothing to do with tariffs,” said Rajan Parajuli, assistant professor in the Department of Forestry and Environmental Resources at North Carolina State University, who notes that Canadian lumber prices don’t differ enough from US market prices to have a tremendous impact on US producers. Parajuli is among a few from the school who studied the impact of trade disputes with Canada on lumber prices; in a 2016 paper, he found that American consumers eat the cost of tariffs in higher lumber prices, and lost $2.3-billion between 2006 and 2015 due to trade limitations between the US and Canada.
“The real economics say that the consumers are the losers,” Parajuli said.
THE SAWMILL PROBLEM
By May of last year, wood prices were rising, but there was hardly the production capacity to supply it. This created a shortage, one that remains today, even as prices finally cool, in part because saw mills are struggling to attract new workers. June jobs data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) showed that mill employment levels fell by a few thousand jobs over the course of the pandemic, and only recently reached pre-pandemic rates in April. But as mills aim to scale up production even further, some are still feeling pressure to attract workers.
The lumber shortage has been, maybe as you'd expect, a topic of obsession for people in the housing industry. A podcast made by the NAHB has dedicated the majority of its recent episodes to the lumber shortage and when it might get better.
“I've raised my wages over 10 percent across the board,” Ross Stock, general manager of Western Cascades Industries saw mill in Oregon, said on a May episode of the podcast, called Housing Developments. “I'm hiring in every direction. And I've had limited success finding people.”
Much of the job market is reckoning with wages and working conditions in a post-pandemic economy right now, and working in a sawmill is not particularly lucrative. It's also dangerous.
“You can work in a mill, and make $20 an hour and it's hot, because they're not air conditioned, and it's kind of heavy labor,” Jannke says. “Young folks are not choosing to get into this industry.”
Image: Philipp von Ditfurth/picture alliance via Getty Images
Jannke notes that automation is changing the nature of new hires in saw mills (“A modern sawmill is not the same thing as a sawmill from 20 years ago,” he said. “Today, you need people who have computer science degrees.”) But the manual jobs that remain can be dangerous; BLS occupational injury data shows fatality rates were more than 30 times the rate across the job market, with around 66 deaths per year between 2006 and 2015.
Sawmill owners are starting to pay workers more to compensate for shortages, and weekly paychecks have increased by an average of 10.4 percent since before the pandemic, the Washington Post recently reported. But Jannke says wage increases might not be enough to up production and fill the supply gap. “We're trying to ramp up our capacity really, really quickly,” he said. “That's a lot of labor that you have to get in rural areas.”
The US Department of Commerce is taking aim at shrinking the supply gap by reducing competition from Canada. It recently recommended increasing tariffs on lumber imports from 9 to 18 percent as a way to privilege American lumber production and boost jobs at home. Proposed on May 21, the increase would need several rounds of review before going into effect—and it has already garnered controversy.
What about wildfires? Will this summer’s heat impact our tree supply?
Yes and no. Jannke says this year’s record heat across much of the US, including lumber-producing regions in the Pacific Northwest, is “quite concerning.” Last year saw record-breaking wildfires and this does interrupt the supply chain: Saw mills had to shut down and evacuate to avoid the fires, loggers left their jobs to fight blazes, and wood stores were lost. He anticipates that this summer’s wildfire season will be similarly devastating.
“Since the demand supply is so tight right now disrupting the supply of lumber is just not a good thing,” he said. “It’s pretty scary.”
The impacts of climate change are as bad news for the industry as they are for ecosystems. And some fear that clear-cutting practices create a vicious feedback loop with wildfire risk: Open patches of forest raise overall temperatures, while woody debris leftover from logging becomes easy tinder, making forests more vulnerable to blazes.
But industry experts like Jannke say that, even in a changing climate, our wood supply remains strong: “We've been harvesting below our growth rates for a while. So the problem is not that the industry is harvesting too much,” he said.
This is largely because of the US timber market’s design, notes Dr. Robert Bardon, associate dean of Extension at the NC State University College of Natural Resources. Producers have a vested interest in keeping their trees growing and plant almost immediately after cutting.
“We've not seen instances of not having enough trees to harvest in, oh, 100 years,” he says.
Cutting down trees does cause disturbances to ecosystems, but Jankke believes the industry has become “more conscious” of this in its harvesting patterns, striving to cut in such a way that minimizes harms to animal and plant species.
Of course, changing weather patterns do have the potential to harm tree growth patterns: In western Canada, for example, a bark beetle called the mountain pine has proliferated, infecting and killing trees at growing rates, primarily because of climate change. These beetles fly from tree to tree to lay eggs underneath their bark, often carrying with them a fungus that disrupts the flow of water and nutrients within the tree, causing it to die. By 2012, the mountain pine beetle had attacked more than 53 percent of British Columbia’s merchantable pine trees.
The beetle's prevalence was spurred on by climate change: These beetle populations are unable to withstand freezing temperatures and typically die each winter. But warming temperatures allow mountain pines to live longer, causing outbreaks that infect trees at a larger scale.
It’s possible that changing weather patterns affect US lumber stock the same way: Though it’s still too soon to tell, the effects of the climate crisis on ecosystems are wide-reaching and any number of factors can harm tree species.
THE CRISIS ENDS (?)
Though lumber prices are still far above pre-pandemic levels, they fell by more than 40 percent in June, indicating that the crisis is not as acute as it recently was. This could be because sawmills are finally filling empty jobs, or it could be because demand for at-home projects is falling as COVID-19 restrictions lift and people go back into the world.
The cash price per 1,000 board feet of lumber is now $1,113, down from an all-time high of near $1,600 at the end of May (for context, it was $400 for the same amount in February of 2020.) Some people, of course, could consider building homes with alternative materials, like steel (which is facing its own shortage) or concrete. But Jankke, Parajuli and Bardon all caution that, ironically, this is less sustainable than building a home out of wood, which absorbs carbon dioxide from the atmosphere even after a home is constructed.
“It can potentially be part of the solution to the climate crisis,” Jannke said.
Everything You Need to Know About the Great Lumber Crisis of 2021 syndicated from https://triviaqaweb.wordpress.com/feed/
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