Project: To compare bug kill lumber and leading lumber in terms of structural integrity, cost and availability in the Kamloops region.
Method: I will compare leading lumber and bug killed lumber in the following ways:
1) Cost - I will search various academic journals, books and local suppliers to find up to date values of lumber in today's market and compare it with today's value of bug kill lumber.
2) Availability - I will look in various academic journals and books to find where the majority of bug kill happened geographically. I will look at local shipping rates and determine if it willbe economically feasible to transprot the wood if needed.
3) Structural Integrity - I will look in various academic journals and books to find shearing, tearing and compressive strengths of leading lumber and bug kill lumber, then I will compare the leading lumber's values with the values of bug kill lumber.
Special Problems:
- Is there going to be sufficient structural data on bug kill? Or will I have to test it myself?
- If I have to test the wood myself, is there a place in Kamloops where this can be done?
- Will there be sufficient demand for bug kill to warrant logging it?
- Will steps have to be taken to ensure the wood is not infected anymore?
- Construction materials price's are constantly changing; will this affect the credibility of my report?
Also:
- Due to the bug tracks and holes in the wood is the fire rating going to be affected?
- Is the acoustic values going to be affected due to these holes?
- Is the wood more susceptible to rot?
- How would people feel about having a "bug kill" house?
- Can the ENTIRE house be built of bug kill?
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8 comments:
Here is a link to a local company that mills beattle killed pine: http://www.troutcreekenterprises.com/
You could contact them to see what kinds of things people are using the pine for.
Jared,
Found this government document talking about alternate wood products from pine beetle kill. They call it blue-stained wood.
http://dsp-psd.pwgsc.gc.ca/Collection/Fo143-3-2005-7E.pdf
This slideshow was really informative and shows the extent of areas effected by pine beetle over the years on a map. Seemed pretty good for background info.
http://www.cofi.org/library_and_resources/presentations/2007/pdf/ImpactofandOpportunitiesforBluePine-Routledge.pdf
Thanks Derek, this will be very useful.
Jared,
I found these links, they seem to have quite a bit of information on the beetle, and its history. The first one is relating to Colorado, but the second one is related to British Columbia. I hope this Helps you out buddy.
cheers,
Travis
http://www.colostate.edu/programs/cowood/library/Blue-Stain/Blue_Stain_markup.pdf
http://www.bcprogressboard.com/2005Report/Annual/VII_ChapterII.pdf
Hey Jared, this is an interesting topic. I work part-time at High Country Log Homes. Some clients actually prefer logs that have some Pine Beetle kill, in Pine homes. Just an idea for you to run with, on another tangent for your report. The fungus that kill the tree stains the wood blue.
Thinking about pictures you could get, if you could find some of a cross section of wood with bug holes in it and some blue staining, that would be descriptive. also you could take some pics of the forest south (towards merritt) and east(towards pritchard) of here to show places where 90% of the trees are dead.
as for your original picture, maybe if you know that the structural properties are different for bugkill, then you could design a home that has extra structural support where it would be needed.
as well, do you know what effect the bug deterrents have on the lumber? I think some of them are just pheremones, 1 is verbanone, but if some of them are actual pesticides, how do they affect the tree? or maybe there are not very many trees treated like this.
Hey jared,
I finally heard back from a friend of mine who might be able to help you out with some information. His name is Kirby Papineau and he works for the forest industry. He may know some info on the pine beetle.
Give him a try by email:
Kirby.Papineau@gov.mb.ca
or
kirbypapineau@hotmail.com.
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