Louisiana-Pacific Corporation

Louisiana-Pacific is excited and proud to be a part of Habitat for Humanity's "house-raising" this month in Yonkers, N.Y. L-P is honored to have the opportunity to help make it possible for Michelle Hayes and her four daughters to be in their new home by Thanksgiving. L-P salutes the Westchester County Habitat, President Clinton's Partnership for Advancing Technology (PATH) and Florida architect Ed Binkley, and is glad to be one of PATH's first demonstration homes.

Advanced technology is a big part of the spirit of Louisiana-Pacific. In fact, the company recently opened a 30,000-square-foot Advanced Technology Center which will focus on developing new building materials and adding value and performance to existing engineered wood products. This new center is designed to rapidly take new concepts from embryonic ideas to commercialization.

L-P has donated materials from two of our divisions. From SmartSystem™ Siding Products, we're giving SmartLap™ and SmartPanel™ siding, as well as SmartStart™ Trim & Fascia. From our oriented strand board (OSB) division, we'll be giving Habitat for Humanity our new Visual Precision® OSB sheathing, which features a measuring and cutting grid printed on each board.

With the PATH mission of combining innovative technology and affordable homebuilding trends, we think SmartSystem siding and Visual Precision OSB are perfect products to be utilized in building the Hayes home.

All the SmartSystem materials we've donated to the project are made of what is known as "treated engineered wood." The SmartGuard™ treatment process enhances resistance to fungal decay and wood-destroying insects. The manufacturing process creates strong, stable, moisture-resistant siding with warranties that are unmatched in the siding industry. Builders like the price, the easy workability and the pre-primed surface. Homeowners love the cedar texture and the long-term protection of the warranties.

A pre-finished option (SmartFinish) is available on most SmartSystem products in six colors: Outside White, Stonehedge, Cape Cod Gray, Navajo White, Taupe and Beige Gray.

There are SmartSystem siding options for high-end homes, as well as modular housing or even sheds. SmartSystem siding is more attractive than hardboard, fiber cement and vinyl siding. SmartSystem products resist the cracking, splitting, twisting and warping that is often found in solid wood siding; and are engineered to resist moisture better than hardboard. SmartSystem products offer much easier workability than fiber cement, and they will not become brittle like vinyl after extended weather exposure.

SmartLap and SmartPanel are backed by limited 25-year warranties, which offer five-year 100 percent repair or replacement features, and these warranties are transferable from the original homeowner to te next homeowner. SmartStart Trim & Fascia carry a limited 15-year warranty with a one-year 100 percent repair or replacement feature. Click here for more information about SmartSystem Products.

Sheathing for the Habitat home will be Louisiana-Pacific's Visual Precision OSB, a cutting-edge sheathing product that has already received top honors for innovation from two respected building trade publications this year. The Hayes' Yonkers residence will be among the first homes to be built with this groundbreaking new product.

Visual Precision panel products come with a grid printed directly on selected L-P OSB and plywood sheathing. The grid highlights common divisions for residential construction applications and serves as a measurement guide for cutting and installing structural framing components. To the homeowner, this kind of accuracy helps ensure quality installation. Visual Precision helps ensure accuracy and increase productivity by eliminating the steps of measuring and marking construction panels prior to cutting. Visual Precision can improve the quality of the installation by serving as a ready reference for nailing panels to the underlying structural framing.
Click here for more information on Visual Precision.

Louisiana-Pacific also offers a complete line of engineered wood products for new home construction and remodeling projects. Engineered wood is a high-quality substitute for traditional sawn lumber for floors that resist squeaking and bouncing. The engineered wood products (EWP) division currently offers Laminated Veneer Lumber (Gang-Lam® LVL), (http://www.lpcorp.com/construction/ewp.html target="external") used primarily for beams and headers, and Solid Start® LPI® Joists, used mainly for floor joists and rafters. This year, the company's EWP division teamed up with L-P's OSB group to offer the Solid Start/Top Notch® Flooring System.

Solid Start I-Joists already boast a limited lifetime warranty if installed to L-P's specifications; Top Notch OSB flooring panels offer a 20-year warranty. Together, if installed correctly, L-P backs the combined system for the life of the home or building.

I-Joists are engineered wood products that are uniform in strength, stiffness, size and weight. Pound-for-pound, they offer greater load-carrying capacity than traditional sawn lumber and resist shrinking, twisting, splitting and crowning. The joists can also be spaced farther apart than their traditional counterparts-up to 24" o.c.-creating savings on materials and labor.

Top Notch OSB panels feature a patented tongue-and-groove ege with vertical notches in the tongue and panel ends that allow rain water to quickly drain during construction, prolonging the flooring's life when it is exposed to the elements. Top Notch panels are engineered to be less subject to weather-related problems such as expansion, contraction, swelling, buckling, warping and delamination.
Click here for more information on L-P engineered wood products.

L-P products are available from major building materials distributors nationwide, as well as all major home centers. For more information or to order Louisiana-Pacific products, call 1-800-648-6893 or visit the L-P Web site at http://www.lpcorp.com.