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46 | J UNE 2015 Engineered Wood Products of choice for construction of both mid-rise residential and commercial buildings," Embury-Williams points out. "Engineered wood products, specifically glulam and CLT, use less energy in the manufacturing process than concrete and steel," adds Downing. "This bodes well for both products as specifiers and designers place more importance on environmental performance." "The environmental benefits of wood are well- documented and include the long-term storage of carbon dioxide sequestered in the wood products, the low-energy required to process wood and the life cycle benefits that result from these properties," says Embury-Williams. EWPs allow the industry to make better use of the species available for harvest, allowing the maximum usage of low-grade lumber to produce a higher grade of wood products. This increases the design performance of traditional dimensional lumber and has allowed the forest industry to harvest more wood species than before. Unfortunately, usable mountain pine beetle timber supply is shrinking as the dead standing trees age and crack and become more brittle, making them unsuitable for EWPs or panel products. "This affects the higher-end and more appearance grade EWPs such as plywood and LVL since their manufacturing process needs bigger pieces of wood to make the product," Embury-Williams explains. "Oriented strand board (OSB) can use smaller pieces of wood and get away with lower quality logs." Of course, with wood being utilized more and more in construction, fire performance is an increasing con- cern. "Architects love Sansin's Firestop coating," says Quinn Brown, B.C. representative for the Coast Group. "Whether it's absolutely necessary or not, it just gives clients peace of mind." The transparent coating is the most popular option, because it allows the beauty of the grain to shine through. "People are after a natural look," says Brown. "Our battle with architects is that they want it to look as natural as possible, and we want to get as much pig- ment on there as possible to protect the wood, so it's always a back and forth." The more pigment you have, the better your UV protection will be. Sansin utilizes nano technology which allows the company to maxi- mize pigment content without sacrificing the natural look. Other companies will do a low-pigment load to get that natural look, but then you're wearing out in about two years. Fire isn't the only natural enemy of wood – water can do just as much damage. "In B.C., water damage is our biggest problem," says Brown. Sansin developed KP11 as a millwork and engineered wood stabilizer first coat: soak the structure in it as a pre-coat to prevent water from getting in. Though we have been building with wood since the dawn of time, this may well be its heyday, notes Embury- Williams: "Clearly, one of the oldest building materials in the world has become widely regarded as the newest, most advanced and desirable building material that we want in our living spaces and our communities." A PHOTOGRAPHY BY PHOTOGRAPHY WEST/COURTESY WOOD DESIGN AWARDS IN BC/WOOD WORKS! BC VanDusen Botanical Garden Visitor Centre.

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