When Louisiana-Pacific Corp. implements innovation, it has consistently turned to its mill near Houlton, Maine.
In 1980, when LP was pioneering the production of a new engineered wood product, the company picked a site in New Limerick for its second “waferwood” mill. Waferwood, wood wafers mixed with resin and pressed into structural panels under pressure and heat, was a precursor to the product known today as oriented strand board (OSB).
By the time LP’s Maine mill started full production in 1982, it was producing waferwood sheathing for roofs and walls as well as notched sub-flooring. In 1986, LP Houlton led the transition from waferwood to OSB with new equipment that allowed the wafers to be oriented and an expanded production line.
Throughout the ’90s, innovation continued at LP Houlton as investments in new equipment and training reduced waste and increased efficiency and product quality as LP’s specialty product offerings expanded.
In 2001, LP Houlton was the first site certified to produce LP TopNotch®, revolutionary subflooring that allows water to easily drain from the job site, reducing damage from rain during home construction.
So it came as no surprise when LP announced in 2006 that LP Houlton was selected to produce laminated strand lumber (LSL), a new product that adapts strand technology for use in framing products.
LP invested $140 million in the Houlton upgrade. LSL builds on LP’s strength in strand technology with an engineered, consistent, environmentally friendly alternative to traditional lumber.
Designed for an annual production capacity of 7 million cubic feet, Houlton is LP’s first LSL manufacturing facility, and one of the few facilities producing LSL in North America.
LP SolidStart® LSL is used in a wide variety of residential construction applications including headers and beams, wall studs, roof beams and rafters, truss chords, rim boards and stair stringers.
In July, the company introduced LP SolidGuard™ LSL, which adds protection against termite damage and fungal decay to its LSL product, making it ideal for sill plates.
In addition, the Houlton mill exemplifies LP’s focus on safety, at work and at home. Safety is a core value and employees at LP Houlton have worked more than a year and a half without an OSHA recordable injury. That’s more than 200,000 total man hours without any injury that requires more than basic first aid.
