B.C. Wood Used In Roofing in China
By 250 News
VICTORIA - The commercial use of B.C. wood for apartment re-roofing has expanded for the first time into northern China, says Forests and Range Minister Pat Bell.
"Our first commercial project in northern China will see up to 150 apartment buildings in the city of Shijiazhuang renovated using B.C. forest products and Canadian wood-truss construction systems," said Bell. "One of our key priorities is to dramatically increase exports to
China. We will do that by continuing to promote the use of B.C. wood in building renovations and pushing into new regional markets such as Hebei."
Through a memorandum of understanding with the Province of Hebei, the apartment re-roofing in Shijiazhuang is a two-phase project. The first phase is confirmed, and calls for 50 wood-frame roofs to be completed by the end of this year. The second phase is contingent on the results of the first phase, and involves another 100 roofs as well as the construction of a wood-truss manufacturing plant.
In the first phase, British Columbia will donate the lumber and wood panels needed for six roofs. The remainder of the first and second phases will be on a purely commercial basis, with Canadian experts to provide training, wood truss design, on-site supervision and quality
assurance. These services are part of technical support provided by Forestry Innovation Investment (FII), the ministry's international marketing agency for forest products, and the Canada Wood Group of forest industry trade associations.
The first apartment re-roofing demonstration in China was completed in November 2006. Nearly 100 roofs using B.C. wood have been commercially renovated since that time, with about half in Shanghai. Other commercial demonstrations have been completed in the cities of Qingdao and Nanjing. The Province of Hebei is on China's northern plain near Beijing and has a population of about 68 million.
The success and increasing number of wood re-roofing projects around the country has also created a valuable entry point for the wood-truss system to expand later this year into China's building market for multi-storey, multi-family residential construction.
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Posted by: Mr. PG on August 31 2009 9:36 PM
If BC wood were used for roofing, it should be wooden shakes or shingles. "roofing" is the term used for the external roof cover that protects the roof structure from the weather.
I assume from the description that BC wood is being used for the roof structure, the trusses as well as the sheathing, I would assume.
However, since much of the roofing in China is clay tile and they should replace the existing roofing with a local product that last considerably longer than asphalt shingles and is readily available for repair and maintenance, the sheathing may be omitted and strapping used.
So, it looks like we will be teaching them how to make their own trusses, which sounds reasonable since they are not very easily transported there. As a result, they will be using less wood than their typical method of using timbers. Perhaps we will be able to supply them with some lumber and slowly work our way into other parts of the market.
Germany is selling China wood for crating purposes, for instance. The Chinese have very strict regulations about the environmental safety of the wood they import since they fear that foreign microbes and insects may be imported into Chinese territory.
Wonder if anyone knows whether we have to comply in the same fashion with wood we ship over.