January 10, 2019

DHA® eNews - 2019 Design Trends: Islands Out, Tall Doors In

2019 Design Trends: Islands Out, Tall Doors In

Perhaps the most surprising design trend this year is the anticipated decline of the kitchen island. Expect to see even bigger, taller doors with clean lines.

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2019 Color Trends: Neutral To Bright

This year's home design trends include warm neutral colors. As the popularity of white kitchens declines, some experts predict more black kitchens. Designers are recommending six surprising kitchen cabinet colors: turquoise, yellow, navy, red, orange, and purple.

Chinese Multilayered Wood Flooring Unfairly Dumped

The U. S. Department of Commerce published preliminary results from a review which found that imports of multilayered flooring from China were unfairly dumped in the U.S. at heightened rates. The 2016-2017 administrative review of 146 Chinese companies showed that flooring was dumped at rates as high as 96.51%.

New Executive Order Could Open National Parks To Logging

This week's executive order directs the Department of the Interior and Department of Agriculture to more actively manage federal forests to reduce the risk of forest fires.

EPA Signs Final Rule For Emissions Of Wood Products

EPA has signed the final risk and technology review rule for surface coating of wood building products. This RTR covers hazardous emissions when applying coatings to various wood products. Many mills are now using reformulated coatings to lower emissions. The final rule reaffirms earlier findings.

Columbia Promotes 3 Managers

Columbia Forest Products has promoted three managers into newly created positions. Congratulations to John Hampton, Director of Plywood Sales; Mike Young, Director of Supply Chain & Customer Service; and Gary Meyer, Director of Customer Service. All are internal promotions.

Armstrong Finalizes Sale Of Wood Flooring

Armstrong officially completed the sale of its wood flooring operations to private equity firm American Industrial Partners on December 31. The proceeds from the $100 million sale amounted to about $90 million; a post-closing working capital adjustment will be made during the first quarter of 2019.

Roseburg Acquires Another MDF Plant

Roseburg has agreed to buy the PotlatchDeltic MDF plant in El Dorado, AR. The acquisition will be Roseburg's third MDF plant purchase in as many years. Roseburg acquired Pembroke MDF in eastern Ontario in early 2018 and an MDF plant in Medford, OR in 2015.

Plywood Mills In Malaysia, Indonesia Stop Production

The high costs of logs and low sales prices for plywood have caused a critical log supply shortage in Malaysia and Indonesia. Many plywood mills have been forced to stop production.

Cabinet Sales Continue Slight Upward Trend

Cabinet sales rose slightly in November, up 0.3%, driven by increased sales of stock and custom cabinets.

The Good & The Bad: BC Forest Industry Outlook

Canada's timber industry has been quieter this winter as wildfires and bug infestations transformed tracts of once valuable forests into stands of dead trees. Hardest hit is British Columbia, home to nearly one-third of the country's wood manufacturing jobs. Last year, British Columbia's lumber industry went from record high prices to a steep decline. In 2019, the industry hopes that new wood construction technology and demand in Asia will make up for continuing trade disputes with the U.S.

Source: BC Local News

Recent Updates On The State Of Our Forests

The United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization has released its 2018 edition of The State of the World's Forests, designed to increase understanding of how the sustainable management of forests contributes to sustainable development. North America's abundant, growing forests provide 15% of the earth's total forest cover.

Source: Illegal Logging Portal

Creating Climate-Positive Design

Cities consume more than 67% of global energy and are responsible for 70% of global carbon emissions. Better landscape design could be part of the solution, as the carbon stored by trees and soil will help offset emissions from buildings. Sustainably managed forests play a crucial role in curbing climate change, in two ways: by removing carbon from the atmosphere and by providing a natural, renewable, and less energy-intensive building material.

Source: Nisqually Valley News

Forests Need A Balanced Diet, Too

Carbon dioxide is essentially a fast food diet for forests. While this results in faster growth in the short term, researchers believe that growth may soon peak as trees deplete nitrogen in the soil during longer growing seasons.

Why More Buildings Should Be Made Of Wood

Source: Twitter

Vancouver Entrepreneurs Practice Green Demolition: Recovering & Recycling Wood
USDA Forest Service Partners With Humanim To Salvage Baltimore Row Homes
45 Truckloads Of Mussivi African Rosewood Logs Seized In Angola
20 People Arrested For Alleged Illegal Monzo Timber In Mozambique
Housing Market Predictions For 2019

Following a slow housing market in 2018, expect a tough year for buyers and sellers in 2019.

Construction Starts Decline

New construction starts in November dropped 7% to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of $789.3 billion. Non-residential building slowed by 15%.

Mortgage Applications Fall

The number of mortgage applications fell 5.8% on a seasonally-adjusted basis in December.

Loan Limits Raised For First-Time Buyers

To help stimulate the housing market, the FHA raised mortgage loan limits for first-time buyers from $294,515 to $314,827.

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