To: tyc:> who wrote (1673 ) 12/1/2001 3:12:19 AM From: marcos Read Replies (2) | Respond to There is no 'somewhere else' ... only three nations build homes using structural lumber - Canada, the US, and Japan ... the latter was for a few years a great market for BC but with a tanked economy they're not building like they were, and it's unlikely they will for a while .... of course we sell some lumber all over the world, eighty countries or more, but none of them is a volume market and all together they don't add up to enough to keep us in business ... more should be done to develop overseas markets, for sure, but much effort has been put out on this in the past, and the payoff is quite limited ... people in the tropics will continue to build with concrete block to keep the heat out [our frame construction is good at keeping it in], galvanised steel sheet for roofing, a few poles for rafters and purlins etc [now these have been replaced with our lumber, works well, but it's not a high-volume use and many can't afford it, they go whack down some poles and use them in the round ... including myself - our little shack at the seventeenth parallel we roofed that way, i didn't even use a chain saw, just an axe and machete, ridgepole was a fair-sized log so for a couple of rounds of beer seven or eight guys helped me carry it out and set it, no problem]
