Grading Lumber from your Portable Mill in Atlantic Canada

[SwampDonkey]

In the current issue of the 'Atlantic Forestry Review', May 2007 issue, there is an article on grading lumber off your portable mill called 'Can I build my house with that?: Grading lumber from portable mills'.

The National building Code is prepared under the direction of the Canadian Commission on Building and Fire Codes. This is a federal document which may or may not be adopted by your province or municipality. Where it is adopted there is discretion in the matter of application and enforcement. Generally, in Atlantic Canada, the larger the community the more closely the Code is followed.

A strict interpretation of the Code says only graded and stamped wood with a moisture content not exceeding 19 % is acceptable for construction. Ultimately, it falls on the municipality to enforce the code. There are instances where ungraded lumber are used in one place but prohibited in another.

The Maritime lumber Bureau is accredited by the Canadian Lumber Standards Board to oversee the grading of lumber in Atlantic Canada. The Bureau trains and licenses graders and provides those accredited with large rubber ink stamps that slap a distinctive brand on acceptable dimension lumber. Currently, there are about 100 owner/operators of portable sawmills in the region are licensed to grade their own lumber. They discourage grading of lumber from someone else's mill because the licensed grader, stamp and mill are expected to be in one place when the Bureau sends inspectors on site. The bureau can grade lumber for $250 per half day plus expenses and having someone to help sort through the piles can help reduce cost.

The Bureau trains graders at their Amherst, NS office. They train 12 at a time over a two week period, 8 am to 5 pm, Mon-Friday. The course costs $450, plus $50 for materials.  Successful candidates then apply for a grade stamp and register with an annual fee of $460.

[Source: Atlantic Forestry Review, May 2007 Issue, page 50]

[Don P]

SD, Please keep your eyes open on this and a file of all press. Presently here a portable mill cannot "and will never" hold a stamp because of that inability to pop inspect.
Curiously no moisture content is expressly specified in our codes. A stamp may never leave mill property here. The MLB is also an accredited agency for our side of the border...

If you run across a stamp from one of these mills I'd like to see it.

[SwampDonkey]

Here's what the grade stamps look like for the MLB and other regions/jurisdictions in Canada. Issued by the National Lumber Grades Authority.

http://www.nlga.org/app//dynarea/view_article/2.html

Here's an explanation of the grades and stamps. PDF Link

More information on visually graded lumber

[Don P]

Yup, this is bad, real bad  :D :D
Who writes the rules that the NLGA operates under? The ALSC, our equivalent of your NLGA. The ALSC doesn't allow what you just described, yet over the border you do, your wood once stamped can come over the border freely... see the problem? I for one am lovin it  :D. Hopefully its only a matter of time before our side's opposition falls of its own weight. Or we invade :. 

[SwampDonkey]

I don't see an issue with grading your own lumber from your mill as long as your certified. No more of an issue than a big commercial sawmill doing their own grading. The trouble is when someone leaves his operation and becomes a grader for other sawmill operators and no way to be inspected unless it's in some way marked to identify and verify for the certification body. Source and chain of custody issues need to be considered.

[Don P]

A big commercial outfit is pop inspected about monthly. A mobile mill cannot be pop inspected is the logic here. That third party auditing of mills using their stamp is part of the grading agencies job. They are allowing one of their stamps to be used without doing the proper third party auditing, if they are in fact allowing the small mills to use an "official" stamp at mobile locations. We do have states that allow native lumber to be graded for residential use, it does not carry an official stamp on the lumber though.

I do agree that a bad load or consistently bad operator could be tracked back through the mill number on his stamp if the lumber starts being marketed, so a chain of responsibility is there. You've lost one failsafe. Our inspectors did not want to be the ones effectively doing the audit and the grading agency would not see lumber sawn by a mobile mill for someone's home at their site. Grading would be effectively unaudited, that is the scenario I see there.

Certified means absolutely nothing without audit, we have graders here that carry a certification card but cannot stamp off the audited property. That is the express purview of the agencies grader. Or the way it was put to me (I am trained and a stationary mill), if I hire the agencies services they will come audit me and certify me after several months of good grading. They will then continue to audit me for as long as I grade under their stamp. If I consistently fall below grade they will take my certification. That kind of service costs hundreds per month. I'm not in that league nor do I want to be. Your guys have found a way to work it out, if they have a regular stamp I'd like to know more especially from the NLGA's and ALSC's perspective.

[WDH]

It pays to check with local building codes to determine if a person can saw, dry, and use their own lumber in framing a house that they are building without a grade stamp on each board..  A friend of mine dried-in his house, but it failed inspection because he cut and dried his own framing, and the county required a licensed grade stamp on each board.  Long story short, he was severely delayed, and he had to hire a SPIB (Southern Pine Inspection Bureau) lumber grader to come to his house and inspect every board in the house, then stamp it or say that it had to be replaced.  The sad thing is that the quality of the lumber was superior to what you buy in the big box stores, but the rules are the rules.  It was a very expensive mistake for him.

[SwampDonkey]

I don't know what would take place in my rural setting as per lumber grading. I don't even think the insurance company asks about lumber grades, these old farm houses were built from home sawn lumber mostly. It's likely the lumber would have to be graded for a new home, but I am not sure. I know in Woodstock they have to use graded lumber ad it's inspected.

I think you missed the message though Don, those lumber graders with portable mills probably are running them stationary. As the MLB doesn't want the stamp and mill to move from site, as I read it. They are audited by the MLB, but I doubt there is an audit fee. But there may be a levy similar to marketing board levies on wood sales. There is a fee for grading some one's lumber if he doesn't get certified. That would be similar to a bucking and handling fee the marketing board charges, with a minimum charge. I'm thinking that any building here that is put up with a subsidy or grant has to have engineered plans and graded lumber. I know potato sheds do.

Pretty soon we'll have to audit the auditors, who may or may not be any more competent than the certified grader.  :D :D

[Don P]

Ah, sorry, I didn't read past the repeated use of "portable mill" in the article I guess  ???.

My "teammate" in the 4 day grading class is now an auditor, fresh outta college, soooo, I'm not disagreeing with the last statement :D

The annual fee, if that and training is all, would be great. I am curious whether this is common knowledge to the ALSC and acceptable to ask other agencies to do also. I do think the total fee to small operators should be the same per board foot as the big guys to stay within their mandate. The fee's I was looking at would be in the dollars per board foot for my little production.

What I haven't told y'all recently is we had a owner builder that was refused on building walnut stairs from one of his trees cause they weren't graded  >:(. I remarked on a fine walnut in a friend's pile when he told me it was given to him and why. I bought oak stair treads the next week, yup NHLA graded, not stress graded... Whoop blood pressure's goin up  :D

[WDH]

I thought the grade-stamped mandate applied only to framing and structural lumber.  Maybe not.

[SwampDonkey]

Yeah, I was wondering about that walnut to.  :

[Don P]

We were awestruck ourselves. But I suppose in a traditional set of stairs the tread is structural. It was a judgement call and not a good one. All my efforts have done is create better Nazis of the inspectors :(. Time to try a different tack.

That is part of why this interests me. I trained at another agency but if one can do this they should all be able to. The downside is if they shouldn't be, it'll likely shut that down  ???. A portable mill that owns a stamp is going to use it on the road, you can count on it. I'll contact the MLB and ask for particulars.