CONSTRUCTION: Lumber coater branches into fire resistance

Lumber coater expands into fire resistance

By CHRIS BAGLEY - Staff Writer | Tuesday, June 10, 2008 5:13 PM PDT ∞

CARLSBAD ---- A company with a colorful twist on lumber treatment is expanding throughout the western United States, and introducing a new coating that resists fire, it says, making it ideal for houses in blaze-prone areas such as northern and eastern San Diego County.

The company, SC Bluwood Inc., draws its name from Southern California and from the color of its borate treatment, which interferes with termites' digestive tracts. Borate, a chemical salt, has been used to protect against insects and mold for 15 years, but the company says it adds polymers to keep the salt from leaching out of the wood. The blue dye in its treatment is part marketing gambit and part trademark to deter frivolous lawsuits, said chief executive Steve Conboy.

Bluwood is beginning to coat some of its wood with a fire retardant. Other companies that sell the solution, a mix of aluminum and ammonium compounds, say it can render wood completely fireproof.

One of the first houses to use Bluwood's mix is going up this week off West Bernardo Drive, where a resident lost his home to the Witch Creek-Guejito fire in October. It's visible from the southbound lanes of Interstate 15, and Conboy said his company is donating the treated blue wood to draw attention to the product.

Conboy and partner Mark Vuozzo launched their company in 2003 with corporate headquarters in Carlsbad and a coating facility in Colton, near the center of Southern California's rail and road network. Bluwood began expanding from that area in late 2006, Conboy said. The company now employs about 25 people in Colton and six in Carlsbad.

Meanwhile, it's gone from a handful of coating jobs in the Inland Empire to $10 million in annual sales throughout the West, Conboy said. The company has recently gotten its treated lumber into a number of Lowe's home-improvement stores.

"There are so many manufacturers that go into a house, and you have to serve all of them," Conboy said.

Termites cause $1 billion to $2 billion in damage to U.S. homes each year, and insurers have paid out more than $3 billion in recent years in claims related to water and mold, according to insurance- and building-industry estimates. Fire is a far greater cost, accounting for $17 billion to $21 billion in property losses in recent years, according to the Insurance Information Institute.

Bluwood and the supplier of its insecticide, a Florida company called WoodSmart Solutions, aren't the only ones offering insect-resistant wood. Standard pressure-treated lumber has been available for decades. Borate compounds are considered less toxic to humans, but are used mainly for framing joists and other interior lumber because they're water-soluble and can leach out when exposed to rain or other moisture.

Several large hardware stores in North County offer plastic-based deck planks that look like wood but are termite-proof and fire-resistant. And both offer varieties of redwood that resist termites and are considered more attractive than Douglas fir, the standard structural lumber. Redwoods typically cost two to three times as much as standard Douglas fir.

Contact staff writer Chris Bagley at (760) 740-5444 or cbagley@nctimes.com.

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