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BluWood uses a chemical compound commonly used in wood
treatments,
disodium octaborate
tetrahydrate, as a pesticide. For the waterproof coating, WoodSmart
uses a "compound that doesn't
give off gas or other pollutants." Both the pesticide and the
waterproof coating are registered
with the Environmental Protection Agency as nontoxic.
"I was looking for (an alternative to wood treated with
arsenic) and
found a whole other market
for home framing sets," Morando said. "There was nothing like BluWood.
The market was starving for
it."
More than 500 million board feet of BluWood have been
sold since
2003, when BluWood was
distributed only in South Carolina and Texas. Now, BluWood is available
in 48 states, including
Ohio, where it became available this year.
BluWood adds about $1.50 per square foot of heated
space, which
would mean an extra $3,000 for
2,000 square feet. The use of BluWood on the 3,800-square-foot house in
Oldstone Crossing added
about $6,000 to the price of the house.
No other BluWood-framed homes are being built in central
Ohio by
Virginia Homes, Ruma said. The
house in Oldstone Crossing is being built to generate interest in the
option, he said, and to show
options for the Oldstone Crossing development, where about a third of
the homes -- ranging from
$400,000 to $650,000 -- are built.
Virginia Homes is the only developer that lists BluWood
as an option
in central Ohio, and no
Columbus-area retailers stock it, said Dick Phillips, sales manager for
BluWood manufacturer
National Industrial Lumber.
Buyers interested in using BluWood for framing a house
or smaller
renovation projects can order
it through lumber yards or home-improvement stores such as Lowe's and
Home Depot.
While convincing buyers or developers to add to
construction costs
in a sluggish housing market
is difficult, products that can prevent mold are attracting interest,
if not yet sales, Phillips
said.
"They're looking at BluWood as something they can pass
on to the
owner, especially owners who
have had mold issues," he said.
After Hurricanes Frances and Jeanne caused a major mold
infestation
in 73-year-old Betty Baker
Farley's Florida home in 2004, she had a "tooth-and-nail struggle" with
the insurance company to be
compensated for the destroyed home, said daughter-in-law Nonni Chrystal.
Eleven months later, Chrystal's parents and sister lost
their houses
in Hurricane Katrina.
"It was a one-two punch with (Hurricanes) Frances and
Jeanne in
2004, and 11 months later there
was Katrina," she said. "Three homes totally annihilated. With black
mold completely carpeting all
three homes and facing total annihilation, mold protection was
something really important to
us."
When Chrystal and her husband built their next home in
Indialantic,
Fla., they decided to build
it with an eye on all kinds of disasters, including mold. The couple's
house, designed to be
environmentally friendly, uses a new type of experimental BluWood that
is fireproof in addition to
being mold- and insect-proof. Fireproof wood is expected to go to
limited locations not yet
determined in the fall, Morando said.
Environmental groups helped remove another
pesticide-treated lumber
-- chromated copper arsenic
-- from the market in 2003 because of health concerns.
Unlike arsenic-treated wood, lumber on the market now is
much safer
for consumers, said Richard
Wiles, executive director of the Environmental Working Group. Although
some types have pesticides,
he said, for the most part, they don't do harm to humans.
Mike Pramik covers
development for The
Dispatch. He is currently on
assignment. Contact him at mpramik@dispatch.com
or by fax at 614-461-5107.
jlaster@dispatch.com
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