Louisiana-Pacific Opens Laminated Strand Lumber Facility


Nashville, Tennessee, 10 June 2008 -– Louisiana-Pacific Corporation (LP) (NYSE:LPX) today celebrated the grand opening of its Houlton, Maine, laminated strand lumber (LSL) facility.

The Houlton facility opened in 1982 as an oriented strand board (OSB) mill. The expansion and conversion to an LSL mill represents an investment of more than USD 140 million. LP broke ground on the expansion in the fall of 2006, making first board in March 2008. Designed for an annual production capacity of 7 million cubic feet, Houlton is LP’s first LSL manufacturing facility, and one of the few facilities producing LSL in North America.

LSL, a structural engineered wood product based on wood-strand technology, is used in a wide variety of residential construction applications, including headers and beams, wall studs, roof beams and rafters, truss chords, rim boards, and stair stringers. LP’s product will be marketed under the LP® SolidStart® LSL line, and will be available through a network of more than 70 distributors.

The first rail car of APA-approved 1.35E rated 1-3/4-inch laminated strand lumber was shipped from the mill on 04 June. The facility also will manufacture 1.55E rated product and the industry’s only 1.75E rated LSL.

The expansion has added about 40 jobs to the Houlton mill, which now employs 158 workers. The mill’s focus on safety and the environment has earned it designation as an OSHA VPP site and membership in EPA’s Performance Track program. It received the 2006 Maine Governor’s Award for Business Excellence.

LP, headquartered in Nashville, Tennessee, is a premier supplier of building products, manufacturing innovative, high-quality commodity and specialty products to its retail, wholesale, homebuilding, and industrial customers. Visit LP's Web site at www.lpcorp.com for additional information on the company.