Rick Kleiner from the Southern Forest Products Association joins Bob to discuss current specifications for pressure-treated lumber. Kleiner explains that the copper arsenate that was once used as a preservative for pressure-treated lumber has been replaced by safer alternatives like ACQ or copper azol. Codes recommend that structural members be made of pressure-treated lumber, especially Southern yellow pine. Kleiner explains the tags on the lumber that indicate their recommended use. Lumber marked for below-ground use is treated with a higher dose of preservative than those rated for above-ground use. Pressure-treated deck members resist fungal growth, termites, and decay to maintain a strong and stable deck for as many as 40 years.

Bob meets with Wes Lohr, the general contractor for the River Hill homes, as his crew sets the sill and the first floor deck to frame the new house. Lohr shows Bob how the sill is constructed of pressure-treated lumber set on top of a sill sealer that protects the wood from wicking moisture in the concrete foundation. The pressure-treated lumber is drilled to receive the sill posts from the foundation, then bolted down to hold the decking tight to the base. The deck for the house is built of 2X10 kiln-dried lumber and 3/4-inch tongue-and-groove sheathing. The sheathing is first glued then nailed to the joists. Bob marvels at the speed of modern construction with a first floor deck and walls that can be completed in a day. Lohr estimates that the structure of the house and the roof will be complete in five or six days, with two more days of work to shingle the roof.

Bob goes to the Georgia Pacific pressure treated lumber plant in Sterling, GA to see how pressure treated lumber is made.

Bob visits a Georgia-Pacific lumber mill and goes on a tour with Randi Bonanni. Randi outlines the harvesting and mill processes.

Bob tours the Ralph A. Esty & Sons Lumber Corporation in Groveland, MA. Operations Manager Ken Monoco explains the process of aquiring and milling the lumber. The logs are scanned for metal, debarked, filtered, cut, sorted and air dried. The plant saws about 4.5 million feet of lumber per year.

Bob and Ryley rebuild the deck in the rear of the addition using salvaged lumber from the demolition. Bob outlines the plans to fill in the deck to meet the addition. Ryley explains the rim joist used to fasten the deck to the house.

Bob Ryley is on site to help carpenter Pat Cloutier construct tapered columns on the front porch using pre-primed WindsorONE, an engineered lumber product made from radiata pine. The columns will taper from 7 1/4 inches at the top to 10 1/2 inches at the bottom.

On the next stop on tour of the Hancock Land Company, Bob and Patrick Moore are joined by Peter McKinley, Hancock's staff ecologist. McKinley's job is to look for ecologically sensitive areas such as vernal pools. Vernal pools are temporary water holes that are vital to certain species of frogs and other wildlife. The frogs are safe to breed here because the pools dry up after a few months preventing fish and other predators from establishing. However, in order for these pools to thrive, they depend on a certain amount of shade cover from trees, which influences trees selected for harvesting. By using such machines as a feller-buncher and a skidder, Hancock is able to reach in among the growth and select only the trees they want. Next, Matt Hancock, president of Hancock Land Company, joins Bob and Moore. Hancock takes them to a recently harvested site and explains how much has changed in just one year. This site will not be harvested again for another 20 years, allowing the forest to regenerate itself naturally.

Bob meets with Michael Ainsworth at the Ainsworth Oriented Strand Board Mill in Canada for a tour of one of the most modern OSB factories in the world. The mill consists of a 9 acre building where aspen logs are brought in to be made into OSB. Michael explains that the process starts with logs up to sixty feet long that are chopped down to a maximum of sixteen feet long. Then they are put into tanks or ponds where they are brought down to below freezing winter temperatures. From the tanks, the logs go into a debarker and then into a machine that cuts the logs into strands that are about as thick as two business cards. The strands next enter a rotating dryer and then are moved to a resin blender. In the blender they are tumbled in a mist of resin and wax, which are binding and weatherproofing agents. They are transported from the blender to the forming line where the OSB is laid. All four layers have strands that are oriented in one direction. The surface layer strands go one way and the two interior layers have strands laid perpendicular to the surface. This opposing orientation is what gives OSB its strength. The sheets are twelve feet wide and are cut into twenty-four foot lengths. Each mat enters one opening of the twelve opening press and is then pressed into a board. Afterwards it is cut into the desired length and prepared for shipping.

Open Joist 2000 is an engineered wood system designed to maximize solid-sawn lumber strength while minimizing lumber waste. This truss and joist system features fully trimmable joists that are ordered to length from an inventory that is maintained by the manufacturer. These joists feature an open-webbed design that allows wiring and pipes to be run through the joists, without the need for a drop ceiling or lost headroom.