Building Materials

IT'S rare that the origins of newly milled 2-by-4s offer a compelling tale. But the boards, beams and planks that Triton Logging Inc. sells to home builders come from the cold, eerie depths of Canadian reservoirs. There, a remote-controlled chainsaw-wielding submarine called a Sawfish, developed by Triton's founder and chief executive, Chris Godsall, harvests trees killed by 20th century dam projects.

This state is scarred with remnants of quests to unearth riches beneath the desert. Scores of Nevada gold- and silver-mining camps boomed momentarily before the ore petered out and the prospectors scattered. Yet, about 100 miles north of Reno, on the edge of the Black Rock Desert Wilderness, the community of Empire worried little about the ephemeral nature of other mining towns. Theirs had bustled along since the 1920s — when Empire was named for a brand of plaster — and building materials giant U.S. Gypsum Corp.

Tens of thousands of older concrete buildings across California represent the state's largest remaining risk of serious damage in a major earthquake, seismic safety officials say. Constructed as department stores, schools, parking structures and office buildings from the 1930s through the early 1970s, these buildings typically consist of large, open lower stories held up by unreinforced or poorly reinforced concrete pillars.

With interest rates near rock-bottom levels, most people realize it's only a matter of time before loan costs start to rise. After all, what comes down in the mortgage world always has a way of going up. But what seems to be forgotten is that construction costs also will eventually go back up too. And the rumblings of that phenomenon are already being felt in most building-product categories. The question now is, how long can home builders hold out before they start raising their prices to reflect higher production costs?

On bright days, the rooftop of the Anaheim Hilton is so blindingly white that it looks like a mirror positioned directly at the sun. That dazzling glare might just be the greenest thing to happen to the top of a building since solar panels. The white coating deflects nearly 85% of the heat that hits it, reducing the surface temperature by as much as 50 degrees. That means less energy is needed to cool the hotel's interior, cutting air-conditioning costs and carbon emissions.

Modern steel buildings have long been considered among the most sturdy in the event of a major earthquake. But a model of a massive quake in Southern California has sparked debate among scientists and engineers over whether these structures are more vulnerable than previously thought. The Great Southern California ShakeOut, the nation's largest quake drill, suggested that about five high-rise steel buildings in the region would collapse in the modeled magnitude 7.8 quake.

In yet another sign that the building industry remains deep in recession, a regional building materials company with more than 300 employees has filed for bankruptcy reorganization in the face of plummeting sales. TFI Building Materials Inc. of Anaheim sought protection from creditors' claims under Chapter 11 of the federal bankruptcy code in a petition filed last week in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Santa Ana.

A pedestrian walkway that collapsed at a race track, injuring more than 100 fans, was built with material contaminated by an ingredient that corroded the steel beams, investigators said Thursday. The testing lab hired by Lowe's Motor Speedway to investigate the collapse found high levels of calcium chloride in the concrete slabs of the 320-foot-long bridge. Chloride is sometimes used to make concrete cure faster.

DIMITRY ROSHKOVAN, a Woodland Hills contractor, believed he had a big job lined up last fall. But in the six months it took the client to hire an architect and have blueprints drawn for a large addition, Roshkovan's estimate went from $170,000 to $250,000 and the Northridge homeowner abandoned the project. The contractor blames at least part of the increase on the soaring prices of building materials, which generally account for about 30% of the cost of a major home-improvement project.

Building materials maker James Hardie Industries was sued Wednesday by Australian securities regulators over its handling of compensation for people sickened by asbestos in its products. Hardie's operational headquarters are in Mission Viejo, although it is incorporated in the Netherlands. It was founded in Australia more than a century ago.

A high-rise apartment building under renovation in Shanghai erupted in flames Monday, killing 53 people and injuring 90, the official New China News Agency said. A witness said the blaze started when building materials caught fire and spread up scaffolding surrounding the 28-story tower, the news agency reported. Firefighters facing difficulty reaching the upper levels set up hoses on top of an adjacent building to finally contain the blaze, which raged for more than four hours.

When the landmark Long Beach bookstore Acres of Books closed its doors in 2008 to make way for a city redevelopment project, a big question remained: what to do with its acres of bookshelves? The decision was made to let them live on in a way, even after the bookstore was long gone. This summer, workers are using hammers to knock down and harvest an estimated 6-1/2 miles of wooden shelving. Most of the 1930s-era building will be demolished this fall to make way for an art center.

Israel said Thursday that it had agreed in principle to ease restrictions on the flow of some goods into the Gaza Strip, but officials said Cabinet members were undecided about how much to loosen the rules, and details were not disclosed. Facing international pressure to overhaul Israel's policy on Gaza, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's security Cabinet issued a short statement after two days of meetings. It promised to "liberalize" its policy of tightly restricting the passage of food, household supplies, construction materials and other goods over Israel's borders into the seaside enclave.

The Home staff has culled recommendations from the architects, interior designers and do-it-yourselfers featured in this section to compile this list of resources for anyone planning to remodel, redecorate or otherwise turn his or her home into a work in progress. A sampling of stores and expert advice you might find helpful: Decorating Fashion District in downtown Los Angeles, the vicinity of 9th and Wall streets, for curtain and drapery fabric. www.ichiroya.

Pablo Nuñez, a carpenter by trade, says he is accustomed to working 10-hour shifts, sometimes six days a week, on home-building sites throughout Southern California. But legally mandated overtime pay was almost as unheard of at job sites, he says, as visits from labor inspectors. "The only person getting overtime might be the brother of the foreman," Nuñez said. The Corona resident is among 85 residential construction workers from California, Nevada and Arizona who will share $242,301 in unpaid wages after settling a federal lawsuit last month against a major home-builder, Boise, Idaho-based Building Materials Holding Corp.

Opening a new front in the city's efforts to reduce tagging, the Los Angeles City Council on Tuesday approved an ordinance requiring that all new homes include a finish that is resistant to spray paint unless the owners promise to remove any graffiti themselves. The measure, which was unanimously approved, extends a provision in the Los Angeles Municipal Code requiring that new commercial buildings and apartments be coated to a height of 9 feet with an impermeable material, such as ceramic tile, baked enamel or a chemical gloss.

Cemex of Mexico became the world's largest supplier of building materials Thursday after it won a majority stake in Australia's Rinker Group Ltd., overcoming concerns of potential dominance in some U.S. markets. Cemex announced it had won acceptance of its $14.3-billion takeover bid from shareholders representing 50.3% of Rinker stock. The buyout -- which comes as Dutch firm Mittal Steel Co.

Dr. Armand Hammer, that venerable good-will ambassador who is also chairman of Occidental Petroleum, spread a little good will in downtown Los Angeles last week and made an appeal to the American building industry during the opening of what was called "the first Chinese trade exhibition in the United States." Titled "China Building Materials & Architectural Decorative Arts," the exhibition will be held from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. today, and Monday through Friday through Nov.

It was founded by the family that built the Happiest Place on Earth. But for many executives on the opposite side of the boardroom, Shamrock Holdings Inc. has been more like a house of horrors. A few years ago, the Burbank investment company owned by Roy E. Disney led a revolt to oust Walt Disney Co.'s then-chief executive, Michael Eisner. It not only was intensely bitter but also thrust the little-known firm into the limelight. Now it's at it again, this time agitating for change at one of the nation's largest cement makers.