Freres Lumber Mass Plywood Panels Awarded Patents in U.S. and Canada; MPP Passes Fire Safety Standards

LYONS, Ore., Feb. 5, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Freres Lumber Company announced that it has been granted a Canadian patent for its revolutionary Mass Plywood Panel (MPP), which is currently the only mass timber panel constructed entirely from Structural Composite Lumber (SCL). MPP will allow builders to build taller structures for less cost, faster, while using less wood than with any other mass timber product on the market today. The company received the Canadian Patent the day after the hard copy of their U.S. patent arrived in the mail. Patents have also been granted in Australia and New Zealand.

Additionally, Freres Lumber received fire test results from Southwest Research Institute (SwRI), verifying that MPP demonstrates the necessary life safety fire protection performance for single- and multi-family, and multi-story structures up to 18 stories high. MPP has met or exceeded multiple industry building and fire safety standards tests, including APA certification and SwRI fire safety performance evaluation.

"Freres Lumber has spent the last three years researching, developing and testing MPP, and our hard work has come to fruition with the patents being awarded and industry tests verifying the strength, safety and versatility of this product," said Tyler Freres, vice president for Freres Lumber. "The ASTM E119 and E84 tests are rigorous tests that exposed the panels to intensely hot flames. The test results allow designers and developers to use MPP in buildings that require fire resistance ratings."

E119 and E84 Testing

To conduct the fire-resistance E119 test, a sample of the test material is exposed to certain benchmark temperatures that are reached over a controlled period of time. The test provides a relative measurement of the test materials' fire resistance when exposed to the standard conditions of a fire. 

During testing of the MPP panels for the E119 standard, test chamber temperatures reached in excess of 1000 degrees Celsius. MPP floors, MPP walls and char rate were evaluated. For the floor panel test, an 18,100-pound weight load was added that the panel had to withstand during the two-hour fire test. The panel passed the two-hour fire exposure and the extinguish test with a typical garden hose.

Freres Lumber is among Oregon's premier engineered wood products manufacturing companies. Follow this link for the complete release; visit www.frereslumber.com/news for high-resolution images.

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SOURCE Freres Lumber Company