JOINERY TRIAL

Press, Volume CVI, Issue 31317, 13 March 1967, Page 18

JOINERY TRIAL

Radiata For Windows

Window sasbes of radiata pine were installed in a double-unit block of flats in Christchurch last week as part of a trial. They were made by a city joiner to the specifications of the Housing Division of the Ministry of Works. The specifications are those used for sashes recently installed in State housing units at Otara and Porirua. The New Zealand Forest Service’s timber officer for the South Island (Mr N. C. Clifton) said that attention was being focused on the possible acceptance of radiata pine for window sashes because of an increasingly acute shortage of the traditional joinery timbers. “This is the reason behind the current series of trials,” Mr Clifton said. “Radiata has already been shown to be suitable for such a purpose. Sashes and frames installed 20 years ago in four houses in Auckland are still in firstclass condition. “The sashes which have recently been installed in Auckland and Wellington, and now in Christchurch, are superior in almost eVery respect to the original Auckland units. No problems are expected to arise over these latest trials,” Mr Clifton said. The timber for the Christchurch sashes came from trees grown in the Cheviot area. The logs were sawn by Mr J. Sutherland, of Kaiapoi, whose 10-year-old weatherboard house, including the window sashes, is of radiata pine. Exterior joinery of radiata pine has also been used in the office building of Waimak Sawmills, Ltd., Tram road, Kaiapoi.