Shelter Systems: Providing Modern Technology for Today's Green Builder

Shelter's FSC
Chain-of-Custody Certification

We are committed to serving our customers with quality components made from the best lumber and materials. This now includes products made with certified lumber. In May 2008, we achieved the Forest Stewardship Council's (FSC) Chain-of-Custody certification. This certification allows us to manufacture components with wood that is FSC-certified.

Green building is spreading in popularity as consumers become more tuned in to sustainable building practices, and green building standards and programs have been developed to provide benchmarks for green building practices. The U.S. Green Building Council's LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) is a leading commercial and residential green building rating system. Within its consensus-based green building guidelines, LEED encourages the use of certified lumber (that is, lumber that has been tracked from forest to end-user with strict Chain-of-Custody documentation procedures) in projects applying for LEED certification. In fact, LEED awards point values for projects that specifically employ FSC-certified lumber. The credits are awarded as follows:

For commercial construction projects, components made with FSC-certified wood can contribute either 1 or 2 credits toward LEED certification. (An additional point is possible by using FSC-certified wood harvested/processed within 500 miles of the project.)

In addition to LEED, other green building standards also call for the use of FSC-certified lumber in building and framing materials. For instance, NAHB's National Green Building Standard specifies FSC lumber as one of five types of wood that can earn points toward certification. A draft of the standard was recently submitted to ANSI for approval to become an American National Standard. ANSI is in the process of reviewing the supporting documentation outlining the development process.

By demonstrating that we are equipped to comply with FSC Chain-of-Custody procedures, we're now able to accommodate customers putting priority on meeting new green building standards for residential and commercial projects. We're here to help you build green!

Building Components: Green By Nature

How else are we helping you build green? Shelter Systems' roof and floor trusses and line of engineered wood products are green by their very nature.

Our Design. By their very nature, structural building components offer the most material-efficient framing option. This is because they are designed and engineered to specific conditions that optimize the size and shape of lumber. This customized design process minimizes the amount of materials required on the jobsite, cutting back on the amount of waste created in our manufacturing facility and on the jobsite. From a material usage perspective, our roof and floor truss packages are "green."

Low-Waste Operation. While Shelter’s roof and floor truss components are optimized to make the most efficient use of materials, a small amount of wood waste is created at our facility. To this end, we grind all the scrap wood produced in our shop down to usable mulch. Scrap paper and cardboard from our office is bailed and recycled by a local paper products mill. These measures greatly reduce the amount of waste Shelter generates.

Steel Connector Plates. Trusses are fastened with metal connector plates that are made from a high percentage of recycled steel.

EWP Distribution. The engineered wood products (EWP) that Shelter distributes are also green. We are a leading distributor of iLevel/Weyerhaeuser products. Weyerhaeuser owns and manages 35 million acres of forests in North America and monitors the use of best management practices by their log suppliers.

To that end, all of their U.S. mills that use logs or wood chips as a raw material are independently certified to meet the Sustainable Forestry Initiative (SFI) standard. Under this standard, wood from certified forests used to make these products is tracked through each stage of EWP production. This includes all primary facilities- those using logs or chips to produce lumber, oriented strand board, plywood, TimberStrand® and Parallam®--and three of its U.S. I-joist mills (known as secondary facilities).

Shelter Systems Limited • 1025 Meadow Branch Road • Westminster, MD 21158 • 410-876-3900