Students, lumber donation support Habitat for Humanity

University of Maine construction engineering technology seniors are planning the renovation of a house in Old Town in partnership with Habitat for Humanity of Greater Bangor. Twenty students have begun the planning phase during the last few weeks of the spring semester, and will be managing and performing the construction work in the fall semester 2017. In support of the project, 360 12-foot Norway spruce boards were donated by UMaine and the Northeast Lumber Manufacturers Association (NELMA). The lumber was part of a testing program by the UMaine School of Forest Resources and the Advanced Structures and Composites Center in cooperation with NELMA to include Norway spruce in the SPF Lumber Standards. Norway spruce is the first major new wood species grown in the U.S. to be tested for strength values since the 1920s. It was approved for use as construction material in October 2016.