Coldstream Lumber Operates With Eight Cover-All Buildings

Coldstream Lumber is located in Coldstream, British Columbia and has been in existence since 1951.  The lumber mill handles custom mill work for numerous logging companies; from splitting to cutting, to finishing to packaging.

In the fall of 1999 Coldstream Lumber suffered an unexpected setback when a fire destroyed their planer mill facility.  Engulfed in flames, the 15,000 square foot wooden warehouse was consumed in a span of just 30 minutes.  "At first we were devastated; this was absolutely the worst time in the year to have a major setback in manufacturing," says Don Friesen, General Manager.  "Constructing a new facility was going to cost us months of lost revenue."

Coldstream Lumber purchased its first Cover-All building in 1998 to house their re-saw lumber area.  This building was only 15 feet away from the fire in the wood warehouse and suffered minimal damage.  "As burning debris blew onto the Cover-All building, the fabric just melted away from the flame rather than fuel the fire," says Friesen.  "The fire department stationed themselves by the Cover-All with a hose waiting to extinguish the fire but the building wouldn't catch fire; they couldn''t believe it.  There was a wood warehouse building 150 feet away from the fire that was igniting just from the intense heat."

With damages in excess of $800,000 Coldstream Lumber needed to get back into operation immediately.  "We couldn't afford to wait for months to construct a large wood warehouse," says Friesen.  "We were very impressed with how the Cover-All building performed through the fire and how easily the damaged fabric membrane could be replaced."

Coldstream Lumber met with the authorized Cover-All  dealer for BC and made plans to purchase a 120' w x 140' l (36.5m x 42.6m) Cover-All® TITAN® building for its new plant.  The building was manufactured, delivered and installed in 14 days.  As the Cover-All Buildings - BC crew was installing the building; Coldstream Lumber workers were moving equipment in and retooling the new plant.  In less than two months of the fire, Coldstream Lumber's mill was back in full operation.

When comparing the old mill with the new mill, the difference is night and day, literally.  "The work environment is entirely different; the amount of natural light we have in the Cover-All buildings provides us a tremendous work environment," says Friesen.

To maximize the natural light benefit, photo-cell controlled lights were installed inside the Cover-All buildings so that the lights switch on only when the light level is low.  The lights are rarely used during the day and during the evening shifts the reflective qualities of the fabric membrane provide an easy to light environment.  "The artificial lighting requirements in the Cover-All building are less then half of what we required in our conventional buildings," says Friesen.  On average Coldstream Lumber saves 1700 hours of light-use annually in each of the Cover-All® buildings.  To date, Coldstream Lumber has eight Cover-All® buildings on their manufacturing site and business continues to grow