scope:

General

This Voluntary Product Standard establishes and maintains, through a consensus process and in the public interest, standard sizes (both in metric1 and conventional units) and general requirements for developing grades of softwood lumber. It is implemented through an internationally recognized consensus accreditation and certification program, the purpose of which is to provide for uniform, industry-wide grade marking and inspection of softwood lumber.

This Standard also provides a basis for the coordination of the grades of the various species of softwood lumber, the assignment of design values to lumber when called for, and the preparation of grading rules applicable to each species. The provisions of this Standard apply to structural lumber manufactured from hardwood species or lumber manufactured from foreign species when the species is included in rules certified by the Board of Review. It is not intended to be used either as grading rules or as purchase specifications. Italicized notes in this Standard are nonmandatory.

It establishes the principal trade classifications and sizes of softwood lumber for yard, structural, factory and shop use. It provides for the classification, measurement, grading and grade marking of rough and dressed sizes of various items of lumber including finish, boards, dimension and timbers. Terms and procedures are defined and discussed to provide a basis for the use of uniform methods in the grading, inspection, measurement and description of softwood lumber.

Note: The provisions of this Standard do not apply to the myriad of products of remanufacture (for example: turned balusters, peeler cores, etc.) or manufactured components (for example: trusses, lattice panels, I-joists, etc.) that use "American Lumber Standard" ( ALS) program lumber as a raw material.

This Standard applies to lumber that is to be identified as a manufactured product from a softwood log in a sawmill, or in a sawmill and planing mill. Such lumber, when rough, shall show saw or other primary manufacturing marks in the wood on the four longitudinal surfaces of each piece for its over-all length and shall not have been further manufactured other than by crosscutting, ripping, resawing, joining by fingerjointing, face-gluing and/or edge-gluing, surfacing with or without end matching, and working.

In this Standard, lumber conforming to the basic minimum size and grade provisions herein is designated "American Lumber Standard" (ALS) program lumber only when graded under rules certified by the Board of Review (Board).