The Western Wood Products Association (WWPA) has produced a compact disk that contains a wealth of WWPA lumber information including the following WWPA digital publications (in PDF format): Western Lumber Product Use Manual; Western Lumber Size-Adjusted Values; Western Lumber Span Tables; Standard Patterns; Specifying Lumber; Paneling Basics;
Flame-Spread Rating; Board Footage Table; Notching And Boring Guide; Unseasoned (Green) Lumber; Mold, Housing and Wood; Machine Stress-Rated Lumber; Lumber Storage; WWPA Grade Stamps; and Western Lumber Framing Basics.
Notably, fabric-covered acoustical wall panels are tested as finished products composites) - rather than as individual Class A building materials - to yield the correct
flame-spread rating. "The concern in the industry is that an adhesive used to glue a tested, Class A substrate to a tested, Class A fabric could change the
flame-spread rating, so the [finished] product may not have a Class A
flame-spread rating," says Tom Fritz, Armstrong's manager for Product Fire Performance.
With addition of 3-5% antimony oxide, it reportedly can achieve a Class I
flame-spread rating of 10-15.
A line of polyurethane resin systems with high glass-transition temperature (Tg) and low smoke and
flame-spread ratings is newly available in North America for use in high-temperature composites.