Has anyone had any type experience anywhere getting foreign plywood accepted for use in IRC jurisdictions via reciprocity with foreign specifications?


I have about 600 sheets of 5ft by 10ft marine grade russian baltic birch labeled BSS6656 (an obsolete British structural spec), all salvaged from  pallets shipped from Ireland and used to ship aircraft parts.

WA state now has IRC in place, and IRC pretty much is a 'green only with enough dollars' type spec. 

Local BI had no idea about reciprocity between US and foreign specifications, IRC HQ has never responded to any e-mails.

The 1.5 cm thick 13 ply marine grade baltic birch is obviously superior to OSB for structual purposes, but IRC has no allowances for such. 

DAMN- that's a heluva pallet-skin!

I can't tell you how to sell the BI on it, but baltic birch is as good as it gets for structural plywood (as you probably already know). The stuff's practically bulletproof- gets used for reusable protective shipping cases all the time. I'm surprised to see it in a 1-off shipping crate or pallet, but I s'pose aircraft parts have sufficient value to rationalize the cost.

Good luck on convincing the inspector though- sometimes it comes down to personalities...

Bump -- no one else ever run inot this limitation on using recycled material that is better than what 'code' prescribed materials are??