Founded in 1903, Pacific Lumber Inspection Bureau (PLIB) is a non-profit, accredited lumber and wood products inspection and certification agency. PLIB provides lumber-grading and grade-stamping services to the lumber industry along with a wide range of other inspection and certification services for related wood-products manufacturers including Heat Treatment, Wood Packaging, CE Marking, WUI, Glulam, Cross-Laminated Timber, and Wood Trusses.

In January 2019, PLIB merged operations with the West Coast Lumber Inspection Bureau (WCLIB) and with it, the American Institute of Timber Construction (AITC), retaining both the WCLIB and AITC trademarks. With the merger, PLIB added Glulam and Cross-Laminated Timber quality-control certification to its list of signature services and expanded coverage into the southern United States and Europe.

Headquartered in Federal Way, Washington, with offices in Canada and Europe, PLIB operates throughout much of North America as well as the wood producing regions of Europe. Call us at 253.835.3344 (U.S.) or 604.732.1782 (Canada) or contact us via email to learn more about what PLIB can do for you.

PLIB is accredited by the American Lumber Standards Committee (ALSC), the Canadian Lumber Standards Accreditation Board (CLSAB), and the International Accreditation Service (IAS). PLIB also has Memorandums of Understanding with the USDA Animal Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) and is recognized by the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA).

PLIB writes and maintains Standard No. 17 Grading Rues for West Coast Lumber and the Export R-List Grading and Dressing Rules and is recognized by both ALSC and CLSAB as an approved inspection agency for most established sets of lumber grade rules used in the U.S. and Canada:

  • PLIB/WCLIB rules
  • NLGA rules
  • RIS rules
  • WWPA rules
  • SPIB rules (portions)

ALSC and CLSAB accreditations include glued and machine graded lumber (MSR and MEL) and heat-treated (HT) lumber.

In addition to North American domestic grade rules, PLIB has a long history of supporting overseas export lumber trade by providing supervisory services for other international grades and standards including:

  • CE Marking (European Union)
  • AQIS Certification (Australia)
  • British Standard 4978 (UK)
  • CFLA JPS 1 (formerly known as the Japan E 120 rule)
  • HT certification (required by many foreign countries)