NEW LIMERICK, Maine - Building materials and lumber giant Louisiana-Pacific has broken ground on a $150 million addition to its sawmill in New Limerick, Maine. 

The expansion will allow LP to convert the mill from manufacturing laminated strand lumber (LSL) and oriented strand board (OSB) into manufacturing its flagship SmartSide siding. Roughly 220 million board feet of SmartSide capacity will be added by 2022.

LP says the conversion was prompted by a growing demand for SmartSide on the East Coast.

The company is seeing record demand for many of its products. Fourth-quarter sales numbers vastly exceeded expectations.

LP's year-over-year sales for Q4 grew 60 percent to reach $860 million. Sales for its siding segment grew 16 percent to $259 million, oriented strand board sales grew 148 percent to $428 million, and engineered wood sales climbed 16 percent to $108 million.

Bonuses were recently issued to all North American hourly employees as thanks for their persistence over the past year.

Headquartered in Nashville, LP operates 20 engineered wood manufacturing operations in the United States and in Canada, two in Chile and one in Brazil and employs about 5,000 people worldwide. The company manufactures OSB, structural framing products, and exterior siding for use in residential, industrial and light commercial construction. From manufacturing facilities in the U.S., Canada, Chile and Brazil, LP products are sold to builders and homeowners through building materials distributors and dealers and retail home centers.