Montanafied Spruce: What is it and why is it better?
Posted: September 28, 2026Montanafied™ Spruce – Ask for it by name
Montana Grown. Montana Made. Montana Tough.
Author – Ryan Palma Owner/CEO Sustainable Lumber Co.
If you have spent a winter or summer in western Montana, you already know what this wood has survived. Sub-zero nights. Summer days over 100°F. Thin mountain air. Freeze and thaw that never stops. High altitude Engelmann Spruce, the tree we brand as Montana Spruce, grows in that weather, not in spite of it.
Montanafied™ Spruce siding takes that local Spruce and thermally modifies it here in Montana with heat and steam only. No chemicals. The result is exterior cladding that looks like a tropical hardwood, cedar, and redwood, performs like an engineered product, requires no maintenance if left unfinished, and has never left the state of Montana.
This is why the species, the place, and the process belong together.
What Montana Spruce actually is
Montana Spruce is Engelmann Spruce (Picea engelmannii), the high altitude mountain Spruce that survives and thrives in the rugged Rocky Mountains. In Montana it occupies cool, moist sites, north slopes, drainages, and subalpine stands, often from roughly 5,000 feet up toward the timberline.
It is not a lowland plantation tree. It is a slow growing, persistent mountain species. Trees commonly live several hundred years. Growth is measured in tight annual rings, not fast growing trees like plantation grown Radiata Pine from New Zeeland and Chile. That is the whole point.
Untreated Montana Spruce is already useful wood: light (about 24 lb/ft³ at 12% moisture), straight-grained, fine-textured, low shrinkage, easy to machine, and relatively free of warp. It contains significantly less sap compared to Douglas Fir and Pine, which can often bleed sap down your walls. Heartwood is nearly white with a faint reddish tinge. It has long been used for framing, sheathing, paneling, exterior trim, and specialty work.
What it is not, in the raw state, is a naturally durable exterior species. Heartwood is only slightly resistant to decay. That is why raw Spruce siding has always needed help; paint, stain, or treatment, to last on a exterior applications.
Montanafied™ Spruce is that help, without chemicals and preservatives, without overseas container shipping and tariffs costs, and without a large carbon footprint.
Why high altitude and a short season matter
Montana’s high altitude growing season is extremely short. Winters are long and brutal. At a 5000+ foot elevation, Montana Spruce trees grow very slowly, there is no substitute for old growth timber. That slow growth is the first advantage of Montana Spruce:
- Tight grain. Our Montana grown Spruce averages 25+ growth rings per inch. That is old growth character from a working forest, not a marketing slogan.
- More even texture. Narrow rings mean a finer, more uniform cell structure. Boards mill cleaner, take a wire brush texture more evenly, and look more consistent on the wall.
- Inherent stability. Slow growing Montana Spruce already has moderately low shrinkage and a reputation for staying straight. Thermal modification multiplies that trait.
Climate hardened fiber. The tree that lived through decades of freeze thaw, high UV, and dry summer air is a better starting point for siding that has to do the same thing on a house.- Low sap content. Significantly less sap compared to Douglas Fir and Pine, which can seep out in hot Summer months and ruin your siding.
High elevation Montana Spruce is also prized in another world for the same reason: instrument makers want tight ring spruce for soundboards. Luthiers pay for grain density. Siding buyers should too. The physics is the same, more rings per inch, more stable wood, less movement over time.
Lower elevation, faster grown spruce can look similar in a photo. It does not preform the same on a south facing wall on a hundred degree day in Montana.
Questions?
Give us a call at (406) 642-7120 or stop by our showroom in Missoula. Our knowledgeable team at sustainable lumber is here to answer any additional questions you may have. Call us today or click here to submit an inquiry online. We look forward to helping you with your next project!
Montana Grown. Montana Made. Montana Beauty.
Sustainable Lumber Company
2935 Stockyard Rd Ste. L-1 Missoula, Montana
406.642.7120 – sustainablelumberco.com