PORTLAND, Ore., July 19 (Reuters) - Timber and building materials company Louisiana-Pacific Corp. (NYSE:LPX - news) Thursday reported a second-quarter loss partly due to low prices for commodity building products. It said that excluding special items it had a loss of $8.6 million, or 8 cents per diluted share, on sales of $649.8 million. Including the unusual items, the second-quarter loss was $9.7 million, or 9 cents per diluted share. In the second quarter of 2000, net income excluding unusual items was $43.7 million, or 42 cents per diluted share, on sales of $831.5 million. Including unusual items, second-quarter 2000 income was $21.0 million, or 20 cents per share. Wall Street analysts had a wide range of expectations for Louisiana-Pacific, from a loss of 4 cents to a profit of 15 cents. The mean average was a profit of 2 cents per share. The Portland, Oregon-based company has outperformed the S&P 500 and paper indices in the last quarter as its stock has risen 22.06 percent. The share on Wednesday closed at $10.73 on the New York Stock Exchange, compared to its 52-week trading range of $7.06 to $13.95. ``While commodity building product prices increased over last quarter, they are still at low levels relative to the more normalized pricing experienced in the first half of 2000,'' said Mark Suwyn, chairman and chief executive. Suwyn noted the company's capital expenditures for the quarter were below $15 million, significantly less than one-half of depreciation, depletion and amortization. Selling and administrative costs have declined by approximately 21 percent since the second quarter of 2000. Additionally, oriented strand board (OSB) production at nearly all of LP's North American facilities was suspended for all of last week due to recent weakness in the market for the building material. ``Our disciplined actions today will help us take full advantage of the opportunities that exist in the marketplace both today and in the future,'' said Suwyn. ``We believe that recent interest rate reductions, tax cuts, moderating energy costs and continued strength in housing will help improve business conditions.''