Lumber Quality

Went to the lumber yard today to pick some pressure treated lumber, but half of the pile was just junk. 2x4 & 2x6, you had to hunt to find one that was relatively straight, and not one of them was without knot holes. This isn't HD or Lowe's, but a well established long time lumber yard. The yard foreman said that all the PT that was coming in now is all the same quality and sometimes when they open a bundle, it is all junk. Is it the quality of the lumber that they are buying or is it that since the Southern Yellow Pine is grown so fast that there are just no good trees left? What is the quality like in other parts of the country?? Junk.....

Junkman said:

What is the quality like in other parts of the country??

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Complete crap.

Last weekend, I bought 45 2x6x8's, and I tore apart more than half of a brand new bunk to get ones that were acceptable. Really pissed off the kid at HD too, cause he had to restack them after I got done.

A big part of the problem is that most pressure treating companies buy the cheaper Hem Fir . This is about as low as it gets in lumber quaility . Left in the sun ,on a job site ,the stuff will curl ,twist and try to crawl away under its own power. I hate the stuff . I finally started having my own lumber cut and adding my own chemical treatment to it .
By the way ,do not burn the scapes ! They put off toxic fumes .

Al

It's a mixed bag around here.

The closer the lumber yard (or HD/Lowe's) is to a suburban/urban area, the worse the lumber.

When I head to the more rural stores the quality does get better.

I wonder if they think/know the different projects and mindsets/knowledge of the buyers.

We have a plant that makes the pressure treated stuff a few miles down the road so I do get lumber that's pretty new. You may get wet when hammering a nail.

BigAl said:

the stuff will curl ,twist and try to crawl away under its own powerAl

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I have seen this happening even after it has been used for over 6+ months on a deck. I wonder if they are getting it dry enough prior to treatment? I have a neighbor that has a deck with twists, curls and is totally a mess as stated by BigAl. The wood actually looked fairly decent as it was laid down and has just went to hell in less than a year. It may just be a characteristic of the cheaper wood used in treated lumber.

I am building a garden shed. Because I am not a great carpenter and have a tough time working with warped lumber, I bought kiln dried studs. The first batch came from a small town lumberyard. They cost about $4 each (2x4x8'), but were pretty good. Only had to reject 2 or 3 to get 60+. Went to HD later for some more and some 10' 2x6s. The kd 8 footers were under $3, but required more careful selection. The 2x6s were kd also, but by the time I was ready to use them (2 or 3 days) 2 out of 8 were too warped to use. My daughter rolls her eyes when I gripe that "they don't make things like they used to," but I ripped a couple of old 2x12s left over from a project over 20 years old and they were straight.

I have some pt 2x6s laying around that might make good propellers or bows. I have a growing respect for the pros who can work with the lumber I see in the stores.

Last summer when I rebuilt my deck I spent weeks culling lumber at Home Despot, Lowes, and my local lumber yard. The quality is terrible.

I think it has something to do with the softwood lumber dispute with Canada and the fact that a lot of Canadian lumber wasn't getting imported while the demand for building products was so high. This meant that the quality of the lumber is just plain worse everywhere.

I notice it in the studs, plywood, but especially the PT.

The PT is also dripping wet when delivered to the lumber yard. You need to be very careful about drying it out and flip it often or else it will warp in the sun.

I think the future is probably composite for decks anyways. I just couldn't stomach the expense of the stuff. I'll probably do it composite next time. Hopefully, they make it look a little more wood like by then.

PB