2x4's all crooked

[seagull369]

I'm rebuilding a garage wall due to a rotted base plate and lower part of the wall studs connected to it. Apparently I'm not very good at "eyeing" what a good piece of replacement beam should look like, as what I've been finding at my local home center turns out being warped, twisted, bowed when I try to put it up.

Could anyone help with some tips to finding good pieces? Perhaps there's a certain type I should be asking for or a tool that might help determine a straight piece from a bad one? The 50 year old + studs I pulled out of the wall, although rotted on the bottom, were absolutely dreamy dimensionally in comparison.

 

[Yankeefarmer]

I have found you can get much nicer 2x4’s at a local lumber yard than at a home center.

 

[a6hux]

Get finger joint 2x4's

 

[Wrench97]

Yep Lumber yard is the way to go but you still need to pick each one up and eye it down the edge.

 

[JJN]

I go for the full stack of lumber and dig. The boards with weight on them typically are straight or straighter. I may find a good straight one and use that as a guide laying it against others and comparing. Keep in mind the ones buried may have more water content so keep them in the shade and install asap. Or, lay them flat in the garage and put weight on them. It does seem like extra work, and it is.

 

[The Cobbler]

what's straight today usually becomes bowed, twisted after it dries & has nothing holding it .

 

[NUTTSGT]

Are you siting down the lumber before you buy it ?

Are you storing them flat on the floor after you get them home ?

Are you storing them inside until used ?

 

[Kaizen]

All the previous discarded ones are stacked on top of the new virgin ones. I go right for those and eye them.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[DJF3]

If you want to pay the extra money, you could try purchasing from a truss manufacturer. They typically get the best lumber, although there is a premium for it. It's called MSR, or Machine Stress Rated. Very nice to work with.

 

[ItsNemo]

New bundles are opened up pretty much every day, once the bundle is open they slowly twist/warp into their natural shape as they get exposed and dry. So you can pick a straight one at the store and unless you use it same day, it will be warped by the time you go put it up. Just get used to learning how to straighten them as much as you can while building and compensating where you can't. All lumber these days is pretty ****.

 

[seagull369]

Thanks for the tips. I bought some really long ones (longer than the length of my extended cab Ranger) at HD, laid them on the garage floor for a week with weights on top and came to find out the dang floor wasn't flat either The flatness of them isn't the only issue, though. Best way I can describe it is rectangular snake wood.

I'll check out the local lumberyards in my area, and also enquire about MSR and finger jointed studs,,,, thanks for the suggestions. Maybe getting them in shorter sections is better, also (and laying them on a flatter floor, of course). It would be nice if I had a known good piece in hand I could compare all others to (unfortunately I already tossed the rotted ones I had). I rebuilt the garage's gable end with that home depot wood I had and it was just such a struggle. At this point in the game cost isn't much of a concern. I just want something that's not going to keep fighting me.

 

[southalabama]

Old joke at the saw mill. Be careful the wood will crawl away.

 

[Jlbc212]

Build a boat!

 

[spudley]

Old joke at the saw mill. Be careful the wood will crawl away.

We have a big box store called Menards and the joke here is "if you want a perfect circle, buy three 2x4's at Menards".

OP, +2 on a lumber yard rather than a big box, longer lumber normally is straighter, look for tighter end grain, and bowed lumber can be straightened while installing. Stay away from twisted.

Lumber takes the shape of whatever it's laying on so stack your stuff on flat surfaces. When I need straight and true, I'll stack and ratchet strap it together until use.

 

[Git]

...
Lumber takes the shape of whatever it's laying on so stack your stuff on flat surfaces. When I need straight and true, I'll stack and ratchet strap it together until use.

This

I dig through a lot of 2x4's at Lowes to find really good looking ones. Once I get them home, if they are not going to immediately be used, they get clamped together with my Bessey Clamps

 

[Cryptic1911]

Gotta love that wet scoliosis pine from china

 

[budget76]

I usually hold them up against the big I-beam that holds up all the racking in the store. at least I can tell if it's straight when I buy it

 

[shopnut]

I am extremely choosy when picking out lumber because the job is so much easier with straight lumber. But sometimes you just have to deal with crooked stuff and this Tweaker bar comes in handy for twisted studs.

https://www.amazon.com/Mayhew-Select-41500-Tweaker-Multi-Use/dp/B0000224U8

 

[shopnut]

Build a boat!

Good advice when the OP's forum name is seagull!

 

[Fatboy148]

Store them as dry as possible, up off the floor/ground on stickers. Tie all the lumber back together to make a unit with ratchet straps. They will stay as straight as possible till you let them go free.

 

[dogdog]

Gotta love that wet scoliosis pine from china

Talking about Mis-information, dam you must be from Fox News? Does China export pine lumber to USA ?

 

[dogdog]

I am extremely choosy when picking out lumber because the job is so much easier with straight lumber. But sometimes you just have to deal with crooked stuff and this Tweaker bar comes in handy for twisted studs.

https://www.amazon.com/Mayhew-Select-41500-Tweaker-Multi-Use/dp/B0000224U8

I have something like this but smaller size about 2feet long for twisted lumber and general prying.
https://www.zoro.com/stanley-demoli...king-tool-55-099/i/G1347351/?recommended=true

 

[nadogail]

When I needed a bunch of really nice studs I bought full bundles of kiln dried branded ones from the big box store. I refused any bundles that had a broken or missing band.

No way would I accept any lumber that had been “cherry picked”. We were building electronic shop work tables.

 

[nadogail]

For partition walls I have come to appreciate steel studs and drywall.

 

[safnd2021]

When I needed a bunch of really nice studs I bought full bundles of kiln dried branded ones from the big box store. I refused any bundles that had a broken or missing band.

No way would I accept any lumber that had been “cherry picked”. We were building electronic shop work tables.

This is exactly what I do