Finding straight boards

[Ign]

I recommend the local steel yard . As a bonus 2x4” rectangle tube will actually be 2” x 4”

That lumber’s good for the wood stove!

 

[ford33]

I like Menards in the lumber yard.

You are asking for too much to expect 2x4 to be quality lumber. It is a rough construction grade product and not furniture grade material. I try to find straight pieces but realize that most are not.

You might try Craigslist and look under the material category. Sometimes you will find a woodworker or his widow selling lumber. Sometimes it is free if you take it all.

 

[Nor'Easter]

Buy from a local lumber yard and support your community.

If your local lumber yard has 10+ locations I would not consider them a local lumber yard.

 

[yeldogt]

Good stuff is available -- its a question of being able to charge for it.. I feel for the guys that have to go to the big box stores ... what a nightmare.

Good lumber is available ... I just did part of my houses with engineered lumber. wow .. never ruining anything else ... cost os relative.

 

[Crazyjake8493]

I don't even look at lumber at the big box stores here, other than a few "premium" 2x4s for blocking or a workbench. Local lumber yards only. The only problem is that most of them are only open M-F 7-4, which ***** because that's when most people are at work, pain in the ***. Luckily one is open Saturday morning 8-noon.

 

[GarageLogic]

Just went through this today at Menard's. Sadly my carpenter skills require straight boards (that's why I go for the better grade) so I pick through the piles of "premium" 2x4s to get what I need.

More often than not I get the stink eye from the employees while doing so, but I have always wanted to ask if the boards at the bottom on the pile are for sale just as much as the ones on the top?

I am always respectful and restack what I pick through, but it annoys me that 1 out 10 are 'premium'. I'll pay for the best, so they should put their best for sale, and price it as such.

It is time to switch over to a local lumber yard, but as someone here has said, hours of operation don't always fit with my schedule. And so it goes....

 

[atthebeach]

I always wonder what happens to all that picked-over lumber. Does someone eventually buy it? Does the big box store toss it in the dumpster? Firewood?

-- Carl

If you need a large order of lumber and have the big box store deliver it to the job site, you often end up with mostly picked over rejects.

 

[6768rogues]

Once in a while our Lowes has an outside rack of weird lumber that is marked down. Home Depot cuts it in pieces and sells them cheap. I have bought them when my son needed boards to put under dumpster rollers for his dumpster business.

 

[LS6 Tommy]

Sometimes even the metal studs are not straight. Seen at my local Home Depot this morning.

Think of how many employees have walked by this. Not to mention that they were still in a bundle, and were like this before being put out for the customers.

This is the copper rack at the local HD we use at work:



I have no idea how to get pics to upload without being rotated 90°.

Tommy

 

[gungatim]

was at Menards this weekend helping a buddy buy 20 2x4's. had to wait half an hour for a couple millenials to cull through and find the perfectly straight studs discarding everything I would have gladly taken. then my buddy proceeds to do the same thing. tossing something with a little bit of edge missing, a small crack in the middle, etc.

I asked him aren't you cutting these to 3ft. pieces for cement forms? WTF does it matter if they aren't perfect? somehow he though they wouldn't be as strong...

point is, it's construction lumber and it's not supposed to be perfect...take them all, buy 10% extra, cut the worst ones where you need short pieces and quit wasting time trying to find the perfect stud...even my home builders manual when I GC'd my house explained how framers deal with less than perfect studs...tools and cuts...

 

[WX4SNO]

...
I have had good luck with 1by from the Menards premium section.

If only there was a Menard's down this way...I loved that store when I lived in Indiana for a few years!

 

[proboscis]

Straight lumber at HD or Lowe's?

The 84 Lumber here is even worse...

Tommy

Where at? There is one in Denville that I live close and been wanting to check out. Is that the one?

 

[wes73]

I get my lumber at our local 84 Lumber. They keep the PT outside uncovered so it does not dry out and even keep sacrificial boards on top. Very competitive with HD and Lowes. You can also get the large dimensions the big boxes don't carry. It's also a plus that you can drive right up to each pile and avoid using the carts and dealing with some family's trip with the kiddos to HD or Lowes for a screw driver. Not anti kid, just anti parent that lets the kids think HD or Lowes is a playground. Last thing I picked up at 84 Lumber was 72 5/4x6x10's PT. Try doing that at the big box on a weekend without wanting to strangle either an employee or customer.

 

[jam022316]

Thanks for all the opinions. It's nice to know I'm not the only one suffering. Like another guy said my carpenter skills **** so I need straight boards! lol I don't understand when you're forming concrete or making a wall why you don't need perfectly straight boards. But then again I'm just an amateur at this stuff. Looks like I may have to check out 84 lumber after all!