What to do about curved/ warped 2x4's/ lumber?

[beppington]

Anybody else think 2x4's & other lumber from Home Depot/ Lowe's seems a lot more curved/ warped than a decade or 2 ago?

Maybe it's just me, but when I buy boards & put them in my (enclosed but not air-tight) barn, seems that in less than a week they're incredibly warped, basically useless to me.

Can this be prevented?

Can they be straightened once they've warped?

 

[Richard]

I've had that happen more with treated lumber than normal lumber. I try to lay all of mine down in my basement so it's stacked on each other (weight from above holding everything flat). I've even gone so far as setting something on top of it.

When I get treated lumber, I simply try to use it immediately so it won't have time to lay around and twist.

 

[Craig Clayton]

Sir
When ever I buy SPF( spruce pine fir ) for a building project that I want to have dry and straight ,I bind them with chains. The only problem is the lag time to purchase them 6 months earlier than they are actually required. I lay them with small 1/2 by 1 strips between layers and bind them with chains 40 to the pile. Spruce left to its own and not nailed in a framing wall makes proplers , or water skiis. Kiln dried means the truck drove by the kiln and shifted gears.
Craig Clayton

 

[beppington]

I've tried laying heavy stuff on them, & that has helped some sometimes, but it seems to eventually overpower the weight & warp anyway.

I've noticed that a strapped bundle of lumber at HD sometimes springs apart when they cut the straps, & right away some of the boards are warped.

I suspect, but haven't confirmed yet, that dampening lumber may help.

This also happened 2 nites ago. Had a 2x4x8' PT laying on my concrete garage floor. Within 4 days it was very warped. I moved it from the concrete onto a piece of plywood I had laying on the floor right next to it, & the next day the 2x4 was much, much straighter. Coincidence? Not sure yet.

I just realized: I think they changed the pressure treating chemical at some point, from some cancer causing chemical to some copper-based chemical. Maybe that has something to do with the seemingly worse warping these days?

 

[Mousefield]

A couple of years ago had to buy some lumber for a company I worked for. Even after picking through a stack of lumber the best ones were still crap to say the least. Lucky I have some nice Douglas firs on my place that I have been able to mill. A couple had died and took down 4 altogether, 70-90 years old and up to 4 ft diameter. After getting milled by a band saw on my property they get stickered between layers and then air dried for at least 6 months. You can't buy what I have at the store. Depending on your project and area you may try to talk to some band saw mill operators who would cut to your specs.

 

[tallyho8]

I have frequently stored some 2x4s left over from a job. In a few weeks one may be badly warped and all the others still like new. I believe that certain cuts of wood tend to warp more than others.

 

[dave1949]

I think the lumber in general is not what it used to be. I know people have been saying that for 30 years now, but it seems to continue to get worse. Like Mousefield said, you can't buy from the store what he has.

For PT, I think the key is to keep it out of the sun while it dries out, or use it quickly before the sun gets on it. It's always soaking wet from outdoor piles at the lumber yards.

LOL on kiln dried means the truck drove past the kiln. There is always going to be a squirrely board or two in a stack that corkscrews or whatever, but if you are getting half-way decent lumber to begin with, there shouldn't be that many if you stack them with some stickers and put a tarp over it.

It may be that the computer controlled and optimized saw at the mill will take cuts that an experienced sawyer would never do, knowing it isn't going to be a good board.

An old builder told me that back when, they never considered putting on drywall or plaster until a house had been closed in and sat over the winter giving everything a chance to dry out. Plus if a board did really warp, you could replace it.
Dave.

 

[Baby Grand]

I used to drive a lumber truck for a local building materials supply company in the 70's. I delivered a lot of framing lumber. I also unloaded the "units" of lumber from the railroad flatbed and boxcars as well as tractor trailer loads from the docks. My duties included making up the orders that went out on my truck and other guys' trucks. The lumber units were secured with two 1.25" wide steel straps that had to be cut before various sections and lengths could be assembled into an order and restrapped for loading on the trucks. The lumber that sat up top, uncovered, and out in the sun on railroad flatbed cars for who knows how long (I think it mostly came from the Pacific Northwest) was the worst. I remember cutting the straps was always a cheap thrill as the whole unit would burst apart due to the warpage of the outer few layers. Boards, steel strapping and angry carpenter bees the size of unshelled peanuts went flying all over the place.

So to bring it all home, this isn't really a new phenomonon to me, but more a symptom of how the lumber was treated before you get it.

-Jim

 

[jbarker855]

It will help if you can lay out your lumber in a manner such that air has access to all sides of it. Laying a board on a concrete floor is not a good idea. Moisture will evaporate much slower from the side of the board that is facing concrete, causing it to warp. "Stickering" boards (placing narrow slats of wood at bottom of pile and between each layer) will help to decrease warping. That being said, you need to have decent lumber to start with and even then, some boards will warp. I bought about $1000 worth of lumber from Lowes about 2 months ago, and was very surprised at the quality and straightness of their boards. Maybe it has something to do with geographic location. I am in western NY.
-Jay

 

[charlz]

Lumber seems to have a much wider grain these days, not as dense, and I think that contributes to the warping.

 

[jinman]

I think with PT lumber, when it is saturated under pressure, some tighter grains do not take on as much fluid. As the board dries, some areas get dryer more quickly and depending on the wood's grain the lumber bows and twists. Some may have two crowns or more and a 10 to 15 degree twist. If you don't get it tied down some way, it will find a way to twist.

I've had pretty good luck with buying studs for 2x4 lumber when I don't need them longer. The studs seem to stay pretty straight when stored out of the weather and sun.

 

[sweettractors]

25 years ago when I built our house, I ordered 10% over the quantity that I needed for all the framing.I Bought from Lowes and we would kick back the worst 10% and the next delivery truck would take it back for full credit. I don't know the stores policy today? Ken Sweet

 

[soal man]

25 years ago when I built our house, I ordered 10% over the quantity that I needed for all the framing.I Bought from Lowes and we would kick back the worst 10% and the next delivery truck would take it back for full credit. I don't know the stores policy today? Ken Sweet

Lowe's and HD will still take back whatever you don't use and give you full credit

 

[EddieWalker]

If the question is whether there is more twisted lumber at the stores today then in the past decade, I don't think so. If we're talking several decades, I also don't think so.

I do home remodels for a living and think that the 80's were the very worse time for home building. Nothing but issues.

One thing that I can't find is a home that doesn't have twisted studs in it from one particular decade being worse than another. While I play the game of finding the truest pieces of lumber when buying, I also remember doing this with my dad back in the 70's. I don't think that it's any worse, and if I'm willing to pay a bit more, I can find stacks of 2x4's that are almost always true.

Where it's gotten really bad is in the PT wood. This new treatment is causeing shrinkage and twisting to be a lot worse. I will buy quite a few extas when building anything with PT wood becasue I know that once it gets out of the stack, some of them will do something crazy on me. Those are the returns and hopefuly I've bought enough extras to finish the job without having to buy more. Once screwed into place, they don't go anywhere, but the shrinkage can be an issue. 5/4 deck boards are the worse, and there is no way to get them tight enough together to not end up with big gaps once they dry out. If you let them sit for a few weeks or month before installing them, they just twist on you.

Eddie

 

[beppington]

I just wish I knew "If you do this, this & this" with your new boards, they'll pretty much stay straight.

Like "Drop your new PT boards in a water trough until you need to use them" & they'll stay straight ... or something like that.

jbarker855: I have a small stack of about four 2x4x8's in my enclosed-but-not-air-tight barn right now, laying on little 2-by cut pieces up off the concrete. Been laying that way since day 1, for about 2 years now. 2 are PT, 2 are spruce. All 4 are curved exactly the same way & the same crazy amount. Useless. Maybe my barn is jinxed, or has a board warpin' atmosphere :confused2:

 

[beenthere]

Always sticker (see pic by mousefield) the lumber (be it 2x4, 2x6, 1x12, or pressure treated) so the air can circulate between the layers and the wood will dry evenly on both faces. This will keep 90% of them straight.

Never keep/store the lumber in a tight stack as it will just slow the drying (equalizing to room conditions) and only the outer exposedsurfaces of the stack will then dry (and when wood dries, it shrinks). Shrinking one surface and not the other will give a warped board.

Much of the wood sold by the box stores is the very low end of the grade as the upper grades and better wood are creamed off and sold for special uses such as trusses.

So, if you buy an extra 10% and sticker the pile, you will have pretty good lumber to work with. Take the warped 10% back.

When buying, try to sort out those pieces that have the pith center running down the middle of the piece. Especially bad if it meanders around as it will cause the piece to meander around when it dries.

 

[clemsonfor]

yes, it is more warped. Dont buy it is the answer, or take it back. As a forester i know, the trees that lumber is cut out of is significantly smaller than 20 years ago, less big trees as well as technology that utilizes a smaller raw material.

Around here there is a small independant sawmill, (well not really small, but still a small business under the law) who sells to many of the lowes around the area. He has lots of his own land with big timber and buys a lot of forest service sales (think 80-100 year rotations) so his end result is better than the gp or west fraiser product. The lowes near my house does not sell his product, i had to shuffle the pile to find 6 semi striaght 2x4x8 for a project, when i first bought the wood i went to the lowes closest to my work i bought say 15 2x4x8's and i think i may have set one or two to the side the others i just put onto my cart no lookin, and they werre still 10x better than the picked boards at the other. Im talking pressure treated southern yellow pine (SYP)

Key to not warping is you dont want the Pith (center of the tree) contained in your boards and the tighter and more rings in the end of the board the better the dimentional stability of the wood.

-Nate

 

[clemsonfor]

Where it's gotten really bad is in the PT wood. This new treatment is causeing shrinkage and twisting to be a lot worse. I will buy quite a few extas when building anything with PT wood becasue I know that once it gets out of the stack, some of them will do something crazy on me. Those are the returns and hopefuly I've bought enough extras to finish the job without having to buy more. Once screwed into place, they don't go anywhere, but the shrinkage can be an issue. 5/4 deck boards are the worse, and there is no way to get them tight enough together to not end up with big gaps once they dry out. If you let them sit for a few weeks or month before installing them, they just twist on you.

Eddie

Id have to argue this. I know you handle more boards than me and have over the years the only difference is that they dont use arsenic in consumer material any more. There are actually several treatments on the market today. ACQ being the main one i cant remember the others now. ACQ stand for (spellin) Amonia copper Quart, CCA was copper cromated arsenic (which tests showed you would have to injest a pound or so of wood to kill yourself with arsenic).

 

[Tig]

I just wish I knew "If you do this, this & this" with your new boards, they'll pretty much stay straight.

Like "Drop your new PT boards in a water trough until you need to use them" & they'll stay straight ... or something like that.

I had a crazy busy job in the 90s. I mistakenly thought that I could build a deck one long weekend in May. As I paid for the lumber my pager went off and all heck broke loose. It was an entire year before I got back to building the deck. During that time the lumber sat neatly piled under the eave of the house. There were no eaves troughs so the pile stayed pretty wet most of the time. The lumber was fine and the deck turned out great.
Right now I am tearing down a house and will recycle the lumber into my new house. I'm torn between covering the lumber to keep it dry or watering it.

 

[glennkangiser]

The guy at the lumber yard sold me some seconds that were twisted and said likely they would straighten out with the winter rain. Most of them pretty well did.

Possibly sitting them under a sprinkler or wetting them down a bit. Problem is that it takes time for moisture to get back into the cells and expand them. Extended wet like winter rain does it.