Y'all Been Checkin' Lumber Prices?

Jstpssng · Mar 30, 2021

I had planned to build some storage buildings this summer. I have plenty of framing material which I had sawn a couple of years ago, and intended to sheath with OSB. After doing the math I ordered a low budget BSM from Woodmizer... I have a couple loads of poplar destined for the OSB mill to help pay for it.

lman · Mar 30, 2021

fried1765 said:
2 weeks ago I purchased 13 sheets of 4x8 T-111 plywood at $65 (USD) per sheet.
That would be $86.67 CAD
In 1932, My mother bought my ocean view 11.7 acres, with the now 290 year old house, for the same total price as those 13 sheets of plywood.
I still own the house,..... and now the 13 sheets of plywood as well.

There's a sucker born every minute. You couldn't wait until the price came down?

buck12 · Mar 30, 2021

the viking said:
Buddy got a price for a 16' 2x6 douglas fir board of $27.00 each at the yard the other day. We dropped 5 large pines at his place last weekend and they will be going to our mill today. He will be paying us all the beer we can consume to mill the trees and help him build a woodshed with the boards. He would be getting away cheaper if he just bit the bullet and paid for store bought stuff...........maybe. Trees were leaning over his house but some fancy wedge work and cable hooked to his 1 ton dually landed all the trees in one big happy pile. Carbon credits deserved!

I would rather spend my money on beer for my buddies than to line the pockets of mills taking advantage of people during a pandemic.

fried1765 · Mar 31, 2021

lman said:
There's a sucker born every minute. You couldn't wait until the price came down?

Of course I could have waited ....for the rot to do even MORE damage!!
The original T-111 needs to be replaced NOW, as it has been up for 30 years, and has recently been discovered to be seriously rotting against the garage door headers.
This "sucker" is not a dumb chit!
But.......YOU obviously ARE!!
Thanks so much, for your thoughtful counsel/advice!

deezler · Mar 31, 2021

^ fried, I think he was joking. Chillllllll, bud.

$65/sheet does kinda blow, though. 4x8 or 4x10?

fried1765 · Mar 31, 2021

deezler said:
^ fried, I think he was joking. Chillllllll, bud.

$65/sheet does kinda blow, though. 4x8 or 4x10?

Maybe....but did not seem at all like a joke to me.
Should have added a sad emoji if actually a joke.
I did not CHOOSE to buy at that price....I HAD to buy at that price, or risk significant damage.
Passing judgement without facts, is ALWAYS A BAD IDEA!

arto98607 · Mar 31, 2021

buck12 said:
I would rather spend my money on beer for my buddies than to line the pockets of mills taking advantage of people during a pandemic.

It is supply & demand thing!

I don't think it's necessarily the plywood mill making a huge profit - how many profit makers are there in-between a plywood mill and consumer?

It looks like 15/32" x 4' x 8' plywood sheet is $56.25 at a local H.D. currently so any of my possible plywood projects will be postponed until....

Tinhack · Mar 31, 2021

If it was as simple as supply and demand, gasoline would have been $0.10/gallon last year during the onset of the pandemic. Suppliers saw a way to keep the cash flow going by changing where the crude was going. It's ALWAYS about the money. The only variable is economies of scale.

I'm still seeing new homes going up in the upscale development near my town. In fact, they've bull-dozed more land to make the development larger. My only concern is the trickle down effect of property taxes.

And it's only going to get worse. The morning traffic reports are now giving travel time from Lytle to San Antonio. The news outlets have never done that before. It's beating all the reports from the upscale north and northwest side of SA by 20 minutes or more. That's a significant reduction in commute time for most anybody. I live about 3.5 miles outside of Lytle but I can see the city wanting to expand it's boundaries for tax purposes. We used to be the golden egg in country living. Not so much any more.

jjp8182 · Mar 31, 2021

What's interesting (at least in my area) lumber for structural building looks to be up (way, way up), but hardwood plywood seems doesn't seem to be (or at least not as much).

In fact 4x8 sheets of red oak, maple and birch all look to be cheaper per sheet than either pine or pressure treated (and almost cheaper than OSB).

rbstern · Mar 31, 2021

Tinhack said:
If it was as simple as supply and demand, gasoline would have been $0.10/gallon last year during the onset of the pandemic. Suppliers saw a way to keep the cash flow going by changing where the crude was going. It's ALWAYS about the money. The only variable is economies of scale.

Not sure how you came up with that number, but state and federal taxes aside, the price can't drop much below the cost of selling the gasoline (raw materials, refinement, distribution, marketing, wholesale markup, etc.). It's a lot more than 10 cents/gallon.