2x4 Lumber Law Suits Dismissed?

[spitter]

What really steams my beans is when u go buy "clear" oak and see knots. . They said "clear" is allowed to have 10% knots.:confused2:

 

[3 Horse Ranch]

What really steams my beans is when u go buy "clear" oak and see knots. . They said "clear" is allowed to have 10% knots.:confused2:

It's been 30 years since I've worked in lumber, but then clear meant not only free of knots, it meant being free of all visible defects. At least that is what the standard was for douglas fir, western hemlock and western red cedar.

 

[turnkey4099]

Well actually "perfectly straight" means that the dimensions remain the same. I used to work in a reman mill and rough cut lumber could easily vary a half inch to an inch in either width or depth. Imagine what a sheetrocked wall would look like with lumber varying in between 3.5 and 4.25 in depth. Back in the good old days of full dimension rough cut lumber walls were covered in lath and plaster which could be varied it thickness to hide most variations.

Lumber is a natural product and variations in bow and twist are the natural result. The best way to minimize this to have a slow drying process. WE used to air dry some lumber for over a year before it was milled. Even so when we made a small moulding out of 1x4, dividing into three separate pieces, the three pieces would sometimes curve in three different directions even though it had been a nice straight piece of CVG fir going it.

I tore down an old coiuntry 1-room schoolhouse built of rough cut lumber. Planned to use the 2X stock to frame an 18'x30' addition. Floor worked ?OK? if you condiser either shimming or trimming the end of every 2x8 to get a level floor. Tried using the 2x4s for the walls. After spending a couple hours sorting enough for one 18" wall I decided it wasn't worth the time and bought enough 2x4 for the remainder. I did use the shiplap 1x toungue and groove siding for the sub floor, roof deck and diagonal siding (later covered with steel siding.

 

[Redlands Okie]

One of the advantages of the old style interior plaster wall coverings was that all of the outside edge of the studs were lined up. Gave them a flat surface for siding. Inside edges being different did not matter. Lath was nailed on and plaster was applied. The plaster was applied as needed a little thicker here and a little thinner there for a flat interior wall. I have seen quite a few people strip cracked interior plaster thinking they would just put on new sheetrock. Then find out they did not have a flat surface to apply to.

 

[TemporaryKubotaOwnerMark]

If that was a jury trial and my son was on it, the plaintiff would of got my son's vote he will wont change his mind. He maintains those 2x4s at HD are not 2x4s, that's it, if you come to his place you'll get an earful if you bring that up.

My sympathy. It's always hard when our kids turn out bad.

 

[poncho62]

My cousin in New Brunswick built a drive in shed with rough cut full sized lumber straight from the mill...Gawd, that was a fine looking building. And it smelled great too....lots of cedar I think

 

[John Fitzgerald]

The most warped lumber I have seen is the pressure treated yellow pine from the big box stores.

 

[Deere Dude]

I live near a hick town in the middle of nowhere but has a business that sells pole barn wood and steel to contractors and also to do it yourselfers. That is one place that discourages rifling through the piles of lumber but you will have a difficult time finding a crooked board there including pressure treated wood. There are some, no doubt,and everyone ends up with one or two but 99% of the 2xs are very nice. The beauty of it is they are as cheap and generally cheaper than the local lumberyard and even nearby Lowes.

 

[John Fitzgerald]

We have a place like that also, only a few miles east of me. I discovered it by word of mouth about two years ago. He has generally very good lumber. I like dealing with him.