Bad ACQ Lumber

woodlot · May 31, 2005

I was framing up a deck this weekend. The pile of 2x10 ACQ looked ok until I found this.....see pic. The top board is totally rotted. The bottom is only about 7" wide for 1/4 of its length.
I'm going to the lumber yard toinght. Any suggestions on what to tell them.

woodlot · May 31, 2005

This one is cracked all the way through to the end.

DocHeb · May 31, 2005

No amount of treatment will undo lumber damage caused by conditions before treatment. I don't think that is ACQ's problem, just lousy wood to start. I'd just return it and pick through the pile for replacments.

That looks like SPF (Whitewoods like Spruce, Pine, Fir, Hemlock). I don't think they are as strong as SYP (Southern Yellow Pine). If you're lucky, you can pick through a pile of SYP and find some Quartersawn or Riftsawn pieces that will be really straight, and resist warping as they dry. Try to avoid boards that contain the tree's bulls-eye center.

Nasty135 · May 31, 2005

woodlot, Yuck! You might just want to give them a wood shampoo with one of those boards. That is ridiculous /forums/images/graemlins/frown.gif

rockyridgefarm · May 31, 2005

Is there GOOD ACQ? /forums/images/graemlins/shocked.gif

johnday · May 31, 2005

The yards I deal with will take back any unusable materials. They should just trade board for board if thats what you want. Please tell me it wasn't from one of the big boxes. I tried a load of lumber from Lowes once. Never again, I probably hauled back half of it. I'm getting materials at locally owned yards now, except when I'm home, then it's Carters, they've always worked with me. /forums/images/graemlins/wink.gif

Good ACQ? The jury, including my own are still out on that stuff. So far, I'm not impressed. But like DocHeb suggested, or I understood, that wood had to be bad before it was treated. /forums/images/graemlins/confused.gif

bgott · Jun 1, 2005

I have heard that they use the worst grades of lumber for pressure treating. I tend to believe it because I have spent some serious time digging through the stacks to get useable lumber. That sucks in two ways, the time spent and the fact that PT lumber is HEAVY!!! /forums/images/graemlins/mad.gif

woodlot · Jun 1, 2005

The Lumber yard was very nice. They are making a trip out to the house to pick-up the 4 bad boards and drop off 4 new ones. I hope those new ones are usable. I buy a lot of stuff from the yard and they have always been good to me. The thing that really sucked about this situation was that I discovered the bad lumber on saturday of memorial day weekend. My project stopped dead, with 2 full workdays ahead of me. I'm still a bit bitter about that. Next time I'm inspecting all wood immeditaly after they unload it.

Nasty135 · Jun 1, 2005

woodlot, I hope you let the manager know that his bad lumber stopped your project cold /forums/images/graemlins/mad.gif

Where they closed when you noticed the problem? That is a BITE!! /forums/images/graemlins/shocked.gif I'm Mad for ya... Project ready to go, good weather , BAD WOOD!!!!, AAARRRGGGHHH!!!= waisted plans.