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

[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.