Framing Lumber

[alexh1]

Hi, did some light framing recently and it reminded me of how bad framing lumber is and also I made it much worse.

The part that I screwed up on is that I bought the 2x6 lumber 6 months ago and I stickered and stacked it but they all warped a lot. I was able to pull the twist straight in my application using screws but I had to put washers or else the screws heads would just pull all the way through the wood. I do dry wood in a makeshift drying rack but of course it always milled before use.

I have always wondered about the moisture content issue with framing lumber. I would think that high MC is a problem for drywall or is it that when framing is done the time that it takes for rough plumbing and electrical allows it dry to quite a bit? I have a framing book and it says standard framing lumber should not be more than 19% MC. They do mention that kiln dried is dimensionally correct but once when I installed stair stringers I had to special order the dry lumber from a lumber yard that specialized in construction lumber so I assume its not commonly available except for 2x4's they sell at HD. Actually my stair book recommends LVL's for stair stringers but I assume it may difficult to buy just a few.

The other really irritating thing with framing lumber is that the width can vary +/- 1/4" which caused some of my drywall back side paper to crack when screwed down (I assume if it does not telegraph to the front side its OK). It would have almost been worthwhile to buy oversized lumber and mill it to 5.5" wide. I have also taken a chisel to framing when its proud of the sill plate but this is time consuming. 

I assume that with framing lumber it should be used as soon as possible.

[OneStaple]

Framing lumber drives me nuts. I actually take my moisture meter to the big box store when buying it and have found that moisture content can vary from 8% to 30%, even on the "kiln dried" stuff. It can even vary greatly within the same stack.

I sort to find the straightest boards, then select the ones with the lowest moisture content, as they're likely to move less when acclimating. And buy more than I need. Ideally, I've thought ahead and allowed a few weeks for them to acclimate at home. At that point, I'll recheck moisture content and straightness, and it's not unusual that I return half of them because they moved too much (and I'm picky).

All of these steps take a bunch of extra time that seems like it shouldn't be necessary.

I have found a scrub plane (cheap #3 conversion) and chisel to be very helpful with trimming studs in place to get a flat wall, if needed. Especially the curved pre-existing studs.

Tyler

[Snipe Hunter]

Doesn't matter if it's Kiln Dried or not. The wood will move. It's generally fairly straight when they un-band the hack. Stickering it won't keep it straight. If it's going to sit before building, keep it straight by keeping it banded. It will stay a lot straighter if you un-band it and build with it right away. The framed wall helps to keep it straight. That being said, I inspect a lot of new homes and I see quite a few studs cut and straightened right before the insulation goes in.

[rwe2156]

Pretty much all of the white wood or spruce framing lumber I buy from HD is straight and stays straight.

SYP is another story, and the wider the board to more you can get twists, bows and cupping.

I think its stress related. SYP has more stress and it's released as it further dries.

[alexh1]

Doesn't matter if it's Kiln Dried or not. The wood will move. It's generally fairly straight when they un-band the hack. Stickering it won't keep it straight. If it's going to sit before building, keep it straight by keeping it banded. It will stay a lot straighter if you un-band it and build with it right away. The framed wall helps to keep it straight. That being said, I inspect a lot of new homes and I see quite a few studs cut and straightened right before the insulation goes in.

Makes sense. My house is typical 20 year old tract home. No trim on the windows so I added jams and casing. In some cases the caulk joint was 1/2" or more thick because walls wavy. Not really a huge deal since with paint grade its disguised fairly well and the edge of the casing is only visible on long walls.

I also replaced a slider with a french door and framing was 5/8" out of plumb so had to make a shim. Then the interior drywall for that door was 1/2" proud of door jamb on the bottom and 1/4" below jamb on the top. Had to remove the drywall and hack the framing to make it nice especially since it was stain grade trim.

I suspect that to some extent the framers are careful where there is trim. All of the door casing (I replaced the downstairs with wider casing) are tight whereas some of the windows are way off because they knew there is no trim there.

If building a home is there any way to minimize these issues? In my case its a combination of bowed studs and the framers not keeping the studs flush with the sill plate. I knew a guy who had a house built and on the weekends he would inspect the framing, sledge in hand and knock out the poorly installed studs. He claims they never said anything. 

It appears there are alternatives to solid lumber but cost is the issue, I even found a discussion on this forum - OSB for studs? (woodnet.net). One poster on another forum made the point that a doubling of framing material cost will typically only increase the build cost by about 1%.

[Snipe Hunter]

Makes sense. My house is typical 20 year old tract home. No trim on the windows so I added jams and casing. In some cases the caulk joint was 1/2" or more thick because walls wavy. Not really a huge deal since with paint grade its disguised fairly well and the edge of the casing is only visible on long walls.

I also replaced a slider with a french door and framing was 5/8" out of plumb so had to make a shim. Then the interior drywall for that door was 1/2" proud of door jamb on the bottom and 1/4" below jamb on the top. Had to remove the drywall and hack the framing to make it nice especially since it was stain grade trim.

I suspect that to some extent the framers are careful where there is trim. All of the door casing (I replaced the downstairs with wider casing) are tight whereas some of the windows are way off because they knew there is no trim there.

If building a home is there any way to minimize these issues? In my case its a combination of bowed studs and the framers not keeping the studs flush with the sill plate. I knew a guy who had a house built and on the weekends he would inspect the framing, sledge in hand and knock out the poorly installed studs. He claims they never said anything. 

It appears there are alternatives to solid lumber but cost is the issue, I even found a discussion on this forum - OSB for studs? (woodnet.net). One poster on another forum made the point that a doubling of framing material cost will typically only increase the build cost by about 1%.

Honestly, framing lumber is best purchased from a lumber yard but that only minimizes the issue. It doesn't make it go away. I learned to work with it. Learned to straighten studs after installing them. The only time I get real picky now is buying joists. I want very close dimensions. If I'm using 2x10s , I want them all to be real close so no hills or valleys in the decking and I want all of them to have a crown. Usually a truss without a crown has a problem that can bite you later on. I have 1 under my deck. It bowed downward about 1/2" a month after building my deck. I'm going to replace it but not looking forward to it.

[hbmcc]

...... The only time I get real picky now is buying joists. I want very close dimensions. SNIP

A high-end home builder I knew went to TJI's. Light, straight and only slightly more expensive than solid lumber. You are pretty much dependent upon timber for exterior framing however.

I have found that fence posts twist and bend less if installed and even railed immediately. No engineering explanation for this so probably my imagination.