Deck board shortage?

[carwashguy]

Friend of mine called my to do some repairs on his deck including replacing several rotted '90's vintage PT deck boards.  I gave him a detailed list of everything we would need.  I show up to do the work and I immediately notice that instead of 5/4 boards he has 1" (3/4 nominal). So, we do the other repairs that are needed and jump in the truck to HD to get the correct boards...Or so we think.  Guy in the lumber dept say they are out of stock.  I call another store and the girl that answers tells me that ALL HD STORES are backordered until AUGUST!!  Lowes has nothing in stock as well.  i am hoping the local lumber yard has some but they are closed until Monday.
Anyone else experiencing this?

[R Clark]

Just checked Menards' web site, and 5/4 AC2 decking is in stock; nominal 4 and 6 inch widths and various lengths.

You may not have a Menards in your area.

I've heard of various shortages of materials for home projects as the stores have been cleaned out with many people having extra time on their hands these days.  Deck repair would seem to be one of those types of tasks.

[museumguy]

Just checked our local HD and stock is very limited. Some lengths show 5 in stock. A few show 20 pieces. Most, call for availability. Guess it is true in several areas.

[Robert Adams]

No shortage here. In fact no shortage of any treated lumber since the prices have gone up so much in the last few months. I was looking at doing a decking project and it looks like I am going to use steel for the frame structure since steel is much cheaper than treated lumber and lasts much longer.

[tomsteve]

shortage on a bit of construction materials here. thats what happens when construction is ordered to shut down for 3 months. then when it reopens, theres 3 months worth of construction that needs to get done along with what was already in process.
spring time=lots of new decks around here

[jteneyck]

The shelves are nearly bare at my local HD, too.  I went to buy some 2x6 PT.  Fortunately they had the 10 footers I needed, but nearly all the other shelves were bare or had just a few twisted pieces on them.  

John

[Robert Adams]

shortage on a bit of construction materials here. thats what happens when construction is ordered to shut down for 3 months. then when it reopens, theres 3 months worth of construction that needs to get done along with what was already in process.
spring time=lots of new decks around here

        Not exactly. What has been happening is they have been selling the snot out of everything the last 3 months since all these people were off of work and then 2/3 are making more on unemployment than they were working they have been shopping and doing lots of home projects. Lowes stores are usually a ghost town here but the last 3 months every day looks like black friday. 

        Allot of commercial construction is on the back burner as it can't be done since all those healthcare workers bought all our PPE. When your guys are required to wear dust masks and you can't get them you can't get to work. And even at regular prices providing dust masks is stupid expensive at $100 a box which would only last a couple days as you go through several a day per person.  

        I need dust masks, gloves and organic cartridges for working out in my shop(not woodworking) and yeah I don't see them being available to us mere mortals for at least 6 months unless you are ready to buy them on the black market. Who would have thought those would be the items sold on the black market.... So for now you just work without PPE and suck in the dirt dust and chemical fumes. I'm waiting for OSHA to start granting waivers for PPE on job sites so no one gets fined.

[Cooler]

Maybe the stores are trying to compel use of resin decking. (Probably not).

This long-ish article details the availability and price direction for softwoods, notably SYP (Southern Yellow Pine).  Both production of lumber and demand are down and the pricing is at historic levels (high).

https://www.forest2market.com/blog/are-s...gs-to-come

May 21, 2020
Lumber Prices
Author: Joe Clark
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If we’ve learned one thing about economic uncertainty during the COVID-19 pandemic, it’s that markets will always react to demand regardless of the conditions. As tissue & towel manufacturers have demonstrated over the last several months amid record demand, many businesses simply don’t have time to wait for what amounts to a subjective sense of certainty.
The solid wood sector was hit especially hard early in the pandemic due to slowed construction, primarily in states that deemed it to be non-essential. In April, primes sold better via the big box stores, but demand for construction-grade products was near anemic.
Mill curtailments are still in place across the continent as the lumber industry, like many other industries, has made adjustments to the “new normal.” But as state economies open back up and new-home construction resumes, the sudden surge in demand has caught many lumber purveyors off-guard and prices have skyrocketed as a result.

[messmaker]

Almost nothing around here last week. It is starting to get a little better.