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Howdy,
Good Information K.L. I have done a fair amount of reading on lumber dimensions and the history of the dimensional lumber. Your post was interesting, Sir.
Not havin' many trees on this end of the state of Kansas, I am forced to purchase to lumber from a couple different lumber distributors for my hardwood needs. I do not use any pine, or other soft woods. All my project consist of hardwoods, and the prices are reasonable, but not where I'd like to see them.
Sawdust703
head sawdust maker
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(11-27-2018, 02:36 PM)FS7 Wrote: It's an issue because Lowe's has started to include "actual" sizes on nominal wood products, including lumber, glued planks, and plywood.
Seems it would be easier for Lowe's to stop including "actual" sizes on nominal wood products then. Would that solve the problem?
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My house was built in 1934. The 2X4s in it are actually 2" X 4". Today a 2x4 is 1 1/2" X 3 1/2" - if your'e lucky. I saw a flatbed on the interstate this weekend loaded with construction pine. The 2X4s looked like sticks. I have a pretty good eye for measurements and these looked much smaller than 1 1/2" X 3 1/2". No wonder houses are blowing away in storms these days. Not only are storms getting stronger, but houses are being built out of weaker materials.
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Only my opinion, but it seems there are more important things to worry about. This is the world we live in, and for the most part us mere mortals aren't going to impact a change.
I started with absolutely nothing. Now, thanks to years of hard work, careful planning, and perseverance, I find I still have most of it left.
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(11-28-2018, 09:13 AM)fredhargis Wrote: Only my opinion, but it seems there are more important things to worry about. This is the world we live in, and for the most part us mere mortals aren't going to impact a change.
Steve
Mo.
I miss the days of using my dinghy with a girlfriend too. Zack Butler-4/18/24
The Revos apparently are designed to clamp railroad ties and pull together horrifically prepared joints
WaterlooMark 02/9/2020
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(11-28-2018, 09:08 AM)Hank Knight Wrote: My house was built in 1934. The 2X4s in it are actually 2" X 4". Today a 2x4 is 1 1/2" X 3 1/2" - if your'e lucky. I saw a flatbed on the interstate this weekend loaded with construction pine. The 2X4s looked like sticks. I have a pretty good eye for measurements and these looked much smaller than 1 1/2" X 3 1/2". No wonder houses are blowing away in storms these days. Not only are storms getting stronger, but houses are being built out of weaker materials.
You may have seen an order of manufactured(mobile home) construction lumber. 2x3 (actual 1&1/2 by 2&3/4).
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In my short remodeling career, I worked on several older houses. One was an L shaped three room(originally) house with an addition which doubled the width of the short side of the L and created a larger kitchen and bedroom. The original building was built sometime before 1920 and had white oak 2" by 4" wall studs and 2" by 6" rafters. The addition was later, but similar.
We spent two days cutting off the nails that were used to install the lathing---there were no ways we tried that would pull the nails out of the white oak. Nails snapped or just bent.
Then came the fun trying to install sheet rock. Nails did not work, bent. 1&1/4" or 1&5/8" sheet rock screws would not seat before the heads stripped out. Finally used 7/8" Robertson(square drive) wood screws.
We burned some of the old white oak debris---that fire burned for almost 24 hours.
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Standards are always changing. As are dimensions. Your borg wood sources are global now, so a sheet of plywood is never the dimension the sign, or list, says it is. The one thing you can count on is actual dimension will never be greater than nominal. Matching finish levels in remodels has always been the major headache in construction.
Virgin timber stands are gone. Structural wood properties for construction took a nose dive and your beams and support columns grew when the new "stud grade" tree age was set at 'blossoming juvenile'.
Another irritation, for me, is that KD DF lumber will now not accept standard framing nails. My latest fuss in water damage repair required prebored screw connections. The real irritation is not a single stick being straight. I used a lot of kraft shim paper after establishing the biggest bulge in a row of studs.
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(11-28-2018, 11:13 AM)K. L McReynolds Wrote: You may have seen an order of manufactured(mobile home) construction lumber. 2x3 (actual 1&1/2 by 2&3/4).
That makes sense. Thanks!
