lumber

[WA1GFZ]

I judge the state of things by the price of a 2X4 at home depot.
Well I have not seen a doug fir 2x4 this cheap since I rebuilt my house in the 80s. $2.05 so a good time to buy lumber for any shack projects.

[w5omr]

I have not seen a doug fir 2x4 this cheap since I rebuilt my house in the 80s. $2.05 so a good time to buy lumber for any shack projects.

or, building antenna supports...

[KB1IAW]

Doug fir 2x4, are you sure about that, Frank? That's a much too valuable species for to be used for framing stock.

[WA1GFZ]

Paul,
Beach QTH is all doug fir. I have to use deck screws because sheet rock screws snap. They were running $3.80 each when we had the place framed. Good thing we used mostly 2X6s.

spruce is $2.11. Doug fir is semi dry....so you can drive a nail through it. I tend to stock pile good boards. I need to start collecting lumber for downstairs bathroom. I only buy clear stuff then stack it until I'm ready to use it. Also need to build some shelves. 

[k4kyv]

For exterior work I more and more use decking screws instead of nails.  Nails seem to eventually work their way out, and an advantage of decking screws is that you can simply unscrew them if you ever need to remove the piece.  Trying to pull out the nails usually leaves the wood too damaged to re-use.  For interior work, I often use drywall screws for plywood, but for any kind of framing I use deck screws since I have also had the experience of drywall screws breaking.  I don't think they were ever designed for fastening framing.

I built a porch a couple of years ago, using pressure treated framing and ipe (tropical hardwood) decking.  One mistake was not stacking all the wood at the building site and letting it sit for a few weeks before starting construction.  I got in a hurry and built the porch as soon as I had acquired all the material. After a couple of months, the pressure treated stuff began to shrink while the kiln-dried hardwood decking  expanded.  The result is a lot of warpage, and the edges of the deck try to curl around the framing whenever there is a long wet spell.  From now on, I will always let the wood acclimate to its new environment before beginning assembly.

[WA1GFZ]

Don,
I just finished putting up sheet rock and had to use deck screws because the standard sheetrock screws didn't cut it with dried doug fir. The place was framed in 2004.
 I can't drive a nail through dried doug fir. When I nail dried doug fir I drill pilot holes so the wood doesn't split.

[K3ZS]

Don, I made the same mistake replacing the 2nd floor porch deck.    I spaced the boards about 1/8 inch using them right after delivery.   A month later they were over 1/4 inch.   One thing did right was to use stainless steel deck screws, otherwise they will eventually rust and stain the wood.

[KB1IAW]

Beach QTH is all doug fir.

Wow, it must look lovely! You see a lot of doug fir used as decking and ceilings in the old turn of the century island and seashore shingle style cottages here in Maine. I haven't priced any recently. In the recent past I've found it cost prohibitive.

[AJ1G]

We've used doug fir for all our structural framing over the years here.  I'd say most of the contractors prefer working with it over spruce or hemlock.  Usually kiln dried and more stable that green hem fir.  Frank is right - really tough driving nails into it as it ages!

What has really gone through the roof pricewise is cedar planking.  We used a lot of clear cedar T&G as panelling on past projects, but the cost of it is out of sight now.  I've heard that the Japanese are buying up most of it these days.  Have been using STK cedar (small tight knot) instead of clear - a 1X6 is about 1.25 a running foot vs over 3 per foot clear.....

[WA1GFZ]

Chris,
I used to buy a lot of hardwood from a mill near UConn till the owner learned he could do a lot better sending it to Japan. He wouldn't sell me anything clear after that.

[AJ1G]

Frank - UBS and Hanley and Williams in Westerly have good supplies of all grades of cedar and fir planking and reasonable proces.  I prefer H&W because they keep their stock more organized, but UBS usually has more stock and a greater selection.

Where do you go for hardwoods down this way?  I'm looking for some nice mahogany plank about 8 inches wide and 8 feet long to cap off a knee wall, and a short piece of 12 inch stock for a pedestal at the end of the wall.

[WA1GFZ]

Chris,
I think I saw what you need at Ring's End in Niantic once while walking around the yard. plan to pay for it though.
Hardwood down there my source was my lot. I have 1000 board feet of rough cut oak in the basement from clearing the land. I hired a guy with a portable mill to plank the logs. My brother has a 16 inch planer when I'm ready to make trim.
I should have used UBS for my lumber it would have been cheaper than rings end with a discount. my framer liked ring's end so I wanted to make it easy for him since the deal was so good. UBS has a big yard in Flanders.