Disclaimer: I am not receiving any form of compensation for this article. I wish I was, but I am not receiving anything, not even a cookie. I have personally shopped at each business mentioned and will probably shop there again. I purchased everything with my own money and the opinions expressed are mine and mine alone. If you have any questions, comments or suggestions please feel free to contact me. If you are new to lumber jargon, I explain these terms and fun lumber facts at the end of this article. Everything I discuss here I learned from a number of people, in person, online and in books.
I want to share with you my thoughts on the best places to shop for lumber and plywood. At first thought one would think, “Well gosh! I will just go to Lowe’s or Home Depot because they have everything I will ever need.” That may be right or there may be better options. This is a three-part article where I will talk about buying lumber at places like Home Depot or Lowe’s vs specialty lumber yards or woodworking stores vs direct from a sawmill. Your needs and budget will determine the best place to go. Well that and how far you are willing to drive. I have driven over 300 miles (round trip) to buy lumber, but it was well worth the time and expense. I will first discuss big box stores that cater to the general public.
When I first started buying lumber, I thought there were only two options, Lowe’s and Home Depot. Sometimes, I looked forward to picking out the lumber because it was sort of like a hunt for the elusive perfect board. You know not too many knots, not cupped, twisted or bowed. In those days I was not sure what a cupped board was (if you want to know see the fun facts about lumber at the end of this article). Quite often I would look through a whole stack of boards or plywood before I found one that looked ok. What I learned was that for the most part stores like Lowe’s and Home Depot carry construction grade lumber with some exceptions. They have cabinet grade plywood, but you do need to look carefully to make sure you don’t get one that someone banged up. In the Houston area they also carry poplar, red oak, select pine and something they call White Wood for projects that require something other than 2 x 4 lumber. White Wood is not a specific type of tree but a specific use for that lumber. It is intended to be used where it will be painted or not seen, like the part of the cabinet that the countertop rest on.
Lumber at Lowe’s and Home Depot is sold by the piece, not by the board foot (I will explain more about what a board foot is and how to calculate it in Part Three). One important point I want to make is that Lowe’s and Home Depot may not be the best place to get advice on woodworking or lumber. It will be a hit or miss, for example one day I asked the person working in the lumber section if they carried poplar (a species of lumber) and he thought I was asking for the most popular species of lumber. When I asked what type of lumber, they carried he told me he did not know. There are better places to get advice on what type of lumber to use for a given project. I will talk about that in Part Two and Part Three. One final but important point I want to make when it comes to plywood, stores like Lowe’s and Home Depot normally do not carry the highest quality plywood. They normally carry the mid to low end plywood. This sounds bad but it isn’t. It is OK for a lot of projects; I have built kitchen cupboards using plywood from Home Depot that look really nice. So stores like Home Depot and Lowe’s may well suite your needs. Another thing in their favor is that Lowe’s and Home Depot provide a military discount.
One day I found a lumber yard that focuses on contractors, but they also sell to DIY folks like me. I learned that these lumber yards tend to have both a better quality and wider selection of lumber and plywood. Because they cater to contractors you first go to a counter to place your order for the lumber you want. You then pay for the lumber and drive to the pick-up spot and receive your purchase. You do not get to pick and choose specific boards like you can at Lowe’s and Home Depot. So why would you shop here? The answer is they tend to be a higher quality and greater selection of lumber and plywood to choose from. So, while their price is comparable to Home Depot and Lowe’s you may get more or better quality for your hard-earned money. So, if you are putting up 200 feet of fencing or building a house, a contractor focused lumber yard may be the better option. In Houston, Olshan Lumber Company is one such company. I have shopped there a few times, so while they are a good company, I normally don’t shop there because they don’t carry the lumber I typically use. To find a lumber yard like Olshan go online and search for a building supply lumber yard. When it comes to getting accurate advice on lumber, they tend to know what they are talking about. Just remember, their focus is on contractors and construction, not building fine furniture.
You may have noticed that I have been talking about both lumber and plywood, implying that plywood may not be lumber. It is, but it is not graded the same as solid wood. Also, there are a lot of different types of plywood not to mention the grading system (specifications on the quality and intended use) for plywood is very different from solid wood. This will be discussed more in Part Two where I will talk about specialty lumber yards.
I hope you found this both interesting and helpful. I welcome your comments, questions and/or suggestions.
Fun facts about lumber.
Most of the lumber you buy (except for plywood and fence pickets) will be classified as S4S (surfaced 4 sides). This means the lumber was run through machines to give the boards a smooth surface and remove the cut marks from the sawmill. This process also ensures that the front and back of the board are parallel to each other as are both sides, and all the corners are at 90 degrees. So, when first cut at the sawmill a 2 x 4 starts out measuring 2” x 4” (this is called actual dimension); after it is run through the machines it measures 1 ½” x 3 ½” (this in known as the nominal dimension) and a 1” x 6” is actually ¾” x 5 ½”. Almost all lumber that you will ever buy will have nominal dimensions. For most cases this is not a big deal, but it is important to understand the difference between actual dimensions and nominal dimensions.
To tell if a board is cupped just look at the end of the board, if it is curved it is cupped. A bowed board is curved along its length, and a twisted board is – well twisted.
Rough cut lumber is lumber as it came from the sawmill. You will see the saw marks from the sawmill and the dimension for a board can vary a lot. For example, one board could start out 10” wide at one end and end up 7” at the other and the board could still have the bark on it. Rough cut lumber is measured in actual dimensions.
Thank you for your time
Donald Wilton