Timber, where

[meow2222]

Hi

Just bought a pile of timber from a shed due to needing it right away. Bleepin ell the cost. Anyone recommend any ways to get timber for less than usual? Dont have any tees to saw :(.

NT

[John Rumm]

Scary huh!

Of the sheds, Wickes is usually slightly cheaper than most of the others (if you don't mind banana wood!). A timber merchant will sometimes be a bit cheaper again though[1].

[1] Potentially quite a bit cheaper if you are buying in quantity.

[meow2222]

Yes, I went to wickes as its the cheapest of them by a fair way, sorted through the bananas, but the total at the till was still eye watering.

Trouble with freecycle is people only give away small amounts of timber at a time, and collection costs plus low goods value make it not usually worthwhile. Then they tend to divide lots among people making it no use. If someone would just give me a few hundred quid's worth of timber I wouldnt complain ;)

NT

[A.Lee]

Wood is expensive now, wherever you go. You've got to shop around for the cheapest local, small, Timber Merchant. There are 3 or 4 around here that keep a lot of wood in stock, but only

1 that I regularly use, as the others are not much cheaper than the sheds. Examples can be seen here for 'reasonable' prices:

[Bob Mannix]

The other problem is "variable" (euphemism for crap) quality you get at sheds. Echoing what others have said, I would go to a local timber merchant. Quality better and consistent, often cheaper plus you can get PFS[1] which you can't at a shed.

I can recommend my local one (as I did in another thread), there's probably one near you:

[1501]

Despite the fact it does grow on trees ;-)

Sorry, I'll get my coat!

[George]

Ya have the metric change to blame for that ie to get 2ft of a piece timber these days you have to buy 1metre whereas before the change you asked for 2' of it and you got what you asked for.

See what ebays prices are,bearing in mind most is pick-up only.

put 'timber' in ebays search engine.

[Dave Plowman (News)]

You have to know what you're doing, though, as many yards will unload their crap on a newbie. Examine what they're offering and complain if it's not up to standard. At least in a shed you can select the best of the stock.

Wicks may also do a deal on substandard stock - I wanted some CLS of a particular size where one end of all their stock was bent. But enough of it straight for my purpose. Got it at half the marked price.

[stuart noble]

Construction timber (spruce/fir) is a hell of a lot cheaper than redwood, and IME it's pretty dry and stable these days. There are limits to what it can be used for, but not that many. I think merchants are beginning to stock it in a bigger range of sizes.

IMO you can forget the sheds for timber. They simply don't have the facilities to store it. The store is too dry and the garden department too wet. They might as well own up and admit that the shrink wrapped compromise isn't working.

[meow2222]

Yeah, I got =A353 knocked down to =A315 last time that way, just offered to clear the lot. Was surprised they went for it, but they did. But you cant buy a lot of timber that way - well, they've got enough, but most of what I need is good wood, not bananas.

I have had one thought. Since I wanted a lot of rough sawn I could have checked out a salvage yard. There just wasnt time though.

There was a chap on ebay selling 200 cuft of oak for 200 and something squid, as long as you dont mind high sapwood content, who knows what odd sizes, its unseasoned and probably some wavy edges. But thats a lot of wood to store, and I dont have the time to get it, sort it, and get rid of what I don't need. And ebays a pita as well.

I saw a skip recently with loads of good stuff in, I think with current prices I'll seriously consider taking some next time.

NT

[Broadback]

I am in the process of constructing several compost bins, not wanting to spend much money I noticed a house being built near me had a load of timber piled up that looked scrap. I had a word with the builder who said that it was for burning take what you want. Loads of, what I consider good timber, though lots of nails to remove. Several pallets, which brings me to the next point, there is a chap in a nearby town who builds and sells sheds out of scrap pallets.

[Steve Walker]

What do the sheds actually *do* with the bent rubbish? Every time I go to buy a lump of timber I have to search past a load of boomerangs which nobody's going to buy, so they must periodically burn it or something?

[Cerberus .]

It never fails to amaze me what the 'sheds' do skip. A couple of years ago I was with a builder friend who'd noticed that several sheets of floor grade chipboard had been skipped. He asked the manager if he could help himself & was told to take whatever he wanted. My friend was a very happy bunny, he salvaged several sheets of chipboard, plywood, PSE timber which had formed some sort of display in the store & numerous electrical tools (several of which he managed to repair).

Don.

[dom]

You don't say what sections you want, what quantities or for what purpose (joinery/construction).

If you buy larger quantities from builders merchants, and you buy the stuff they sell a lot of, and you keep a look out for specials, savings can be made.

The high turnover lines are 18mm structural ply, 18mm osb, studding and 50*200mm joists. None of them pretty materials.

If you're willing to consider reclaimed timber (and de-nail it yourself) - there are a few yards dealing it, or just have the cheek to walk up to smaller building works and ask if they have any scrap materials.

[Andy Hall]

They put it to the front of the rack in the hope that the next punter will buy it without looking. This is called merchandising. These people learn it from discount supermarkets where the newer food is put to the back and the older to the front.

[Kevin Poole]

Don't Waitrose practice stock rotation then? Or Harrods? Or Mr Wensleydale's Cheese Emporium?

To be constructive: Harlows, who have branches in the Derby/Leicester area, sell good quality timber at a fraction of Wickes prices, and on my recent visits have been exceptionally pleasant to deal with.