2 x 4's the old ones

[trader_4]

The local HD and lumber yards here in NJ are full of 2x4s made of Douglas Fir. I guess they do use other softwoods too, but DF is a readily available, common and cheap choice.

[Grumpy Old White Guy]

Home owners tend to take care of their largest investment.

Public housing occupants typically don't care.

[clare]

How about democrat farmers? And welfare republican rednecks?

[Joe]

I've never seen a working productive democrat. Democrats are lazy and expect others to provide for them.

[clare]

Douglas Fir is WAY too valuable to be used for residential framing, even here in Canada./ What we buy is labled as "SPF" = meaning mixed softwood - loosely spruce, pine and fir - but the fir is seldom "douglas Fir" (more likely Balsam in the east and Alpine in the west) and there is sometimes a bit of tamarac and hemlock mixed in.

[clare]

Just what we need - another blind bigot.

[rbowman]

"Douglas Fir is North America?s most plentiful softwood species, accounting for one fifth of the continent?s total softwood reserves. Because Douglas Fir and Larch share nearly identical structural characteristics and physical working properties, the two are interchangeable in dimension lumber but are often kept separate in appearance grade lumber. The Douglas Fir-Larch species group is dimensionally stable and universally recognized for its superior strength-to-weight ratio."

Around here, if it isn't a Doug Fir, it's a Ponderosa Pine. Alpine Fir tends to be, well, alpine, and not easy to get to. Douglas Fir, btw, isn't a fir. There's also some larch and small stands of cedar that were overlooked or too hard to harvest.

[croy]

In my early 1950s, California, cheap tract house, the framing is rough-sawn redwood. Whether it's coast redwood, or high-sierra redwood, I don't know. Anyway, nails don't stay nailed very well, but the bugs have given it a pass.

[dadiOH]

Same here in Florida at the borgs. It would be difficult to even find douglas fir and, if so, it would not be cheap. I have trouble imagining it - a western wood - winding up in New Jersey when SYP or SFP is much closer and cheaper/

[trader_4]

Maybe true in Canada, but HD and lumberyards in the US are full of cheap 2x4s made of Douglas Fir.

[trader_4]

Better take that up with Home Depot:

2 in. x 4 in. x 96 in. Prime Kiln-Dried Douglas Fir Stud

2 in. x 4 in. x 96 in. Prime Kiln-Dried Douglas Fir Stud 5.0 out of 5 (2) Write a Review Questions & Answers (2) $3.13 /each

Neptune, NJ store.

[dadiOH]

Strange, no douglas fir shows of on that store's page for studs. Yellow pine, yes but not in stock. The ubiquitous "whitewood" (SFP) yes but no douglas fir. Got a better link?

[trader_4]

They show up as Douglas Fir 2x4s in the Neptune store when I did the search. That's what I quoted from above. IDK what more you want.

[rbowman]

That's a new (to me) use of 'whitewood'. I've always heard it used for poplar or any of the hardwoods with no prominent grain or color that you can doll up to resemble more expensive cabinet woods.

[Cindy Hamilton]

I've seen it on the display of SPF studs at Home Despot.

Cindy Hamilton

[Harry K]

The worst part is finding enough that were the same size. Great lumber but rough cut varies sizes sometimes grossly. I tore down an old country scho ol planning to use the framing lumber in an addition. I gave up after I sp ent one afternoon sorting to get enouth matching 2x4 for one 18' wall. Did use rough cuts salvaged from the schoolf for the floor joists - had to trim or shim the end of most of them to get a flat floor.

[clare]

Half the droids at Home Despot know nothing of their products.