Went to a few HD's and Lowes in my area to get a dozen 2x4 studs for a project. After going through the piles for 15 minutes at each place to find straight lumber, I gave up. Most of the stuff was twisted. (Bowed studs I could have used in a pinch). . Have you all had similar experiences? Do you have better results at a lumber yard even though its usually alot more expensive? Thanks.
Usually, yes. And, it's NOT always a lot more expensive.
Actually no; it sometimes takes a while to find what I want, but it is always there.
There is a 20 year old story about a Grossman's store that saw it sales of lumber go to zero. It seems the store policy was to scrap nothing, so the bins eventually filled up with crap and customers had to go elsewhere. Probably there is an occassional store like that still, but it has to be a rarity.
I have another data point to contribute for ya.
My neighbors who were completey rehabbing their home down to the foundation swear up a storm about the low quality of HD's lumber, and they always head to a proper lumber yard and no longer bother with HD.
Best Regards,
-- Todd H.
HD varies by region, but so do all the lumberyards, depending on the mills in the area. None have what I'd call first class, but some are better than others. Go back to HD next week and it may be much better. All depends on who the low bidder is and how fast they run the stuff through the kilns. It is not dried very well compared to furniture grade wood.
Yes use steel studs if it is a non bearing wall. Real simple to use and you can pick up ten studs with out help!
Rich
Typically, yes, and yes but more costly isn't necessarily more expensive if account for waste and particularly if add in anything at all for the time wasted finding decent material (or, as in your case _not_ finding anything and doing it all over elsewhere).
I have two general observations regarding the BORGS in general as opposed to the independents or chain "real" lumberyards. Whether they are conscious business models or not I don't know, but here goes--
The BORGS where I've been that had them (both blue and orange) seemed to open a bundle in the warehouse and wait until that one was nearly or completely picked through before bringing out any new stock. The independents, otoh, maintained multiple open bundles and also controlled to a much greater extent the picking through process so that individuals weren't able to completely "cherry pick" out only the clear sticks from a bundle leaving the rest for the next unfortunate to have to take. OTOH, if you had need for clear material, they would supply it either from non-construction-grade supply or for a premium to select from stock. As their market was primarily the professionals, and larger orders than the typical DIY'er, it is much easier to work in the odd piece in a house than for a small project of only a couple dozen pieces, say. The BORGS, however, were even unlikely to _HAVE_ anything other than construction grade or, often, even anybody who knew what it might be. (I asked one time if they did have any Doug fir and even the store manager had no idea what I could possibly be expecting to get that would have "fur" on it. :( ).
I dread the day when/if the borg which is threatening to open here does actually do so as I fear it will be the end of anything except the "lowest-common-denominator" in availability as the market size is, I fear, too small to support anything else as happened w/ the other merchants and Wally-World after they came. :(
It varies day to day. Don't bother with the cheap ones - the "Premium" studs are $.50 more but you'll find straighter ones and they're less likely to warp after you get them home.
Also, never hesitate to grab some tin snips from the tool isle and break open a fresh pallet of studs. The HD staff will give you dirty looks for it but they're not the ones who have to fix a bowed wall.
-rev
Jack wrote:
I just buy good stuff at the local real lumber yard for a similar price. I told this story before. We were putting a deck on the house and I went to the local lumber yard and gave them the material list. They delivered the material and my neighbor remarked "so you must have been at 'the depot' all day picking this out". He couldn't understand that all of the big box marketing was mostly spin and there are better places to buy quality stuff. I asked one of the lumber yard owners why their stuff was better and she said they can order any quality material they want and they order quality stuff. If you go there yourself there is no picking needed because all of the wood is decent quality.
Yes -- much more so at HD than at Lowe's, though.
Definitely.
And it usually is only a little bit more expensive.
The HD here has fairly decent lumber. I have a bunch of 2x4s that I use around the house. After a couple of years they still don't look like pretzels. I pick through the pile though.
No lumber yards left. The ones that were here had far worse dimensional lumber than the local HD has. They'd let the stuff sit in mud until it was a rotten pretzel. Good riddance.
Jack: I find that our local lumber yards have better quality as well as cheaper wood. The same goes for gypsum services places regarding drywall, electrical supply houses regarding electrical stuff, plumbing houses, etc. Lowes, HD, etc. are the place you go when you really need something at 8 pm on Saturday, or when a pipe bursts on Sunday; I find that they are nearly always more expensive (or at best the same price) and the quality and selection are usually not quite as good.
Cordially yours: G P
At the HD there is not a lot of supervision at the lumber pile. They just pull them down a pallet at the time and folk sort through them until someone complains that only crap is left.
If you grab an HD employee and tell them you can't use the boards that are out and could they please pull down another pallet. If like you say all the boards are bad then they will be glad to pull down some new ones because, that is the only way they know to do it is if someone complains.
If they won't then take your business elsewhere. HD's prices are often beat by local yards and the service is for sure. no one should ask you to buy boards you can't use. Great suggestion was metal studs though I am used to wood myself.
Quality, convenient location, or low price.
Pick two out of three.
Jeff
To leave out? :)
The only one of the three that either borg had in Knoxville was potentially price -- it certainly wasn't convenient to fight the mall traffic and quality in dimensional lumber was a joke, so that only leaves one at best. And, if one factored in anything for time both in the selection/purchasing process as well as using the sorry material in the end, then the price ain't so hot either... :( (But the blue had a far higher chance of at least acceptable quality than the orange there, but not reliably enough so that I'd have given up Witt's or Cherokee or Anderson or...oh, to have only one of them here would seem heaven's doors opened. Of course, they couldn't have here what they did there w/ less than 5-10% the population, either.)
But I know you didn't mean it all that seriously, just the mantra, Jeff... :)
Most HD customers go to the lumber department expecting to find studs suitable for cabinet work. If precision is what you want, go to a hardwood supply house and buy kiln dried oak, maple, walnut, etc. For framing applications, you should talk with a professional framer and ask how he selects lumber.
Around here Lowes is noticably better the Home Depot. 84 Lumber only had pine, but it was good quality.
S:
Not quite. I do go there expecting studs that won't be premade airplane propellors or 'rustic cabin siding, 2" thick', or gigantic clothespins, and find I am sometimes disappointed.
Cordially yours: GP
Naw, customers *should* expect to find the same quality lumber that can buy at the local real lumber yard (where the professional framer would get his supplies). What they find is a different story.
- If you grab an HD employee and tell them you can't use the boards
- that are out and could they please pull down another pallet.
And then stand around and wait until they round up an employee licensed to drive the forklift, a employee trained to walk in front of the forklift with a flag in each hand, 2 - 4 employees trained to clear the aisle of all customers and set up the gates at each end and a manager or 2 to supervise the operation. That shouldn't take more than a half hour or so.
After all that, you get to be the first one to sort through the new bundle trying to find the maybe 30% of material worth using.
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