Price of lumber

[Ferrets are Cool]

Wifey wants me to replace the deck. It truly needs it. So, I start looking for wood to do so.



The same piece of lumber I bought at this time last year for just a bit more than $6 is now almost $20.

That new deck will have to wait.

I read earlier that it now cost an average of $20K more for lumber to build a house now than it did a year ago. And there is no sign of it going back down before 2022 at the earliest.

[Lars39]

1. Drywall is going to get scarce and expensive, too,

with all the repairs needed in Texas, etc.

[mnhtnbb]

2. I bought a lot last April for a house to be built

Last edited Sat Feb 27, 2021, 10:41 AM - Edit history (1)

in a new development. The base price of the house the developer is charging now for the same house is $14,000. more than what I paid last April. The house is 1776 sq ft on one level with 2 1/2 car garage, 9 ft ceilings--10 ft where there are tray ceilings in kitchen, LR, DR, master--built on a slab. HVAC is run through attic space. Lots of framing to make the attic space.

[MontanaMama]

3. Wood prices are insane.

I just bought 20 sheets of OSB and 4 pieces of CDX plywood and it cost $711. Unbelievable.

[Hassin Bin Sober]

4. For a while here, OSB was more than plywood.

This spring, I’m adding a second floor to a project house I just bought. Doh!

[MontanaMama]

6. Get your checkbook out.

I don’t see this ending anytime soon.

[Hassin Bin Sober]

7. Yeah garage builder I follow on YouTube was thinking, a couple months ago, prices would drop.

It doesn’t appear to be happening.

[Lars39]

15. Do you mind sharing his video?

We have a garage to build or have built this fall

[Hassin Bin Sober]

19. Here is one of several where he talks about lumber prices

His prediction of prices dropping was obviously wrong

[Lars39]

21. Thank you so much, Hassin Bin Sober!

[albacore]

5. And a lot of the lumber is crap.

Studs that are bowed like airplane propellers, and some of the logs I see going to the mills have growth rings about 1/2 inch apart. Thank god for framing that's held together by OSB shear.

[Ferrets are Cool]

16. No kidding. The first deck I built here in 1990 lasted 25 years. This deck

lasted 5. I know the process for treating lumber had to change, but that is ridiculous. I thought I would be smart and use Yella Wood on my last project because it is "supposed" to be superior, but it's no better than what you get a Lowe's.

[Sogo]

8. I have friends who are very happy with their composite deck.

It used to be more expensive than wood, but it looks like the current prices make it pretty competitive....

[jimfields33]

9. I didn't know what that was so I did a google search

Went to pictures and wow is it nice. Seems easy to install from the picture. Ha. I know it always looks easy from the pictures. But it does look awesome!

[csziggy]

13. It goes together pretty much like wood decking

You do need to make sure that the joists are close enough together - composite lumber will sag if not well supported.

We built our upstairs deck from composite lumber when we built this house in 2007/8. We had to tear the deck out last fall to replace the very badly done roofing underneath. Because of some design changes and inability to get matching composite we replaced the entire deck. One of the workers traded some labor and he took the old decking to build a smaller deck at his house. It was still perfectly usable.

Trex is one of the leading brands and they have some good videos on installation and tools to estimate costs.

[Ferrets are Cool]

17. Yeah, it's only a dollar more per piece than 2 x 6 x 12's, but you have to use more

joists because it's not as thick. So you still end up having to purchase real lumber to go beneath it.

[roamer65]

10. In 10 years, wood will be a scarcity.

All the wildfires from climate change will make a rarity.

[rickyhall]

11. I bought 5 "economy" studs Thursday up a buck since September.

[jmowreader]

12. I've been buying lumber to make cabinets. Ouch.

Last Wednesday I bought eight 2x4s 8 feet long. They were $6 apiece, and I had to dig through the stack for about half an hour to find eight of them with no cracks. Needless to say, I am being extremely careful with how I cut them to be sure as little as possible is wasted.

[Vinca]

14. What I don't get about lumber is that most of the trees harvested in the northeast can be

seen traveling north on I-91 headed to Canadian sawmills, then it's exported from Canada back here. Why? What happened to the sawmills in this country? I can't imagine it's cheaper to export the trees then import the lumber.

[Ferrets are Cool]

18. From what I have read, it seems that some of this added cost that we are seeing

is from import fees that the orange menace enacted during his reign.

[Vinca]

22. That figures. He especially hated Canada so I'm sure he thinks he was penalizing

the Canadians rather than Americans who purchase lumber.

[panader0]

20. I've been looking into lumber futures.

I need a goodly amount for my greenhouse rafters. It should go down a bit by May.
The price of 1000 board feet was even higher a while back, over $1000 a few weeks
ago to about $875 now. Still, it's much higher than it was a few years ago.
Factors include the pandemic, and the fires in Cal.
I'll be waiting a couple of months to make my buy. In the mean times I got some
great telephone (power) poles for free at the electrical co-op. There is nearly a constant supply.
Everything is up--bags of concrete and mortar, paint, drywall--ugh.

[jeffreyi]

23. Interesting.

Thanks for posting.

[cagefreesoylentgreen]

24. Alternatives to wood exist

Sure, building homes out of discarded plastic bottles might not be practical for all environments, but neither is wood. And it’s better for the planet.

https://www.smithsonianmag.com/travel/from-bottles-newspapers-these-five-homes-were-built-using-everyday-objects-180973002/