Treated lumber vs. standard.

Macdaddy4738

Macdaddy4738

Well-Known Member
Joined
Jun 1, 2005
Im no carpenter, but I do know a fair bit about building stuff...

I got a trailer for my kayak from amajeepman, and have finally started setting up to build it to fit the boat...so this weekend I take a trip to lowes. I buy 12 8' 2x4 of treated lumber. The 2x4's should fit right into the stake pockets already on the trailer.

Today I cut two of the pieces and went to fit them into the pockets...too big. The lumber had gotten a little wet (I would use the word damp) and had been sitting to dry out a bit before I cut it. There is NO way water could have swelled it this much...

aimg.photobucket.com_albums_v220_Macdaddy4738_woodpiece.jpg


Treated is on the left, standard on the right. So WTF is up with this? Is treated wood usually not a standard 2x4 size?! I plan to return the whole load down to Lowes and shop elsewhere for my lumber needs from now on :rolleyes:

Is this something thats standard with this type of wood? I dont want to return the whole lot just to find out all treated lumber runs big...
 
Macdaddy4738 said:
...so this weekend I take a trip to lowes.
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there's your problem

IME unless you buy their premium wood, they have crap for wood and it's pretty variable.
That said - yes sometimes treated lumber can indeed be larger.
How "fresh" was it when you got it? E.g. was it still damp from treatment? Many, man ytimes I've gotten treated wood from Lowes/HD, it's still very green, you can feel the moisture on your hands (wash 'em quickly!).
it can take days for them to be truly dry, and you'd be surprised how much smaller they can be then.
I once threw up some framing in the basement w/ treated wood, it was still damp... I cut the lengths, raised it into place, it was so tight a buddy and I had to realy bang it w/ a mallet to squeeze under the ceiling.
Low and behold, next day came and it was really loose. Learned an important lesson that day.

in the picture it looks like it may still be a bit damp...?

But - yes there can be alot of variance too, 1/8" or more. so just b/c one dosn't fit, others might.
Welcome to the world of cheap wood.
 
Moisture content after treating is in the 45-90% range, and affects dimensions significantly. Find a real lumber yard and get kiln dried treated boards. The kiln removes most of the water and returns the boards to their pre-treatment sizes.
 
actually yeah, it was still wet when I bought it, and is still a little bit damp now.

I knew lowes lumber is crap, but its the closest to the house so I just went there out of convience.

So if I leave the lumber down there for a while it should shrink back to regular size?
 
And Lowes is generally better than Home Depot in my experience, but both suck compared to a true lumberyard or building supply place. Prices are higher too.
 
Watch out if drying treated lumber. It will twist and bow and really be difficult to use.
 
foreman1063 said:
They have #1 treated lumber which generally looks better than what you get at typical lumber stores.
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The treated I got was #2. Does that make a difference in sizes or is it just quality of the wood?

The wood is in the basement back home now, I'll check it Friday or saturday and see if its shrunk much, if not Im going to return the whole lot to Lowes and go to a real lumber yard.

Does 84 Lumber sell good stuff?
 
Sipes in Taylorsville is where I usually get lumber.
 
foreman1063 said:
Tarheel Wood Treating in Morrisville. They have #1 treated lumber which generally looks better than what you get at typical lumber stores.
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You're going to pay a shit ton more for #1, too.

I think Capital City has kiln dried treated.
 
Decking

Blaze said:
....at a good price.
I'm redoing my deck as well, need somewhere in the Raleigh area.
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This may be boarder line pimpin a product, if it is mods please feel free to delete. If you want some bling decking material The hardwood store in Gibsonville distributes the Ipe and Cumaru Decking that we import into the states, he even delivers. Cheap? not really. Last forever, Yup.

Fred
 
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