Home Depot sucks

Went to Home Depot this morning cause nothing else was open to get lumber at. Making a pretty good size fur tumbler and needed some 3/4 tongue and groove plywood for the sides. Was informed they no longer carry that. Had to pick up some 2x4’s and 2x8’s for framing on the drum so started sorting through those stacks to find some useable stuff. Took about half hour to find 7 ten foot sticks that didn’t look like someone had been hooping beaver with them. What a joke they have turned into.

It's not just home depot. Menards and lowes are just as bad.

I have found that its best to just open up a new bundle and go to the center of the stack to find better boards. Always seems the closer to the outside the more they are crooked, twister, and cracked.

I have not bought any lumber in a long time so haven't had to find any. Can these places not get good lumber? Same old supply chain issues?

I think they buy second grade lumber by the train load. I was astonished that they don’t stock 3/4 tongue and groove anymore. I only went there because it’s Sunday and our local lumber yards are closed. Would rather spend my money with the local mom and pop’s,even if it costs a little more. Sure wanted to get that drum fabricated today and move on to mounting the motor , gear reducer, and pulley’s this next week. No 3/4 plywood!! UNBELIEVABLE

They have it in stock in Minot. Must be a local thing.

About 10ish years ago at my local Home Cheapo , a customer trying to find some boards that were not all twisted up , proceeded to climb up the pallet rack to the next bundle of boards. He ended up accidentally pulling the entire bundle down and was killed in the process.

Home Cheapo has some crummy quality boards.

I have always found it a chore to find decent lumber in the big box stores. I imagine with all the supply issues, it's much harder now.

I'm beyond disgusted at not being able to buy once common items.

The guy behind me in Tractor Supply today was throwing a hissy fit at not being able to purchase what he wanted. I thought the manager was going to throw him out. He was yelling at both the man and woman working registers, before his turn and at the manager, when he came up, to see what was going on.

Keith

remember that most all 2x4's that you are buying are mostly the tops of trees or out of the fist slab off a cant, that are run through a scragg mill. They are usually all sap wood. Then after they come out of the kiln they sit banded somewhere and the outer layers are exposed to sunlight. Then they are trucked somewhere and stacked inside a store where the heat, light, and humidity are all different. I'd be surprised if they didn't twist and shout .

Here is my frame built the sides out of oak cabinet grade ply wood 4ft .

You can't blame the supply chain issues on Home Depot.

You think that is bad? Have you seen the trapezoidal plywood at Lowes? All 4 sides different dimensions.

If you need 8 ft. stuff look and 16 ft stuff and cut it, it is better lumber to start with, but it is hard to get good lumber now days !

I was thinking Home Depot was the better of the 3

the local lumber yard is a little better but you pay for it about double

I'd blame the loggers for cutting crooked trees.

Likely you and two other guys have come in looking for T and G (sub floor?) plywoood in the last year
Think about how many different 3/4" ( 23 /32) are available.

And more often than not small lumber yards can still order a variety of plys . Which in all likelihood there is maybe a dozen of more building grades or quality. Most starting at $75.00
I remodeled a 1950 s home. 3/4 , a full 3/4 T and G. No voids, no knots , exterior glues and resins , with the appearance of cabinetry quality. If anyone makes a sheet like that ply material it would sell for over $150 a sheet.. Mariine grades of any quality start at arounf $150 a sheet is you buy a truck or train load.

Lumber is different
The General we worked for ( 40 years ago) we preferred river cut old growth for building. That stuff doesn't exist.
At one time cedar and Redwood was a junk lumber. from trash trees. Clear new growth runs over $800 per square, Th equality of the stuff put on homes in the 1950 Im sure cant be found.

The homes we were building at one time You would now need the material custom milled,, and it use to be at all the large lumber yards 2x30" 30 foot lengths.

Life moves on, use something better suited

People will be living in plastic houses in 50 years and the old bent up crooked boards today will be like gold.

Whatever you do, make sure to yell at the person at the register, the guy on the floor trying to help folks, and the store manager, as they are clearly at fault for the quality of lumber made available to Americans...
Who in the world believes that lumber quality issues is a new thing? I haven't been able to find a half a dozen straight 2x4s without looking through the entire bundle for the last 30 years.

People are already living in plastic homes.
From a firefighter's prospective , wearing your SCBA when entering a structure fire is a must. Fewer and fewer building materials are wood/organic related. Most home furnishings are plastic related. This makes very toxic smoke.
Few things like wood furniture , natural fiber carpeting , real wood paneling are around anymore. All replaced by plastics and synthetic replacements.

Not here yet,but the furnishings are made of sawdust for the most part.
A lot of chipboard now in new houses and lots of plastic wrap.

I guess that’s what it’s coming to. They had 3/4 in chip board and some kind of composite sawdust and glue looking stuff that the edges were already breaking on. Guess quality stuff is too expensive for most people these days or they just don’t give a rats patute.

If I didn't know better I would think we got a bunch of complainers here on TM.

Home Depot is slightly better because you get to see and sort through before you buy. At Menards you've already bought it when you go to pick through it.

Construction limber today sucks compared to thirty years ago and that stuff sucked compared to fifty years ago.

That being said you are never going to get quality anything at any big box store. Not only that, but the customer service is non-existent to terrible.

I'm a general contractor and deal with this stuff daily. recently a customer insisted I buy 3/4" oak plywood from a Home Depot where he had an account. I don't normally operate like that but I did this time. Their website said they had nineteen sheets, I needed six. they had four. I spent twenty minutes at the "Pro" Desk getting the run-around about where the remaining sheets might be before I went and loaded them with no offers of help from a group of the orange-smock-wearing boneheads that stoop around in the lumber aisle an watched me do it.

The plywood was five-ply (cheap) with a super thin veneer (cheaper) that was already delaminating in places (cheapest).

Next day I called one of my regular lumber suppliers at a location I had never been to before. They said they had thirty-some sheets in stock. I went there, talked to a very professional and knowledgeable counter guy, was told exactly where to drive my truck to for loading and had a competent, courteous yard guy assist me with loading the goods.

The oak plywood was seven ply (good) and had a much thicker veneer on it (better). It was $8.00 a sheet cheaper than the Home Depot crap (best).

Just a heads up fellas, remember last years pricing???? Looking like they are gonna be making a return according to our suppliers. Last year we never could not get product, just crazy priced. This past two months we have been fighting just to keep our main contractors in some sheet goods. Hang on, might get bumpy is what we are hearing.

I run a large post Mill. I buy 2 to 3 tandem semis a day, 12 in. max diameter down to 4 in. diameter. The big trees exist, the mills that can turn them into your lumber are few and far between. The mills in my area making boards want production. That high production comes with uniform and similar sized logs. I have some lowland with giant white and red pine, I have select cut it twice in the 30 years I have owned it. The giant pines cannot be sold. The woods equipment can't handle 36 in.+ diameter logs and the mills can't mill it. I have had a woodmizer, owned by a friend cut some, but each log was brutal work. The logs produced some of the best wood of yesteryear. Take a look at the end grain of that big box wood, look at the grain and place it into an imaginary log, you will see it was not a big tree to start. Then look at the gaps between growth rings, you're looking at a fast growth rate. I salvage old wood from demos and old homes any chance I get. My old man had us kids stripping boards, sorting nails and bending them straight. He came from a different era. I don't save nails, but will reuse a 2x4 or 2x6 all day.

Be sure to use those straight pieces you got from the center right away. Let them lay for a week, and they will look just like the crooked ones you passed on. They have forgotten how to dry wood, and most of it is so gnarly that it's still warps after it’s dry!

Good post, Feedinggrounds!

Most all lumber yards cant keep up with demand,,,and suck.

Nah. That's on other trapping sites

most of the Menards here , Madison , Jansville being the 2 I go to on those rare times I end up at Menards , they have their lumber inside and you put it on a cart like HD

funny I would rather go to HD and my brother mainly goes to Menards

menards organization here just frustrates me

Janesville is got to be the smallest HD around but at least I know where stuff will be

I always admire the wood I uncover when working on an old house. 100 years old and still straight and true. And when you cut it it smells completely different than today's wood. I have no idea what it was but it's different.
Yes, Feedinggrounds.....excellent post from someone in the bidness!

I have some vintage houses in my area , oldest one I've worked on - circa 1690. I was even walking on the roof , I bet it has had the roof replaced a few times.

I have seen houses with real 2"X4" studs. Not nominal 1 1/2" X 3 1/2" but real 2"X4" , they look almost huge compared to modern lumber. Lots of houses here over 100 years old. Balloon construction is common. Some post and beam as well.

They are dimensionally correct, however they are not square; measure diagonally to check for squareness.

My house is built with real 2" by 4" studs mostly made out of white oak. My barns are mostly entirely made of white oak too.

Keith

Yes, the old growth lumber used in older homes and other buildings is quite different than today's crap. Old yellow pine flooring is a good example. it is dense and heavy with tightly packed growth rings and has a wonderful piney aroma (even 150+ year old stuff). It's almost a different species than today's stuff.

I've worked on many roofs tearing off slate to prep for new shingles. A lot of slate is on purlins but some slate roofs were over solid roof boards. And most of those boards were wide (up to 24") chestnut boards. It always blew my mind covering up that very valuable lumber.

The good trees are left in the woods to rot or burn in the name of environmentalism ......stupid libtards

Alot of plantation ( small trees ) in the process

top dollar for bottom quality...

Maybe you shud have went to church instead

How do you know that I didn’t??

You're onto something......soon it will all be composite studs.


The lumber in the middle of a bundle is just as bad as the lumber on the outside. The difference being how fast you'll see it.

After watching these hybrid trees they use for lumber there is no wonder they look like pretzels once they are cut up. A 4 inch snow on them bends a 5" tree double and they don't straighten back up. When you start with junk material one shouldn't be surprised to end up with an inferior project.

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