Trump’s New Housing Tax: A tariff on Canadian lumber will raise the cost of U.S. homes.

[mirraflake]

Maybe, but the same was said of the homes built during the booms of the 1950s and 1960s.

Yeah but the building materials of those 50's and 60's homes were superior, thicker woods and much of it was hardwoods versus today's soft pine. . Today all all homes are built primarily of cheap OSB particle board-floor, roof and siding (under vinyl or brick).

The cheaper tract homes built in the 50's make todays homes look like cardboard construction.

@endicom
@skeeter

[driftdiver]

Lot of new home construction is metal studs. Not widespread yet but catching on.

BTW we are framing in a room  and I went to Lowes for 2x4's.  Out of every 10 or so I would find one decent one. Years back I remodeled the first house I owned that was built  in the 60's. The studs were near flawless. Ones today half the edges are gone.

@skeeter

@mirraflake
You have to buy the higher grade 2x4s to get ones that are semi-straight and are usable for framing.    They typically cost about a buck more each.

[Smokin Joe]

We could use our own trees instead of letting them burn every summer.

But then the poor widdle spotted owls won't have any place to go (yep, that was sarcasm).

[Idaho_Cowboy]

But then the poor widdle spotted owls won't have any place to go (yep, that was sarcasm).

They used to live in Kmart signs, but now that Kmart is in trouble I'm worried about the owls.  ^-^

[Smokin Joe]

They used to live in Kmart signs, but now that Kmart is in trouble I'm worried about the owls.  ^-^

Well, there could be a cottage industry in cutting the signs down...but it will never replace the lumber mills shut down by a government infatuated with an owl only separated from the Southern Spotted Owl by address. (The Spotted Owls can breed and produce viable offspring, no matter where they live)

[roamer_1]

BTW we are framing in a room  and I went to Lowes for 2x4's.  Out of every 10 or so I would find one decent one. Years back I remodeled the first house I owned that was built  in the 60's. The studs were near flawless. Ones today half the edges are gone.

Go to an actual building center instead of a big-box store and your experience will be different.
I *never* buy wood products at home depot or lowes.

[roamer_1]

We are in the process of selling the house I built in 1994. I tried to use the best materials at the time and took great care of it. Have a crew doing tile work etc Replacing all the doors because the bottoms door frames are all rotted out and I painted the frames every 2-3 years.

It doesn't matter how many times you painted it. If you didn't back-prime and paint the end grain of the frame before it was installed, it will fail. That is why it is rotting out... Although here they don't rot out generally... here they dessicate and crack because the moisture is leaving through the backside of the frame due to our low humidity,

[Forum member]

We could use our own trees instead of letting them burn every summer.

Around here the bumper stickers say, "Can't mine it, can't graze it, can't log it... let it burn"

[Smokin Joe]

It doesn't matter how many times you painted it. If you didn't back-prime and paint the end grain of the frame before it was installed, it will fail. That is why it is rotting out... Although here they don't rot out generally... here they dessicate and crack because the moisture is leaving through the backside of the frame due to our low humidity,

We have the dessication problem, too. Old barn siding here is downright brittle.

[Smokin Joe]

Around here the bumper stickers say, "Can't mine it, can't graze it, can't log it... let it burn"

Around here it's "Earth First! (We'll drill the other planets later)"

[roamer_1]

We have the dessication problem, too. Old barn siding here is downright brittle.

That is why the backprime is so critical - it's the only time any sort of coating will be applied, ever.

We routinely rejected door frames whose aluminum threshold was permanently affixed, or informed the contractor and got a waiver - If we can't take the threshold off and coat that all important end grain, there is no way we can guarantee the work at all.

We wouldn't even do the work for jippo operators who always wanted to save money by excluding the backprime. it saves them a mere 10 cents a linear or square foot (depending on the product) but makes the work wholly unwarrantable.

[GtHawk]

Lot of new home construction is metal studs. Not widespread yet but catching on.

BTW we are framing in a room  and I went to Lowes for 2x4's.  Out of every 10 or so I would find one decent one. Years back I remodeled the first house I owned that was built  in the 60's. The studs were near flawless. Ones today half the edges are gone.

@skeeter

What's really sad is dimensional lumber, especially if you have to replace wood in construction that is old enough to have true 2X4's. When my friend built his home he over built it using 3X4's and poured a foundation 50% thicker than code. I joke that because he is less than a mile from the ocean in Huntington Beach, Ca. he doesn't have to worry about the home breaking as much as it sinking due to liquefaction during an earthquake.

[roamer_1]

What's really sad is dimensional lumber, especially if you have to replace wood in construction that is old enough to have true 2X4's.

That really isn't a quality thing... The reason dimensional wood is undersized is because it is passed through a planer in order to true it's dimensions - something 2x rough-stock doesn't (didn't) receive. And I prefer the planed. Build one home out of rough-sawn and you will too.

[Smokin Joe]

That really isn't a quality thing... The reason dimensional wood is undersized is because it is passed through a planer in order to true it's dimensions - something 2x rough-stock doesn't (didn't) receive. And I prefer the planed. Build one home out of rough-sawn and you will too.

Well, If I was building from scratch here, all the exterior walls would be 2X6.

 In new construction, I would insulate the bejeebers out of it. When the wind changes in DC, there's a good chance the stupidity with energy use will start over again if safeguards aren't put in place to prevent that. That is something I just don't see happening, and all the rules and taxes will be written up by people who live where subzero weather is something they have heard of in National Geographic, but have never lived in.

[roamer_1]

Well, If I was building from scratch here, all the exterior walls would be 2X6.

 In new construction, I would insulate the bejeebers out of it. When the wind changes in DC, there's a good chance the stupidity with energy use will start over again if safeguards aren't put in place to prevent that. That is something I just don't see happening, and all the rules and taxes will be written up by people who live where subzero weather is something they have heard of in National Geographic, but have never lived in.

That's a fact. I am not cussing the thicker wall... I am just saying that dimensional lumber is far, far better to work with than rough-cut. That's all I mean. And the first time you have to size all the walls in  the house to get the sheet-rock to lay down (not to mention the siding), you'll be agreeing with me. Planed lumber is awesome.

[Smokin Joe]

That's a fact. I am not cussing the thicker wall... I am just saying that dimensional lumber is far, far better to work with than rough-cut. That's all I mean. And the first time you have to size all the walls in  the house to get the sheet-rock to lay down (not to mention the siding), you'll be agreeing with me. Planed lumber is awesome.

Oh, I know. I live in a 105 year old house. We had a fire, and the structure survived. You can't find a plasterer in the state, so it was stripped to studs on the fire floor, and the yayhoos who did the drywall didn't get it right. I'm still fixing on that. Most of the full dimension studs lined up quite well, and that is some amazing lumber. The grain is tighter (before farm trees), and the wood is more dense, too, but it is not as uniform as milled wood, and the couple of studs one of the demo crew tore out that should not have been removed were a pain to replace.

[roamer_1]

Oh, I know. I live in a 105 year old house. We had a fire, and the structure survived. You can't find a plasterer in the state, so it was stripped to studs on the fire floor, and the yayhoos who did the drywall didn't get it right. I'm still fixing on that. Most of the full dimension studs lined up quite well, and that is some amazing lumber. The grain is tighter (before farm trees), and the wood is more dense, too, but it is not as uniform as milled wood, and the couple of studs one of the demo crew tore out that should not have been removed were a pain to replace.

I got pretty good at that sort of thing,.. Built a rig for it out of some super straight D fir... Just have to get the ends in the same plane and set my rig on it, and run the router across the wall, dropping in 1/2" increments... makes for shorter work than firring out, or string and block plane... But it's still a whole load of work that isn't necessary if the carpenter is good and the wood is too.

We were still using rough-sawn up here until the woods closed down and all the jippo mills dried up. That's how I know the old way.

[GtHawk]

That really isn't a quality thing... The reason dimensional wood is undersized is because it is passed through a planer in order to true it's dimensions - something 2x rough-stock doesn't (didn't) receive. And I prefer the planed. Build one home out of rough-sawn and you will too.

Well yes and no, in the past a 2X4 was being 2X4 in. now it's closer to 1 5/8 X 3 5/8 so they start with a smaller piece and end with a smaller piece and if you pay the premium for kiln dried the finished dimension is tighter. That's what I found of years of picking thru Home Depot lumber stacks trying to come up with a usable quantity of just decent lumber that was usually so wet you still ended up with crap if you didn't have locked in place before it warped while drying.

[Idaho_Cowboy]

Well yes and no, in the past a 2X4 was being 2X4 in. now it's closer to 1 5/8 X 3 5/8 so they start with a smaller piece and end with a smaller piece and if you pay the premium for kiln dried the finished dimension is tighter. That's what I found of years of picking thru Home Depot lumber stacks trying to come up with a usable quantity of just decent lumber that was usually so wet you still ended up with crap if you didn't have locked in place before it warped while drying.

Last time I went to pick up a 2x4 someone had swapped them out for a pallet of hockey sticks.  Good lumber is hard to find.

[bigheadfred]

The good stuff goes to China.

Wood that has set around a while tends to be worse for warping than fresher stuff.

Load bearing walls should have some care done to them for straightness. Crown all studs the same way in a wall. And straighten them here and where by making a cut, (or 6  ^-^) at the peak of the bow (inside). Then pull out the bow and pound in a shim. Give it a sister to keep it straight.

I handle mostly hardwoods now. Everything comes rough sawn. A 4/4 board is 15/16ths. 8/4 is 1 7/8ths. So if I want  one inch thick board I have to start at 5/4. I don't know if there are any places left around here where you can get actual rough sawn pine these days. They all went out of business.

Everything I cut is for immediate use. The more it sits around the more useless, for cabinetry, it becomes. Same is true for any wood really.

I get to make some barn wood cabinet doors coming up for a place in Jackson Hole. That is always a freaking joy.     

[Oceander]

Well, If I was building from scratch here, all the exterior walls would be 2X6.

 In new construction, I would insulate the bejeebers out of it. When the wind changes in DC, there's a good chance the stupidity with energy use will start over again if safeguards aren't put in place to prevent that. That is something I just don't see happening, and all the rules and taxes will be written up by people who live where subzero weather is something they have heard of in National Geographic, but have never lived in.

2x6 on the exterior walls makes sense for a number of reasons, and not just because you have a deeper cavity into which you can put more insulation. 

[bigheadfred]

2x6 on the exterior walls makes sense for a number of reasons, and not just because you have a deeper cavity into which you can put more insulation.

Back when I was framing all the exterior walls were 2x6. We did one house that was 2x8 on 16" centers. Everything else was 24" centers. For the exterior walls.

[Oceander]

Back when I was framing all the exterior walls were 2x6. We did one house that was 2x8 on 16" centers. Everything else was 24" centers. For the exterior walls.

2x8 with 16" on center?  What sort of load was that carrying?

[bigheadfred]

2x8 with 16" on center?  What sort of load was that carrying?

It was  a normal house with an abnormal owner is all.

[Smokin Joe]

2x8 with 16" on center?  What sort of load was that carrying?

Whatever it is, it should be able to carry it for a long time.