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Posted by David Sherman [216.18.131.93] on Sunday, October 18, 2009 at 20:17:54 :
Lumber prices are way down and quality is way up. I stopped by Home Depot in Cd'A today to pick up some studs to make side boards for my trailer out of and was amazed that not only are they only $1.55 (8' 2x4) but they're a way better grade than we were getting back during the building boom. A couple years ago, they were $2.50-$3 (sometimes just for spf or hemfir), and most of them had the pith in them, had growth rings 1/4-1/2" wide, and were wany, knotty and twisty. Now they're all doug fir, they're from good slow-growing logs (1/16" growth rings) and very few have the pith in them. I was easily able to pull 8 off the top two rows of the unit that were from nowhere near the pith, and only had 2 or 3 small tight knots in them. They'll be as strong as clears for the side boards. 1/2" CDX is down to $11 and OSB is $6, compared to almost $20 for OSB during the boom.
Studs at $1.55 works out to $300/thousand by my figuring, which I think is still less than the log buyers are paying for logs on the stump. The mills (Stimson in this case) make their profit off the log scale, which means they get more than a thousand feet of lumber out of a thousand feet of logs. Still, it's sure nice to see the better quality lumber at half the price.
While I was there, I bought a 10' doug fir 4x10 even though I don't know what I'll use it for (maybe a mantle), because it was entirely clear except for 3 pin knots all within 2' of one end, and only showing on one face. There was maybe an inch of sapwood on the outside face, zero wane, looked to be from a log 4' in dia at least. It was $40, which was 3 times the board footage price of studs, but clear doug fir normally runs at least 5 times that price. The last time I priced VG clear (D) doug fir 1-bys they were around $10/bd ft.
I think the market for clears (high-end doors, windows, and moldings) is down so much that instead of high-grading the clears off the green chain and selling them for a premium, the mills are just stamping them "sel str" or #1 and putting them into the regular construction lumber.
I haven't seen this much nice tight-grain doug fir construction lumber since the forest service old-growth timber sales came to a halt back around 1985, and the prices are almost as cheap as they were back then too. I know it's not a good deal for the loggers and the mill hands, but after years of paying upwards of $750/thousand for twisty, punky, fast-growing lumber that an honest grader would have marked as #3s and culls but somehow got a #2 on it during the boom, it sure is nice to see good stuff back on the market at a reasonable price. At least in North Idaho, if you're planning to build anything in the next couple years, now's a great time to buy your lumber. Since we're just now going into the winter slowdown, I expect prices will come down even more before spring. OSB went back up a little (from $5.50 to $6.50) or so, but only because they've shut down so many waferboard mills. With real plywood at $11, though, why even waste your time with OSB?
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