Navigating the Lumberyard - Here's some lumber lingo you should know before you venture into a lumberyard.
Old House Journal|September - October 2024
Here's some lumber lingo you should know before you venture into a lumberyard. Almost everyone fixing an old house will end up at a lumberyard-whether it's a local supplier or the organized aisles of a big-box home-improvement store.
By Gordon H. Bock
Navigating the Lumberyard - Here's some lumber lingo you should know before you venture into a lumberyard.

Almost everyone fixing an old house will end up at a lumberyard-whether it's a local supplier or the organized aisles of a big-box home-improvement store.

Shopping for lumber

Lumber is wood, needless to say: a natural material. Even with modern production controls, the quality of boards in a stack will vary. Most lumberyards expect customers to inspect boards and cull a stack (to a degree) for best-quality materials. Think of a cook choosing among steaks for cut and optimal marbling. In most retail circumstances, be it a traditional lumberyard or a big-box outlet, you will find the top of the pile scattered with boards rejected by previous buyers for warping or such visible defects as excessive knots or wanes (missing corners or edges). Unless you're a prized or big-dollar customer, going through every single board in a pile for the pick of the litter (called "creaming the stack," in some circles) will have you being seen as uncouth, even in a gritty industry like forest products.

To knot, or knot?

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Comience su prueba gratuita de Magzter GOLD de 7 días para acceder a miles de historias premium seleccionadas y a más de 9,000 revistas y periódicos.

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Navigating the Lumberyard - Here's some lumber lingo you should know before you venture into a lumberyard.
Old House Journal

Navigating the Lumberyard - Here's some lumber lingo you should know before you venture into a lumberyard.

Here's some lumber lingo you should know before you venture into a lumberyard. Almost everyone fixing an old house will end up at a lumberyard-whether it's a local supplier or the organized aisles of a big-box home-improvement store.

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Old House Journal

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Old House Journal

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