10 Mistakes Buying Wood - Don't Waste Your Money

Avoid these 10 Mistakes Buying Lumber at Home Depot or any big box store.
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0:00 Keep an eye out for these
2:12 I was in the pool!
3:01 Use these to find the good wood
4:08 Don't get so sappy
5:36 It's just the piths
6:54 This is why I'm weird
8:39 Should you even buy this stuff?
10:16 Pine is not fine
12:12 Protect your feet
13:02 Go big
14:42 Save some money with this one
16:00 Bonus tip
16:25 Value your time
17:53 Just don't do this

[Fixthisbuildthat]

Buying Plywood? Make sure to watch this video first!

[dttrandom]

Please do make a video on buying wood from a lumber supplier/building supplier. I've avoided trying to go there because I feel intimidated thinking that they cater to pros and construction people who buy lots of wood, and would be annoyed by someone looking through the piles just to buy a few boards.

[Plazman]

I would not have predicted I would watch a 20-minute video on buying wood. I don't even work with wood, but I found this very educational and entertaining. Thanks!

[markcompall]

Very interesting video. If I can add: Keep all of lumber that you don't use. There are plenty of times that you need a small piece of wood and you will already have it from a previous project. Saves money because you've already paid for it and saves time because you already have it.

[zafarsyed]

In the past 6 years, I've seen a lot more bark on construction lumber compared to anything I bought prior to 2017. For some reason, in spring 2017, I noticed home depot, lowes, and menards had bark on a couple pieces of 2x8 and larger. Now I see it even on 2x3 and up on construction lumber and rough sawn hardwoods and sadly, even cedar!

[nwa]

Another great option is to find a place that sells reclaimed lumber or architectural salvage. You can often get great deals on all kinds of wood. I recently bought some Long-leaf pine from a reclaimed lumber yard. It's a species that's nearly extinct and is about as hard as red oak. So you can find great deals on unusual stuff. An added benefit is that because of the age it's almost all very dry and there's limited wood movement

[MartinMCade]

I bought a pile of 2x12s from Home Depot right before COVID started. I looked through their stack every few days to find 1 or 2 worth buying. I stacked them with spacers for a year or so, then brought them from Georgia to Colorado with me where they have been aging for the past year. They might be about ready for a project or two. :D

[SciaticaDrums]

Home Depot and Lowes has nice flat floors. If you don't feel secure about visually checking boards lay it on the floor, all four sides. Easy!

[scottmorris]

Great video with good info. In terms of Poplar, it is a “hardwood”, it is just not a “hard” wood. Balsa wood is classified as a hardwod, but is definitely no very hard, even softer than pine.

[JasonGrissom]

Great video Brad! I really appreciate you going over this topic in the depth you did. I'd definitely like to watch your take on buying lumber at a hardwood store or lumber supply store!

[frotobaggins]

When sorting wood, the number 1 golden rule is Stack and face the lumber as you sort, never leave the bunk a huge mess and never, never toss boards aside in to other bundles. No one wants to come after you can have to deal with the big mess you made. Many yards won't let you sort wood for this reason.

[johnbjorkman]

Another way to save money is using S2S wood (surfaced two sides). For our house renovation, I was doing stained wood trim throughout, so I needed a whole lot of 1x4 and 1x6. The lumber yard had the S2S for less than half the price of anything at the big box stores.

[MilesMcNallyLuthierie]

Being a deck builder here in Michigan I can confirm that the defects like bark and knots are so much more common now. This is part in partial to the influx in lumber price and demands during the lockdowns, at that point and time it was harder to get lumber out to the stores or companies that provide lumber so the companies producing were sending anything and everything they had including these defects. I've seen it from the box stores and even the more privatized companies that we use to get our deck lumber.

[aloys]

PLEASE do a video going to a lumber yard that would be awesome. I would love some tips on how to find a good piece that has a good price. That has been the thing that was keeping me from going for a little bit.

[louisfbrooks]

I have started getting my hardwood from small saw mills in the area. I live in a rural area so it is either that, the Big Box Store or driving several hours to a real city. It is mostly live edge, flat sawn wood but the selection is good. How about a visit to a saw mill? What to look for, how to estimate how much wood you will get from a piece and that whole board feet thing.

[balzacq]

Pressure treated in the Northwest (at least) is made from Douglas fir and is tinted reddish-brown and has a pattern of incisions to get the chemicals deeper into the wood.

[Ashitaka]

Southern Yellow Pine and Douglas Fir are actually both harder than Poplar. SYP actually has strength characteristics close to Red Oak aside from raw hardness. It will definitely hold up as furniture if made properly.

[TheSharkShed]

I live in Franklin as well and I can definitely attest to the quality of lumber going down hill. I used to be a Home Depot store manager and we could always tell how bad the supply was by the number of picked over pieces. Lately I see a bigger pile of picked over pieces than I ever did 20 years ago when I worked there. Great video! Thanks for sharing!

[mrcryptozoic]

I used to have access to commercial 2x8 pallet wood (used for shipping raw 12x12 and 12x16 glass sheets). After denailing, I had both clear pine boards and some very interesting wood where a branch was fully embedded by surrounding clear grain, grain zigzagy and other interesting features. I milled them into unique kitchen cabinets and furniture for an off-the-grid dwelling.
If you have a glass shop in your area, ask them if you can get their pallets. They just send them to the landfill.

[RANDALLOLOGY]

I built a 6 ft long kitchen table from 2X6 yellow pine for the top from Home Depot about 20 years ago. I used dowel pins and routed a V grove between each board it is still strong and solid today. Clear coated it with poly.