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Lumber for Deck

9K views 7 replies 6 participants last post by  Ed911 
#1 ·
Hi,
I'm going to be putting a large order of lumber for a deck I will be building, and want to know who has the best lumber. Menards, Home Depot, Lowes, also there is this place called fox lumber that is known to have quality lumber, but they can get a little pricy. What does everyone suggest.
 
#2 ·
Big box lumber is often low quality, suitable for framing, often not suitable for decking. I suggest you go to an actual lumber yard, often the quality of their lumber is far better than the big box store, and often no more expensive. Depends to some extent on what type of lumber you are looking for, but then again you did not mention it, so you could be looking for PT, cedar, redwood, ipe, douglas fir, much of which is not available at the big box store at any price. I built my deck using ipe, not something you find at any big box store, but was available in quantity from a wholesale lumber yard.
 
#3 ·
Pressure treated

I will more than likely be using pressure treated because of it being the cheapest. I want the most ecconomical but durable and quality I can get. I have a price quote that im satisfied with through our lumber yard. It's 200 dollars more than Home Depot, but a 1,000 dollars more than Menards. So if its between Home Depot and Fox Lumber I'm definatly going with Fox, but I was just wondering if people think saving 1,000 dollars on a deck would be worth it if I decided to go with Menards.

Thanks,
Dennis
 
#5 ·
when it comes to pressure treated lumber. the best prices are at lumber yards. they sell far more volume of it than big box stores so they can sell it for cheaper.


quality wise, typically its all the same from what ive seen but you have more to pick from at lumberyards.. where they deal so much more of it , it doesnt sit around as long which gives it more chance to warp and twist either making it harder to use or impossible to use.. i buy all my decking at a yard thats just a few blocks away from me
 
#7 ·
Thanks, guys

Ok I have decided on going with Menards, I ended up saving 1150 on the total deck. It will be delivered Thursday. I asked around here, and people have been satisfied, and they swear that if I'm not completely satisfied with any boards, they will come and pick them up and exchange them with new ones.
 
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