Does dimensional lumber keep getting smaller?

4253 Views 6 Replies 5 Participants Last post by bjbatlanta, Mar 27, 2009

bluefitness

Discussion Starter · Mar 27, 2009

I need to replace some siding and cedar fence boards. The battens measured 1 3/4." The lumber yards only sell it in 1 1/2." I got around this by ripping a 4 in nominal piece of cedar (3 1/2 actual). Now, I'm having trouble finding cedar fence boards. I replaced some of these boards 15 years ago. The actual width of these boards were 9 3/4." Now, I can only find it in the standard 9 1/4." I guess I can just rip a 12" board, but I was wondering if I can still get it in the other size. Were actual sizes of dimensional lumber wider a few years ago?

I'm looking for 1X10X6ft boards (actual size 3/4 by 9 3/4 by 6 feet)

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concretemasonry

· #2 · Mar 27, 2009

Wood always shrinks and gets smaller. That is the nature of natural organic building materials.

they have also decreased the nominal dimensions of lumber through the years, but somehow kept the same allowable stresses.

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Tom Struble

· #3 · Mar 27, 2009

probably the battens on your house were ripped 1x4 the fencing im not sure but it could just have been something a particular wood mill was running at the time

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bluefitness

Discussion Starter · #4 · Mar 27, 2009

tomstruble said:
probably the battens on your house were ripped 1x4 the fencing im not sure but it could just have been something a particular wood mill was running at the time

The boards were purchased at home depot or lowes about 15 years ago. Since I'm only replacing a few boards, it leaves a 1/2" gap because of the size difference. 1x12x8 are running around $30 in my area. I was hoping to save about 10 dollars a board to find the same size.

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Maintenance 6

· #5 · Mar 27, 2009

Standard sizes for dimensional lumber haven't changed in many years. I'd sooner beleive that your original boards were not planed to standard size. 9-1/4" is a standard size for a 10" wide board. The only thing you can do is start with a wider board and rip it down to your dimension.

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bluefitness

Discussion Starter · #6 · Mar 27, 2009 (Edited)

I did some research and found that they do make cedar boards and battens in my sizes. It comes in 1 3/4 for the the battens and 9 3/4 for the boards. Is there a particular name for it? If I ask for rough sawn cedar, they usually give me the S1S2E (surfaced one side and 2 edges).

Edit:

I guess it is just rough cut on all four sides.

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bjbatlanta

· #7 · Mar 27, 2009

Lowes and HD change suppliers to suit their pricing strategies. Not likely they'd be getting material from the same supplier (ESPECIALLY an item like rough sawn lumber) from 15 years ago. Dimensions can vary by supplier. Look for a specialty lumber supplier in your area. There are a couple in this area. One I can think of specializes in cedar and cypress (cheaper than cedar by far these days). The other carries more "exotic" woods redwood, teak, etc. The "specialty" lumber yards shpuld be cheaper than "special ordering" through one of the big boxes.......

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