Cost of plywood jumped up

[Nebraska]

If you are doing a staycation instead of a cruise, why not build a deck. I think a significant urban migration  will happen, driving up rural realestate prices and increasing demand on remodel materials.  I think the work from home model (my oldest son loves it) will downsize a bunch of commercial realestate/office buildings. No two hour commute twice a day, look at what you can do with that  new 4 hours..... (New she shed).....  Maybe this increase in raw material  prices will trim some of the oversized Mc mansion suburban sprawl, or will it escalate....?  Thanks for posting the article  Old Greenhorn.

[Ed_K]

 This morning's price on the N.Y. merc exchange was $781.60 for 1k of SPF. This is the highest I've ever seen.

[samandothers]

We started a house build on April fools day...… shoulda known better.  It is in the process of getting dried in as sheeting the roof just started.  We did a fixed cost contract but it does have a clause that an increase in prices of material over a certain percentage can cause a change.  So I wonder if the builder will need to exercise that clause.  

The other thing I noticed in the article spoke to the framing lumber for builder market being a bit different quality than say that to box stores.  I have noticed how poor some of the studs are on interior wall framing in the basement walls.  

OGH, thanks for that posting good info to explain the whys.

[LeeB]

The other thing I noticed in the article spoke to the framing lumber for builder market being a bit different quality than say that to box stores.  I have noticed how poor some of the studs are on interior wall framing in the basement walls.  

Given the poor quality of lumber I see at the box stores, this is really scary.

[mike_belben]

Ive seen completely powder rotted lumber on the shelf several times.  But hey as long as its stamped for grade, right?  

I could build a bunker with my chainsaw mill if not for the code man. 

[Sedgehammer]

I've already told the supplier on our project that any inferior lumber will be returned on their trucks. 

[Don P]

Everyone that owns a hammer is a carpenter, everyone that has picked up a stick is a lumber grader

The difference is appearance rather than structural in those two markets. Harry Homeowner, well, and most contractors don't really understand the structural requirements of say a stud. If you stand in a big box and watch people sifting through the piles and watch what they take and what they reject it is very often hilarious to watch. The suits in those stores realized this because they were left with piles of "reject" lumber to unload. So they came up with another grade called "Prime". It isn't really a grade, it is a set of appearance criteria within a grade, and they charge for it. On the grading line the number 2's will be further sorted and the pretty stuff will get a #2 Prime stamp and go to Lowes and the straight #2 which is now uglier because of that sort will go to 84 lumber etc. If you sit there and roll through both stacks they are both #2, one is prettier. If you really want better lumber buy #1 or Select Structural, a true #2 is not a pretty piece of lumber. A stud, well, that's a #3 with #1 edge restrictions... gotta be able to stick drywall on the edges but strengthwise its just a column.

[Brad_bb]

When I run low on bunks, I'll often go buy 2x3's at the box store and screw two 4'ers together.  Last winter I was buying them for $1.77 ea at Menards.  Went to Lowes yesterday to get some and they were $2.93.  That's a 65% increase!!!

[RussMaGuss]

I was thinking of adding a 2nd floor to my garage and shed, but with all this going on I think I'll wait.. Price of a 2x4x8 is almost $5 by me now!! Maybe I'll add the loft to my shed for now and do the garage in the new year when the dust settles

[Larry]

I just looked online at my Home Depot.  A 8' 2 X 6 is now selling for $2.32/bf including taxes. 

A few years ago departed member Kansas (RIP) ran a mill with several full time employees.  One of their big sellers was cottonwood construction lumber.  At the time DF lumber from the big yards was .60 cents/bf, yet they made money.

Cottonwood logs still cheap....I think money can be made....sounds way too much like work for me.  Cottonwood is heavy.

[Ed_K]

 1k bf of spf on the market yesterday was $841.60 it still going up.

[alan gage]

One of their big sellers was cottonwood construction lumber.  At the time DF lumber from the big yards was .60 cents/bf, yet they made money.

Cottonwood logs still cheap....I think money can be made....sounds way too much like work for me.  Cottonwood is heavy.

That's what I use it for here. Unfortunately it's not easy to come by good logs that haven't already been pushed in a pile and burned. I am very happy to have about 1 MBF of Cottonwood 2x lumber on sticks and as well as a couple thousand feet of select structural 2x8 and 2x10 I got super cheap at an auction a couple years ago. Of course by the time I get to the projects that wood is intended for prices will probably be back to normal....
Our local lumber yard is out of OSB and doesn't know when they'll get more. Their supplier of OSB just signed a contract to supply exclusively to Menards (midwest based big box store) so they're suddenly left without a supplier. One of their sister stores bought a few loads from Menards and then marked them up and sold them but Menards won't sell to them anymore. They're understandably a bit worried.
Alan

[snowstorm]

i was told yesterday by a mill owner so he knows. one of the larger stud mills was getting as much as 1300 m for spruce lumber. 

[SwampDonkey]

Well, they aren't paying any premium at the mill gate for logs. This is today's prices at all their mills. We also have a competition law here that keeps an eye on wild west style price fixing.

https://irvingwoodlands.com/jdi-woodlands-wood-producers-wood-prices.aspx

Back in the day when Juniper lumber was still around (before the market collapse) , they paid $460/th delivered for logs. Stumpage was as high as $2000/acre. No prices anywhere near that yet. Ivings mill was 10 miles away in Deersdale, they never got much private wood.

[Old Greenhorn]

Related to all this, two more articles form the working forest news regarding the duty dispute on softwoods:
First the article on the WTO finding for Canada.
And second, The US response to the ruling.

Looks like it will get argued for a good while longer. On  personal note, my SIL is working on some porch repairs for us and he went and got a sheet of T-111 yesterday (which was not cheap, BTW). He said they had many skids of the stuff, but NO plywood at all. cleaned out. I think much of it could have been re-routed to southern states in response to the hurricane, but I know the market is just nuts right now.

[Banjo picker]

You think plywood is high now, let a cat 4 storm hit one of the gulf states.   Tim 

[Resonator]

Our local lumber yard is out of OSB and doesn't know when they'll get more. Their supplier of OSB just signed a contract to supply exclusively to Menards (midwest based big box store) so they're suddenly left without a supplier. One of their sister stores bought a few loads from Menards and then marked them up and sold them but Menards won't sell to them anymore.

Selling OSB at retailers other than the original big box store buyer is a no-no. The OSB mill will mark the ends of each bunk (stack) of sheets with a pattern of stripes, these designate that the plywood can only be sold by that particular big box store chain. (HD, Lowes, etc. will each get a different pattern). That way if someone buys it from one big box chain, they can't try to return it to a competitor. Often the loads will not even got through a distribution center, but go direct from the mill to the store. I know from hauling them in the past, and purchasing sheets that so fresh they were still warm to the touch and the paint on the edges was tacky.

[SwampDonkey]

16' 2"x4" SPF is $11 a piece at Homedepot.ca It's by CANFOR.

A 16' 2"x6" is $17. So a little over a buck a foot CDN$.

Their 3/4" maple plywood is $75.50.

[tule peak timber]

Had a partial truck load of Baltic birch and apple ply delivered today. 165$ for 1 inch material, 4X8 sheets.Very expensive.

[SwampDonkey]

Even 3/4" Russian birch is expensive, and selling in quarter sized sheets at $38 CDN. DOH!!! The last time I bought some birch was over 10 years ago and when I sawed it I could tell that the middle layers was all aspen, the smell of aspirin. That's was too much back then at $75 a sheet. They use aspen here to make berry boxes, the least expensive wood on the continent and all kinds of it. We have lots of birch, just not a lot of veneer size and nowhere near as abundant as maple wood. Maple grows like weeds up here. Not fast growing by any means, but you don't have to search for it, it's right there in your face.