Price of 2x4

[Tonto]

Prices are what the market will bear. The initial surge was a supply/demand issue and as the prices went up, the demand stayed constant so the industry cashed in. Interrupted supply from Canada and COVID labor impacts were issues on the supply side. Toss in a couple of serious storms. The tree owner always gets screwed. The mills too, the retailers makes the money. No tears shed for the above post about OSB sold lower than cost. Apparently bought too much too high. Some similarities to our primer issue. Watch as prices stabilize, mysteriously that treated 2x4 will be 50% more than pre-craziness. Industry loves these opportunities to raise prices, every industry. It’s not political, it’s capitalism.

[Bad Ass Wallace]

Lumber costs have surged by up to 60% in the land "down under". Recently we were asked to make 12 sets of turned table legs and we costed out the labour component and put the customer on notice to source the necessary lumber for his project. Spoke to him yesterday and he said our labour was less than the cost of the lumber! A rare thing these days!

[rbuck351]

Inflation is the increase in the amount of money. The rise in prices is affected directly by the increase in the money supply. the more money produced the less its value and the more money it takes to buy any given thing. The govt puts out a figure to make things look a lot better than they really are. I don't know what the real inflation number is but it's probably closer to 20% than 5%.

[3006guns]

Just read an article on the net, stating that lumber prices tanked, something like17% compared to last month. If this is true, once the existing....overpriced....stock is sold the price should come down.

Now, whether it will come down to pre Biden levels is another story...............

[abunaitoo]

Price can't come down fast enough for me.
I sure hope it comes down here.

[bakerjw]

Just read an article on the net, stating that lumber prices tanked, something like17% compared to last month. If this is true, once the existing....overpriced....stock is sold the price should come down.

I heard that places like Home Depot were under contract to purchase certain quantity levels each month regardless of price. Lowes too. Our local Home Depot had something like 35 pallets of 1/2" OSB selling for $47.00 a sheet. Likely they paid $35.00 or so per sheet. It is mostly still there sitting unsold. Until they are willing to absorb the cost and start moving product, it will only go out at a trickle.

[hoodat]

I heard that places like Home Depot were under contract to purchase certain quantity levels each month regardless of price. Lowes too.

This is correct. At the worst of this craziness, we had to accept a couple of truckloads at $70 per sheet. How ya think that's gonna work out for us?? jd

[Burnt Fingers]

During Donald Trumps years in office I started seeing an increase in my Social Security check for Cost of Living expenses ... something the Dems/Left don't believe in giving us .
I had never seen a cost of living increase untill then ... His people count inflation and I like the way his bean counters count/treat us .
Gary

You weren't paying attention then.

https://www.ssa.gov/OACT/COLA/colaseries.html

There's the chart with the COLA's over the years. Thankfully VA Compensation is now tied to the SS COLA. Used to be it took an act of Congress to get an increase.
I started receiving VA Comp in 1980, a whole $99 a month. That same rate now would be $284.93 a month. Or in other words, the dollar has lost almost 3x it's purchasing power since 1980.

[Land Owner]

There are some "treeific" (pun intended) YouTube reviews about the reasons lumber pricing went sky high. Producers of wood products, specifically Saw Mills, that have long been neglected and some outdated, sent prices sky high as they line their pockets. None of the land owner, tree skidder, hauler, or retailer are profiting.

Below are some real Home Depot retail prices for a PRESSURE TREATED SYP (standard plywood) tree stand project that I just keep putting off...(QTY of lumber omitted)

OCT 27, 2016 : PROJECT = $443.63
DESC........LENGTH........PER UNIT
2x4x.............8 ft............$ 3.97
2x4x............10..............$ 5.27
2x4x............16..............$ 9.57
2x6x............12..............$ 8.87
4x6x..............8.............$14.17
4x6x............10.............$16.77
4x6x............12.............$22.47
4x8x0.71 PLYWD............$24.97
HARDIE PANEL...4x8x5/16...$27.52

FEB 18, 2021 : PROJECT = $706.12
DESC........LENGTH........PER UNIT
2x4x.............8 ft............$ 7.88
2x4x............10..............$12.27
2x4x............16..............$16.34
2x6x............12..............$17.98
4x6x..............8..............$23.98
4x6x............10..............$37.88 (cut 12 off to 10)
4x6x............12..............$37.88
4x8x0.71 PLYWD.............$48.98
HARDIE PANEL...4x8x5/16...$40.10

JUL 4, 2021 : PROJECT = $831.22
DESC........LENGTH........PER UNIT
2x4x.............8 ft............$ 5.67
2x4x............10..............$ 9.98
2x4x............16.............$17.37
2x6x............12.............$14.98
4x6x..............8.............$24.98
4x6x............10.............$42.57 (cut 12 off to 10)
4x6x............12.............$42.57
4x8x0.71 PLYWD............$83.18
HARDIE PANEL...4x8x5/16...$42.50

Note: Some prices are falling. Plywood, going into hurricane season, is still INCREASING.

[lksmith]

keep seeing wood prices go up, need some in the future and kinda looking at some of those one person saw mills......anyone else looked at them ???

I've been thinking about getting one of those or a chainsaw mill. I have a lot of small pines that need thinned on my place. Not a lot of lumber on one, maybe a 2x4 each but i have hundreds of them that I need to thin and it's either thin and get a board each or push them up into a pile and burn them

[rbuck351]

I took delivery of a Wood Mizer LX 25 about 2 months ago. It is their lowest priced band saw at $3300 delivered to Eureka Mt. So far I have only cut a dozen or so logs into blanks to dry for cutting into boards later. Very happy with it. I just wish there was more hard woods in my area.

Got three more logs 10" to 20" dia x 18' to 20' long yesterday so more blanks to cut. There is a bit of a learning curve to making a board that is even but once you get it figured out the only hard part is loading the logs on the mill.

[Rapier]

i have been watching the price of lumber go up around here, to 300% of what it was. I have not had a single offer of 300% better price for my 20-30 year old yellow pine trees on my tree farm. So that is interesting, all things being supposedly equal, and all that BS. The market on my trees is up about 50% of past market.
Now studs and 1/2” plywood are on the commodities market so they are in the real crap shoot. Go to bed at $2 and wake up to $1 or vice versa,
every lumber broker I know drinks, a lot, small wonder.

[GregLaROCHE]

Yup. You can't sell things for less than you paid for them and remain the in business.

Just paid $15 each for 25 5/4 6x16ft. Got frowned on for picking through the pile. Too bad, for that price you bet I'm selecting

When I pay top price, I always pick the pile. Your have to or else buy 20% more to discard.

[GregLaROCHE]

Does anyone remember perfect kiln dried studs? A little harder to nail, but straight as an arrow and no defects. Maybe you can still buy them today, but at what price?

[Burnt Fingers]

Does anyone remember perfect kiln dried studs? A little harder to nail, but straight as an arrow and no defects. Maybe you can still buy them today, but at what price?

I remember them. Hard as rock, no knots, and only 1/8" off actual 2x4 measurements.

I haven't seen them for sale in a couple of decades. That kind of wood comes from old growth and the Greenies have pretty much stopped the logging of that.

[MUSTANG]

When I buy 2x4's in Kalispell Montana - some will "drip" or weep on the ends. When I buy 2x4's in Southern Nevada - they have pools of water form at the ends of the 2x4's when stacked. I'm not sure the logs even get to sit for a week to air dry before they are milled after cutting these days.

[lksmith]

When I buy 2x4's in Kalispell Montana - some will "drip" or weep on the ends. When I buy 2x4's in Southern Nevada - they have pools of water form at the ends of the 2x4's when stacked. I'm not sure the logs even get to sit for a week to air dry before they are milled after cutting these days.

Logs don't sit at all. They are still green and sappy when rough cut to dimensions. They sit about a day after cutting before they are ran through a kiln to get them dry enough to go through the planer. Planers only take about 1/8" off each side, the majority of shrinkage comes from drying. This is the process whether marked as kiln dried or not

[MUSTANG]

Logs don't sit at all. They are still green and sappy when rough cut to dimensions. They sit about a day after cutting before they are ran through a kiln to get them dry enough to go through the planer. Planers only take about 1/8" off each side, the majority of shrinkage comes from drying. This is the process whether marked as kiln dried or not

Depends. - Columbia Falls Montana has a family run Lumber Mill/Yard called RBM Lumber and they have logs that sit in the yard until they cut and mill them to dimension. I have bought quite a bit of "Custom" milled items from them from true 6" x6" and 6" x 12" milled beams, to milled panels for "Bead Board", to tongue and grove 4" and 6" wide boards for staining and varnishing. True it is not the same as a BIG BOX lumber store; but all processes are not the same. There are also Weyerhaeuser plants in Columbia Falls Montana (formerly Plumb Creek Lumber) where lumber "Sits in the Yard" for some time before it is processed (not to dimensional 2x ?? - must of it is OSB etc..)

Good news is that "Big Box" 2x4's are dropping in price. Went to look a Home Depot online this morning and a 2x4x8 is currently $7.65. Last week they were about $8.80 each. Improving; but a far cry from the $3.70 about 8 to 10 months ago. I am waiting for further price drop as I have to build more 8 foot x 8 foot Panels covered in Chicken Wire to construct more Pheasant and Chukar flight pens. Takes two 2x4x8's and three 2x4 studs to make the panels I use; a 300% price increase the end of winter/start of spring put a halt to expanding my Pheasant and Chukar raising this year. Wish the Biden Administration understood basic economics - I am sure that many are in the same boat "WAITING" until prices return to some semblance of normal.

[lksmith]

I was speaking about the mills that sell dimensional lumber to hardware stores, including big box stores. Family/ Mom&Pop mills are probably different. The mill I worked at got several dozen truckloads a day, and generally had less than a week's worth of logs. I know i grabbed a few "green" boards that were broken to crate up parts to be sent out and they were HEAVY with sap

OSB and Plywood are a TOTALLY different animal from dimensional lumber

[Harter66]

2 yr ago we bought a 2×10×16' to beef up an existing header when we opened up a whole room adding 3' to the arch way . Paid $14 for a good clean dead straight #1 Doug fir KDHT .

We bought a sawmill the the yr before as we have more trees than money . The mill in the little bit of lumber we have sawn has just about paid for itself in the last few months . I don't even mind having spent the money when I think about the cherry tree I picked up yesterday knowing I can slab off 1or2×12× 8ft actually I think I can get 18 maybe 20" widths out of the lower trunk at least 3-4 pieces . It was a big investment to be sure and a hassle to store here in the green hell but when I need lumber it pays off . Takes me about an hour to reduce a 16' 24" log to to 16 2×4s but with them being $22 each I don't mind so much .