Sticker Shock

[brad225]

My nephew told me he was going to build a small room in his garage to enclose his water heater and water softener.

He then mentioned that he was going to use metal studs because the cost of framing lumber was so high.
I asked how high it was that it would make a huge difference? When he showed me that an 8'- 2" x 4" was $9 I had to look on the net to see.

I discovered he was correct but when I looked at a 4' x 8' 1/2" thick sheet of CDX sheathing was $$74.59 at Lowes and Home Depot I just about fainted.

I understand there is a huge about of development going on but clearly not that much more than 2006 & 2007. Much of our lumber in the USA comes from the Pacific north west and Canada with crossing the Canadian border is an issue but 600% increase in the last year seems a bit excessive.

Thankful we don't have a large construction project going on this Summer.

[Ritmo]

In addition to high demand, the US has tariffs on Canadian wood and the lumber plants are only running at 85% due to lack of qualified labor. I’m just repeating what a commodities expert shared this week on a business network.

One of my brothers in law was planning to purchase a home. The builder would not sign a contract until the walls are up. Well, he ended up walking away from the purchase as the house had gone up in price over $20K in just 30 days and the builder had not even started on the home’s foundation. And, this was a track home in the mid $200s in Alabama.

[mauidan]

[MPW]

Try buying pallets. Depending upon where you are in the country, they either aren’t available at all, on allocation, or available at exorbitant prices. Insane inflation and supply chain disruptions happening in the wood markets (among many others).

[brad225]

MPW, come to Florida I am amazed how many businesses in the Tampa area I drive by and they have large piles of pallets with a Free sign on them. It never makes any sense to me as they seem to have value.

[Dizzie]

A neighbor just visited a Lennar retirement community in AZ. It is under construction. My neighbor said the 2x4s were 24" on center for interior walls and the studs were finger-jointed. I do not know if that is common practice anywhere but I have never seen that.

Maybe that is adequate in areas that don't have earthquakes, tornadoes, or hurricanes.

[Kingrex]

There is an interesting YouTube where a guy goes through who is making the money. He point to the 5 major mills in the US going from profits of $9m to $600m. It seems to be a bit of fixing the market.

[brad225]

I think that is part of the issue. It's kind of like every gas station has the exact same pricing day to day.
I won't believe it's as simple as one company sees the station down the street raised prices so do they also.

[Mikado463]

Damn railroads and their high price for transportation !

[Kingrex]

Are ticket prices up?

[Mikado463]

Are ticket prices up?

LOL, lumber doesn't move via Amtrak !

[NorthStar]

We need affordable lumber for the young families building their first home.
Can you buy an affordable 2×4 @ MonoPrice?

My brother redone his deck; he payed three times the price for wood needed as compared to a year ago or so. The house market is also super highly inflated.

If you want to sell your home, now is the time.
If you want to buy a home, now is best to stay home and listening to your platine.

I think oil is next ... food too ... then cars. The long-term damage of the recent worldwide events is only starting. Inflation is in the air, and it smells.

Now is a good time to buy Amazon shares Tesla, Apple, Bitcoin, Google and Facebook shares. Time to invest smartly...anti-inflammatory...vaccines, pharmaceutical drugs, aspirin, anti-depressants, sleeping pills, ...

[mauidan]

A friend couldn’t believe his amazing luck when he found THIS in an old shed on a small farm he bought last week.

Not one, but TWO pieces of used chipboard!!!

[CPP]

A friend couldn’t believe his amazing luck when he found THIS in an old shed on a small farm he bought last week.

Not one, but TWO pieces of used chipboard!!!

That reminds me of a old barn find we acquired a few years ago.

[Mikado463]

That reminds me of a old barn find we acquired a few years ago.

very nice , I'll take the '67 Corvette over the lumber and the 'Volkswagen' any day !