Bought some 8’2×4 at Lowes today. They had two prices. One was $1.78 and the other was $2.33. The “lumber expert” at Lowes said the difference is that the less expensive type is air dried (they were stamped KD) and I was told that the higher priced ones were “chemically dried”. Never heard of it before.
Anybody know what they were talking about?
Replies
Since KD stands for Kiln Dried he's already wrong. Well, you should get some interesting replies.
I thought of that, but since a kiln is filled with air I decided to let it pass.
Ill bet the only difference was grade of lumber or type of wood. I believe it is all kiln dried.
I'm not sure it's all kiln dried and the less expensive stuff had Fir stamped on it.
Go back there with a digi camera and take a close-up pic of the stamp on a piece that shows up clearly. We'll tell you what it is.
I live 50 miles from Lowes!I thought the story sounded like bull, but I figured I'd ask.ALL: BTW, I bought the more expensive lumber because it looked better to my eye.
Maybe this is what he ment:
http://fcg.cof.orst.edu/structur/10283.pdf
Still kilm dried but chemicallt surface treated after drying would run up the cost.
Probably pre-cut vs 8' 2 X 4s
No. Both were 8'2x4
Toxic waste on my studs? Good God.
When I buy wood, I want wood, period.
I went over to the jobsite and shot these pics of the stamps.Hope this is readable.
Well here is the best that I can figure out.http://www.clsab.ca/display/image?title=Reading%20A%20Grade%20Stamp&width=800&height=573&image=reading-gradestamp.jpgI *THINK* that the CMSA is the Canadian Mill Service Association. That is the grading agency.The crown is either the logo of the CMSA or the mill (#144).What I am not sure of is the KD-xx it looks like NT. Could not find any reference to that.But it might be HT.That means heat treated. The internal temperature of the wood was raised to such a level to kill insects.Don't know if the other wood had that or not.
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William the Geezer, the sequel to Billy the Kid - Shoe
HT is Heat Treated, a requirement for all lumber shipped to Europe to kill worms, borers and eggs laid in the lumber so they don't get transferred along with the shipment. Most wood sold here is now HT. CMSA is the certifying agency for the heat treating. NLGA is the Northern Lumber Grading Association and grades the lumber. S-P-F is the species: Spruce-Pine-Fir (not including Douglas Fir). Stud is the grade. KD indicates kiln drying to 18% moisture content.The other lumber stamped Fir was likely not a graded wood as there is no Fir species classification. There is a Hem-Fir species class and a Doug Fir species class but they generally don't sell at a discount to S-P-F due to higher rated structural properties unless they are a lower grade, ie. Utility instead of #2.
Edited 1/10/2009 3:12 am by observer
taint nuthin special bout your wood that I kin tell.
spruce, pine or fir..... Kiln Dried
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That's what I'm thinkin
>> I believe it is all kiln dried. << Everything available here other than maybe at a saw mill is Kiln dried. OTOH, it depends on where he lives. I read here about people framing with air dried green lumber or some such - hard for me to imagine... but some geographies do use other than KD framing lumber. Maybe pacific NW and some areas in Canada?
<<..but some geographies do use other than KD framing lumber. Maybe pacific NW and some areas in Canada?..>>Don't know about the PNW, but here in Canada we use blocks of snow.
And very large ice cubes....
I built my home with air dried ungraded sawmill wood. It's actaully legal anyplace in the country.. I live in a extremely rich extremely rule heavy community that is hypercritical about such matters..
I found the relavent passage in the building code and photocopied it & memorized it for when the building inspector wanted to deny me or require me to get an engineers stamp etc..
If you'd like pictures of my place go over to 85891.1 & 94941.1 and scroll through
That's why he/she is working at Lowes...they don't really know what they're talking about. Like tire sales people selling Nitrogen filled tires, it's sales pitch that brings the bucks!
I would guess that someone told the guy "kiln dried" and he heard "chemically dried".
Likely the difference in the two pieces is that the cheaper one is "utility" grade and the more expensive is std&btr.
I wish some of you guys would spend some time in large sawmills..
You can stamp a board KD when it meets the moisture specs for kiln dried (actaully it's typically stamped before it's kiln dried in the finishing process before it's bundled up and stacked)
Many mills have the railroad tracks right through the kiln. So wood that comes in dry enough to meet specs. (19% moisture =or- 2%) rolls right through the kiln and on out the door.
Now Kiln dried doesn't mean it's completely dried.. you are all aware of that! It's that it meets the 19% moisture content..
I suspect the guy didn't know that one price was for what is called western white woods.. or SPF while the other price may have been for doug Fir.
Or one price for #2's and the other price for #1's
Thanks for the input, frenchy. I don't know squat about big mills.The difference wasn't #1 or #2. There wasn't a #1 board to be seen!