Reclaimed materials – new construction
Soon starting cosntruction of an outbuilding here in Eastern Ontario Canada – approx 16×20, slab on grade, unheated,…. just the typical place to put stuff.
Wondering – Is there anything in the Ontario Buidling Code that would prevent/prohibit or otherwise deter me from using some salvaged hemlock lumber from a demolished barn? It is 2×6″ actual sawn dimension that I would like to use for studs and plates. Someone I spoke with thought that it would be fine for agricultural purposes – we live in the country but the building won’t be for agricultural purposes (except for the wife’s garden tools)
Any thoughts appreciated.
Thanks
Replies
Any thoughts appreciated.
It is better to ask forgiveness than permission....
You might want to check with a BI about using hemlock. I've heard that it's illegal in many jurisdictions - it's way too soft.
Hemlock has a coefficient of elasticity that is actually higher (stronger) than spruce. Where you would use spruce, you can use hemlock.
It IS an argricultual building.
"In any weather, at any hour of the day or night, I have been anxious to improve the nick of time, and notch it on my stick too; to stand on the meeting of two eternities, the past and future, which is precisely the present moment; to toe that line."
-Thoreau
I don't see any problem. The dimensions are fine! 2x6! Plates and walls. They are well seasoned, and have stood the test of time. If they are sound, and have no rot, I can't see any problem.. Code allows for recycling of framing, provided they are dimensioned properly. We use hemlock when timberframing sometimes. Old stuff is really splintery! Ouch!
I'm curious about this... I thought it was against the rules to use reclaimed lumber especially in instances where it would take a load. This is because there is no stamp to tell an inspector what grade the lumber is. I'd like to find out more about this. Thanks.
My OBC code book is awal, but I think they have inclusions for hemlock framing. None the less, we're talking 2x6 and code allows building with 2x4, so what's the problem? Old wood, if sound,, will last! Last call, heritage rebuild?
Dunno,, not going to bet my tool box,, but I think it should be fine!
Its a horse thing!
I'm pretty sure the Ontario Building Code incorporates the National Building Code requirement that all framing lumber must be graded. That is to say, come stamped by the mill, or have a lumber grader stamp it on site.
I can't see why you wouldn't be able to use Hemlock. It has its own span tables separate from the SPF and DFir. Its also what they make most treated lumber from.
I guesss that depends where you are.Here it is all SYP. Out west it is mostly DFir incised.
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It's strange. I can look out my window and see Douglas Firs, but haven't seen any at my yard for a good ten years. All the lumber labelled SPF is invariably Spruce. It's easy to build with. Nice and white, takes toe nails without splitting, but soft and weak. For us the problem is raw log exports. It is more profitable to send logs south, than to do any value added activities. So we have no wood manufacturing to speak of. Much of the Clear Cedar goes to Japan and the Douglas Fir to you guys.
yeah, I go to shows and see samples of nice clear PO Cedar and ask where can I buy that? The answer is always that the nice clear stuff goers to Japan. I would have to order a ship load to get it.most of our framing lumber here is spruce, which is OK except that the grain grows in a spiral in the tree, so as it drys, it wants to twist more than fir or pine or hemlock. Always throwing in a toenail to straighten studs...I don'ty see too much fir dimension lumber here, but can order all I want cut to whatever size I want in green rough up to 40' long. my main yard gets it in large truckloads then re-saws for the timberframes etc.
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I did a timber frame entry porch last fall using Douglas Fir, and I am now watching it slowly develope checks and cracks. Nothing to complain about but... I saw an article on Blue Sky Design (they have had projects in FHB) that mentioned they had all the logs and timberframe microwave dried. Know anything about it?
The timber frame shop I worked at in MT uses a ton of microwave kiln dried coastal fir. That and reclaimed. Sometimes, they have to hire a grader for the reclaimed and sometimes they don't - it all depends on the architect, the location, the GC, etc. We rarely used green fir, though I have worked with it. It definitely moves and checks more than the kiln dried.All the precut studs around here are SPF, or "whitewood" in the local dialect. You can get everything in DFir, though.
Piffin,
I don't believe the PT here in the NW is DFir. White Fir, piss fir, Hemlock maybe, but not D Fir. There are a number of Firs grown out here that are commonly referred to as D Fir but are not."Poor is not the person who has too little, but the person who craves more."...Seneca
I am only repeating what I've read here from California framers, so you are probably right
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