Steel is currently cheaper than engineered lumber

1201 · September 09, 2020, 11:18:53 PM

Just a heads up to my friends.

My engineer specified 2 plies of 11 7/8 lvl to hold up my house. Cheapest price I found was $3300. For giggles I asked him to specify w beams. He specs w8x10 which was $1300.

We decided to do a 1.5 story so we ended up going to w12x14 which was $2100 delivered

So if you need load bearing engineered wood, look at steel as well. You may save a lot of money

NathanS · September 25, 2020, 06:34:03 PM

Holy crap. I just looked up my invoice from 2016

1-3/4X11-7/8X36' MICRO LAM $190.44 each

October 11, 2020, 09:24:58 AM

I wonder if this is because of a shortage of wood, due to Covid? In my area, you can't find anything at the big box stores to build with. Pressure treated lumber has been out for months. With everyone staying how and not being able to travel for vacation, they're all staying home and building decks or whatever. I had redone my decking in the spring at home and kept the old wood (previous owner did not use pressure treated so the ends all rotted). I cut off the ends and built my daughter a small play house in the back yard. This fall a section of stairs (platform area) at the cottage was in need of replacing but I couldn't find any wood locally to do the repair. I had to dismantle part of her play house (mostly used some leftovers) to rebuild that section. Once they replenish the stocks I'll have to remove and redo it all with pressure treated, but at least the concrete is poured and is safe for the winter. My daughter was not too impressed but is understanding.

Don_P · October 16, 2020, 08:19:50 AM

Even bag mix concrete has been catch of the day pricing. In the past month I've bought at $4.50/bag, $6.50, and yesterday back down to $5.29. Treated is available here but expensive, luckily been sawing our own framing, sheathing is running about 3-4x pre covid pricing. Steel beat lvl's on another recent project.

akwoodchuck · October 16, 2020, 11:39:36 AM

Picked up 60 ground contact rated 2x6x16s yesterday to frame my basement, $36 apiece....ouchy youchy....

October 17, 2020, 01:36:17 AM

Quote from: NathanS on September 25, 2020, 06:34:03 PM
Holy crap. I just looked up my invoice from 2016

1-3/4X11-7/8X36' MICRO LAM $190.44 each

In my case I needed more than 500ft of the stuff. Ouch

1201 · October 17, 2020, 01:40:13 AM

Adam, I think covid definitely has a lot to do with it.lumber futures jumped almost 3x from April price. But it is coming down now.

Half inch plywood was almost $40 a sheet three weeks ago, now 5/8 is about 30 if bought in bulk

Don p.im super jealous you have your own mill?

Akwoodchuck - ouch indeed.

Don_P · October 20, 2020, 12:52:27 PM

1201,

yeah, I've got one and access to 4 more, wood addicts tend to find one another. 3 of us contributed to one house last year.
If prices don't fall, and if your inspectors allow, it might be worth finding a local mill. A bunch of guys are sawing for construction in this price blip right now, crazy times.

1201 · October 29, 2020, 03:20:32 PM

Quote from: Don_P on October 20, 2020, 12:52:27 PM
1201, yeah, I've got one and access to 4 more, wood addicts tend to find one another. 3 of us contributed to one house last year.
If prices don't fall, and if your inspectors allow, it might be worth finding a local mill. A bunch of guys are sawing for construction in this price blip right now, crazy times.

Im looking around. even reclaimed wood is selling at a premium right now. I found one about 3 hours away thats selling pine lumber for approx $1.2 "per square foot" I think I want to drive down and check it out