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Thread: Menards and Home Depot Lawsuit

  1. #1
    Join Date
    Dec 2006
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    Menards and Home Depot Lawsuit

    Apparently a class action suit is being brought against both companies for misleading consumers with regards to lumber dimensions.

    The suit argues that the companies are short changing consumers by 23% because a 2 X 4 isn't 2 X 4 inches.

    Have we really gone this silly in society?

    http://www.woodworkingnetwork.com/ne...ising%20claims

    Regards, Rod.

  2. #2
    No sillier than trying to blame someone else for not realizing coffee is hot.

  3. #3
    I'm 80 years old and can't remember a time when a 2x4 was anything but 3.5" wide.
    Mike Null

    St. Louis Laser, Inc.

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  4. #4
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    Unfortunately, we will continue to be bombarded with these frivolous lawsuits until we enact real Tort Reform. Also unfortunately, the people who need to do that are also a bunch of lawyers who have made far too much money through the years under the current system.

  5. #5
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    It's hard to roll my eyes enough to express how asinine this potential lawsuit is.

  6. #6
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    Didn't Lowe's get sued for this in California and I believe had to pay a lot.

  7. #7
    I'm 82 and I remember a 2 x 4 being 1 5/8 x 3 5/8"..... 2 x 6 1 5/8 x 5 5/8 etc. anyone else? Justin Koenen

  8. #8
    Justin
    I believe you're right. I just measured one I bought 4 or 5 years ago and it's even smaller -- less than 3.5" x 1.5".
    Mike Null

    St. Louis Laser, Inc.

    Trotec Speedy 300, 80 watt
    Gravograph IS400
    Woodworking shop CLTT and Laser Sublimation
    Dye Sublimation
    CorelDraw X5, X7

  9. #9
    Join Date
    May 2007
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    Fort Smith, Arkansas
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    My downstairs powder room is currently gutted so I measured the framing from 1929. 2x4 measure 1 5/8 by 3 9/16. The 2x6's in the plumbing wall are 1 5/8 x 5 9/16. I'm only 71 but swear I remember all the complaining about reduction in dimensions when I was a child. But the mind does funny things so maybe not.
    Last edited by Michael Weber; 06-23-2017 at 11:29 AM.
    My three favorite things are the Oxford comma, irony and missed opportunities

    The problem with humanity is: we have paleolithic emotions; medieval institutions; and God-like technology. Edward O. Wilson

  10. #10
    I guess it depends on where you buy the lumber. When I bought 2x4 lumber about 15 years ago from the local Saw it was Air Dried , 2 inches thick x 4 inches wide. Planed and jointed .

  11. #11
    Hey Michael, re: your phrase w/your post................. the second childhood (past 80) is really a trip! Spent 16 weeks at Ft. Smith Oct '54.... Justin Koenen

  12. #12
    Join Date
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    Upland, CA
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    Each dimension was reduced by roughly 1/4" during WW1 and another 1/4" during WW2. However, there is more to this as the nominal size is originally the rough sawn dimensions and they originally sawed it slightly larger than that so it would be the nominal size after drying.

    A friends 1912 house was built with the standard rough sawn 2x4 lumber. Another friends 1929 house was also built with rough sawn 2x4 lumber but it is an extremely nice house so was probably built with the nicest lumber available at the time. I hope they wore gloves while building those houses.

  13. #13
    I don't think there was ever any conscious reduction until now (big box retailers). Dimensional lumber of old was sawn and air dried for a period so you bought 2x4 that was sawn at 2" x 4" and then dried to 1 5/8-1 3/4 x 3 5/8-3 3/4 unsurfaced. We do this currently on our sawmill with rough cut lumber. Today we buy the same material (except mostly all softwood with a higher shrinkage) but it is kiln dried or heat treated _and_ dimensioned. No different than buying lumber S2S SLR1E your paying for the cost of the rough (RGH) material. You pay for all the material that is lost in drying and lost in surfacing.

    The home centers are most definitely pushing the limits on dimensional lumber. We have seen lumber on jobs where 2x8's are now at 7" not 7 1/2" or 7 3/8", or even 7 1/4". We have been watching the shrink for 20 years. We don't buy from the home centers and most of our lumber is still in the 3/8"-1/2" range.

    It makes for a major chore when your doing a remodel or coming in behind someone else and their 2x's are off by 1/4" from what your installing.

    The home centers are trying to wring every last tenth of a cent out of their products so in my opinion if there is any validity to them shrinking the size of their material by even 1/16th I'm all for holding their feet to the fire. They have destroyed the building industry, light fixtures, appliances, tools, all in a never ending drive for profit.

  14. #14
    Join Date
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    I started in construction in the mid 70's and I think 2x6,2x8 etc were 5 1/2", 7 1/2" not 5 1/4", 7 1/4" but they were definitely only 1 1/2" thick. It has been a long time even though it seems like last week.

  15. #15
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    My son and I had to sister one of the floor joists in his house which was built in the late 50's. We has to put shims under where the joist rested on the plate and the center block wall. So i know first hand dimensional lumber is now not the same dimension as it was in the 50's.
    George

    Making sawdust regularly, occasionally a project is completed.

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