Menards and Home Depot Lawsuit

[Ronald Blue]

+ One one what Bruce says. There is more than that involved as well in my experience. I have done enough remodeling in old houses to know that the lumber was in consistent in sizes. It was common to find 2 X 4's that were over 2" thick and over 4" on depth. This wasn't so much a problem with lathe and plaster construction because a skilled plasterer (if that's a word) could make it look great. However when you rip that out in a remodeling project and then try to go back with sheet rock it required shimming and much trial and error to get it to work out. So creating a standard to follow was a win for everyone in my opinion. It was common to hear it said when I was younger that "they don't build them like they used to". My thought when it comes to this part of it is THANK GOD. Because were they a pain from the inconsistent lumber sizes and they generally weren't square either. Maybe this isn't the case everywhere but it certainly was in this geographical region. I am adding a link from an architect site that gives the standards for soft wood lumber. These lawsuits are nothing more than lawyers trying to fill their pockets. I have a hard time seeing where anyone was harmed here.

archtoolbox.com/materials-systems/wood-plastic-composites/dimensional-lumber-sizes-nominal-vs-actual.html

[Brian Elfert]

My father and I do volunteer construction work at a Boy Scout camp. The camp was originally built in 1946 from lumber cut on-site. The oldest 2x4s are rough cut and measure a true 2"x4". At some point the 2x4s went to 1-3/4" and finally to 1-1/2". It makes it interesting to repair the buildings as you never know what dimensions you might find. Luckily they have saved wood from buildings repaired or demolished over the years so you can often find wood to make repairs.

[Rich Engelhardt]

Have we really gone this silly in society?

Yes/no/maybe....

Quite often I've thought that if everyone in the construction trades & woodworkers would stand together we could force plywood manufacturers to product honest - 3/4", 1/2", 1/4" and 1/8" materials.

Other than greed, I can't see any reason why they undersize plywood.

Dimensional lumber, ok, I can see a little bit of that, but, as pointed out above - give them a 1/4" and they'll take a mile.
When we renovate a 1950's or 1960's house and have to install new studs, it's always a hassle to shim them to the right size before putting the drywall on.

[Kevin Barnett]

All of this doesn't matter. A 2"x4" CAN be 1.5"x3.5". Now a 2.0"x4.0" is a different matter. Significant digits are pretty important.

That's why you are allowed 3.4 ounce liquid bottles on a plane. The rule is 3 ounces. That means anything 3.49999 ounces or less. Sometimes they say "3.4 ounces". Then you're only allowed 3.4499 ounces.

[Jim Koepke]

Quite often I've thought that if everyone in the construction trades & woodworkers would stand together we could force plywood manufacturers to product honest - 3/4", 1/2", 1/4" and 1/8" materials.

I think that ship has sailed already. My understanding is plywood is now in metric sizes with labels in inches. 1/4" is 6mm, 1/2" is 12mm, 3/4" is 18mm.

jtk

[Brian Tymchak]

I think that ship has sailed already. My understanding is plywood is now in metric sizes with labels in inches. 1/4" is 6mm, 1/2" is 12mm, 3/4" is 18mm.

jtk

I have hope. (Guess I'm being an optimist today..) I noticed that the last PureBond plywood I bought at Home Depot (..yes.. Home Depot) was a true 3/4". Hopefully that is not an aberration.

[Rod Sheridan]

I have hope. (Guess I'm being an optimist today..) I noticed that the last PureBond plywood I bought at Home Depot (..yes.. Home Depot) was a true 3/4". Hopefully that is not an aberration.

I believe it was an aberration Brian.

Didn't North American plywood standards go metric in the 70's?

regards, Rod.

[Jim Koepke]

I have hope. (Guess I'm being an optimist today..) I noticed that the last PureBond plywood I bought at Home Depot (..yes.. Home Depot) was a true 3/4". Hopefully that is not an aberration.

Maybe they ordered it as 19mm, that is almost exactly 3/4" (0.748"). It is a common size for lug nuts on automobiles internationally.

jtk

[Dave Sabo]

The Menards lawsuit has been dismissed because it was found no "reasonable" person would conclude the were buying a board that measured exactly 2" by 4" and that the descriptions didn't actually use inch ( " ) marks in the description.

So, in fact, they weren't actually advertising a 2 inch by 4 inch board for sale.

Home Depot suit is still pending.

[glenn bradley]

America has 5% of the world’s population. We have something like 85% of the lawyers. The rest of the world can’t believe the things we allow to tie up the court's time.

[Leo Graywacz]

My house was built in 1891. I have 2x4s. Most of them are pretty dry, 2" thick and about 3 7/8" wide.

The lawyers are really the bane of the system. Going after this is ridiculous. Winning the case is something I can't even say.

[Curt Harms]

Must . . . resist urge . . . to talk about . . . lawsuits .

How about the shocking fact that there's sugar in candy!?! What! Sugar in candy? Unheard of.

Rule one - Any lawyer, court, judge or other legal entity that would entertain such a lawsuit shall be summarily shot.
Rule two - The person trying to bring the suit shall be made to watch and then be summarily shot.

Nothing that dramatic, just make it loser pays costs. The risk with that is that the 'little guy' could never go after the guy with deep pockets but there should be some risk in bringing frivolous law suits.

[Brian Henderson]

Nothing that dramatic, just make it loser pays costs. The risk with that is that the 'little guy' could never go after the guy with deep pockets but there should be some risk in bringing frivolous law suits.

And the risk ought to be for the lawyers too. As it stands right now, they have no issues pushing as many frivolous lawsuits as they want, unless they really make the judge mad. I'd like to see them charged, personally, out-of-pocket, $100k per frivolous lawsuit dismissed by the court. That would stop them from chasing ambulances so closely.

[Chuck Ellis]

I think that ship has sailed already. My understanding is plywood is now in metric sizes with labels in inches. 1/4" is 6mm, 1/2" is 12mm, 3/4" is 18mm.

jtk

Before I retired I worked for an export packing company. Most of our boxes were constructed with 1/2" plywood sheathing. It became less costly to import plywood from Brazil than driving around the block to a Georgia Pacific warehouse ... we usually imported 10-12 20' containers per shipment. We got better plywood with fewer voids and for less money.... it was all in metric sizes... including the length and width.

[Andy Pogue]

Now if we could only do something about that half-pound pre-cooked hamburger....