If a tree fell in the woods ------

[Matt Ocel]

If a tree fell in the woods and there was no one there to hear it, would Home Depot stock at least one straight 2 X 4????????

[Ken Fitzgerald]

Matt....it's not just Home Depot. It seems like every place I go to buy lumber is that way. We have one "regional" lumber/hardware store where the employees deliver the lumber to your truck/vehicle. When I objected to poor quality lumber and asked permission to "high grade" it, I was told it was against company policy. I told them to unload it from my truck and I took the slip inside for a full refund. It's against my policy to pay for something that is very nearly useless.

[Craig Thompson]

As I ponder the deep nature of your post, I can only come up with a long winded, hopefully incitefull answer of..............................................

"Nope"

[David DeCristoforo]

These days most trees are cut down long before they get mature enough to either fall over or yield a straight 2X4. So the "short answer to your question is... no......

YM

[Karl Brogger]

Isn't that horrible. I needed eight 2x4's for a another outfeed table. I went through almost half of a unit of 2x4's to get enough straight ones. I still planed a 1/16th off of each face to clean them up.

I bought my first house almost 4 months ago. The basement is unfinished, I'm going to have to throw some standards out the window to get it framed. I wish the engineered studs weren't so expensive.

[C Scott McDonald]

If a tree fell in the woods and there was no one there to hear it, would Home Depot stock at least one straight 2 X 4????????

HAHA! So true.

[Randal Stevenson]

Matt....it's not just Home Depot. It seems like every place I go to buy lumber is that way. We have one "regional" lumber/hardware store where the employees deliver the lumber to your truck/vehicle. When I objected to poor quality lumber and asked permission to "high grade" it, I was told it was against company policy. I told them to unload it from my truck and I took the slip inside for a full refund. It's against my policy to pay for something that is very nearly useless.

It is a PITA when I need only a few and spring hits. If I need a bunch, I could have one of my builder friends order it, and probably get a higher percentage of good (they spend enough money), but looking at some of the houses today, and how they are constructed, I know there are quite a few bowed boards in there............(wavey walls without all the 60's/70's flashback material)

[SCOTT ANDREWS]

Isn't that horrible. I needed eight 2x4's for a another outfeed table. I went through almost half of a unit of 2x4's to get enough straight ones. I still planed a 1/16th off of each face to clean them up.

I bought my first house almost 4 months ago. The basement is unfinished, I'm going to have to throw some standards out the window to get it framed. I wish the engineered studs weren't so expensive.

Engineered studs are a PITA.Yes they are nice and straight but,they are like trying to nail into a rock.For a basement,I would go with metal studs.There are ways to keep the usual door rattle when slammed from happening.Electrical is also a snap.Just a thought.

[Per Swenson]

Engineered studs are a PITA.Yes they are nice and straight but,they are like trying to nail into a rock.For a basement,I would go with metal studs.There are ways to keep the usual door rattle when slammed from happening.Electrical is also a snap.Just a thought.

A rock? I wouldn't know, only because I haven't hand nailed anything

since there was only one rotary phone in the

house and you rented it from ma bell.

You are correct about steel in basements and all non load bearing applications. It's the way to go and much easier on the wallet.

We just clad our openings in doug fir and screw a 2x3 in to the cavity.

Per

[George Sanders]

The local Lowe's always has a loose bundle of 2x4's out for people to pick through. Then they will rebundle them and send them out to a construction site where they are usually rejected as unusable.

[Ted Christiansen]

The biggest reason for the bananna boards is that they are cut, planed and then dried in the bundle for higher production. That is why the lumber on the exterior of the bundle is dry(ish) and the interior lumber is still wet.

Straight 2x4's would require cutting (oversize), drying, then planing and bundling. These would cost more of course.

Ted

[J. Z. Guest]

The only way to get a straight 2x4 is to buy 4x4s and mill them down yourself.

[Anthony Whitesell]

I'll be building a shed of sorts this summer. I went into Lowes and Home Depot and asked them to quote materials. The list contained, tubes, concrete, roofing materials, etc, but no lumber. They asked what I was building, I told them a open frame shed (pavillion, shed roof with no sides). Then he asked what I needed for lumber, I replied "I'm sorry, nothing from here. I need my boards to be straight." He looked a little disappointed, but the heck did he expect.

I buy all my lumber from two local lumber yards and one not-so local. I walk in, say I want this and that. They hand me a slip, met up the grounds rep in the yard, after he retrieves each handfull of boards he asks if they are acceptable (giving me a chance to weed out the warped stuff) and loads me. Costs a few cents more a boards, but saves me that in time and aggravation.

[Jacob Reverb]

Maybe I'm just lucky but the studs I buy at the local 84 Lumber are ALL straight as arrows.

[Grant Morris]

Chalk it up to Global Warming. :-)