Red Green wrote:
aemeijers wrote in
:

Aaron Fude wrote:
Hi,

I'm not an expert carpenter by any means, but sometimes it seems to
me that lumber one finds at home depot is to bowed and twisty for
most things such as building a wall. Yesterday I went to hd to by
some 2x10's to replace a few joists in kitchen floor and once again,
the lumber is a little bowed a litte twisted a little chipped and a
little banged. But for joists (with plywood and hardwood to go on
top), does it really matter? Should I stick with HD or go to a lumber
yard and pay double or triple? How about lowe's?

Many thanks in advance,

Aaron
Have you actually called your local lumber yards and gotten a price?
In my experience, the price isn't usually much higher, and the quality
is better. They deal with working carpenters, and a working carpenter
doesn't have time to pick through the pile looking for stuff that MAY
work. Don't expect much hand-holding from the clerk, though. If it is
more than a pickup load, most real lumberyards will deliver as part of
the price, though.

Big-boxes are mass-market, and are open other than 6:30 am to 4 pm
M-F, so that is where DIYs go. For a while, real lumberyards were
trying to soften their 'trade only' image, but since the big boxes
came along, most of the ones around here don't even advertise, and are
back to short hours. The more marginal ones have been driven out of
business. The ones that are left don't really even want to deal with
civilians- they want customers who know what they want, get in and
get out, and don't come back later crying that they got the wrong
thing. They are supply houses, not retail stores.


Every so often a reply to someone's post is like why don't you go to a
real xxxxx supply house where people know what they are doing.


...don't really even want to deal with civilians- they want
customers who know what they want, get in and get out, and don't
come back later crying that they got the wrong thing. They are
supply houses, not retail stores.

Which is why:

- so many people do not want to go to a lumber yard, plumbing
house, electrical supply house.

- The Borg exists and so many people go.



Oh, if you go into a traditional supply house with the right attitude,
and at the right time of day (like not when the doors first open, and
the lot is full of beat-up pickup trucks, and the line at the counter is
3 deep), you can usually find someone who will take the time to work
with you. But you can't pretend to be an expert there- they will see
right through you. Big advantage of a place that caters to the trade, is
that they have or can quickly get the weird stuff the Borg will never carry.

I usually go to the Borg, but that is just because I would have to take
time off work to go to a real place. The real places, around here, don't
have late afternoon/evening/Saturday hours. The couple of times I went
looking for something the Borg didn't have, they treated me well enough.
But I grew up in the business, so I hopefully didn't smell like a total
clueless newbie to them.

--
aem sends...