Decks, Patios, Porches and Docks - Lowe's Lumber vs. Lumberyard

I'm still debating whether to use Cedar or Redwood. If I use Redwood, I will almost certainly have to go to my local lumberyard for the wood. If I use Cedar, I can purchase it at either Lowe's or the local lumberyard.

I have a 10% off coupon for Lowe's that will save me $400 - $500, but I've never purchased bulk lumber from them before. How is their wood quality?

Would anyone advise not to purchase the lumber from Lowe's outside of not showing support for the local guy?

Thanks in advance.

I had a choice among Lowe's, HD and a local yard. I found the local guys to bemore informative and believe it or not cheaper for a better quality wood. I generally do buy a lot of material from the "box" stores, but my experience with a couple of local yards has changed my opinion. If nothing else, the local yards do mostly just lumber. You may find, like I did, that the local yards are also the choice of the local contractors.

Generally, the "big boxes" are good at selling lumber cheap. The advertising and gimmicks makes it seem cheaper.

Dick

Hey,Dick. Is that selling lumber cheap or selling cheap lumber?

My experience wit the big boxes is that you have to pick thru a LOT of lumber to get decent stuff.

Plus the service is a lot better with the local guys.

There are only a handful of suppliers in the country. Chances are REAL good that your local lumber yard has the same lumber from the same supplier as the big box.

Kind of like gasoline, no matter what the brand on the sign is, chances are 99% it came from the same tanker truck.

The difference is volume, big boxes sell a LOT of lumber, that means the good stuff gets picked pretty quick, unless you get first grabs at a new bunk. ALL lots of lumber have bad pieces, ALL of them.

It might all come from the same place. But that does not explain why most of the stuff is twisted junk at the box store and the local lumber yards is nice. Unless someone is buying seconds.

I fogot I started this thread over 2 months ago. I went with the big box store since the couple of local lumberyards I checked out could not even get in the same ballpark as the big blue store. We were talking an $800-$1000 difference for the exact same quality of wood.

I was given contractor pricing at the chain along with an additional 10% off due to my coupon. In addition, they only charged me $50 for delivery and dropped it off on a holiday.

99% of the boards were top quality with only a handful of boards being slightly warped. I was able to exchange these very easily.

I like to support the local guy, but I'm not going to make a bad financial decision just to do so. If it was a $100 or $200 difference, that's one thing, but almost a grand... forget about it.

My experience has been that if I don't get to the lumberyard a day or two after the weekly cedar delivery, I'm better off going to Home Depot and getting it there. The cedar at the lumberyard gets picked through pretty quick leaving a lot of low quality wood. Usually I can still find good stuff at HD. That being said, I go through my local lumberyard when I can - not because of better quality or lower price (seems about the same compared to HD actually), but just because I like supporting the local little guys. But if the big box store could give me lower prices and save me money, like Wubears I'd choose that. I'm not rich enough to not save some bucks when I can.

It might all come from the same place. But that does not explain why most of the stuff is twisted junk at the box store and the local lumber yards is nice. Unless someone is buying seconds.

Sure it does, the big box sells a LOT of lumber, I dare _substantially_ more than any local lumber yard. That means the good stuff gets picked up a lot faster than it does at the lumber yard. The lumber yard also gets more opportunity to cull the bad pieces by virtue of the lower volume.

When I built a deck on my first house in '99 I went to a lumber yard for the wood as opposed to Home Depot. When the wood was delivered I was sorry I didn't get it from HD. The wood was warped, some peices were split and one board was completely unusable. To top it off when I needed a few extra peices I went to HD, the wood was better quality and cheaper the the lumber yard. BTW the lumber yard stored all the treated wood outside, that's why it was warped(I think).

Fast forward to 2006, when I built a deck on my current home I went to Lowes. Good quality wood, saved $300 with a 10% coupon I got after the wood was ordered.

I find exactly the opposite to be true. Box stores get sub grade lumber. You may think you are getting the same quality stuff but you are not. Educate yourself and learn what to look for and once you know what to look for you will se a difference. it is like buying a steak. You can get a filet froma supermarket (lowest grade but still good) a butcher (better grade and even more tender) or from a high quality restaurant (the best grade and obviously the best tasting)