An often-overlooked aspect of building a good wooden shed is the selection of the materials. These days, you’re often faced with grabbing a cart and picking out your own lumber from the bins at the local home center. Choosing the right lumber and getting it home is a hassle in itself. I’ve done it many times so I’ve got some tips for you. Plus, you’ll discover how best to protect that pricey lumber.

With your materials list or wood plans in hand, you set out for your local home center. These stores will have most everything you need to build your shed, and the prices are usually competitive. Sometimes you can check their sales flyer and find specials. If you are in the military, they often give an extra 10% discount. It doesn’t hurt to ask for a discount anyway since you’ll be buying a lot of stuff. Usually, you can work out a discount 8 out of 10 times. Just show your materials list at the contractor’s desk. They’ll likely not only give you something like 10% off your whole order, but they’ll also call one of their staff to help you load up your cart. It’s also a good time to pick up any tools you need while you’ve got your discount.

If you have a lot of lumber, these stores often have small flatbed trucks that they rent by the hour. These rental trucks are an economical way to get your materials home. Just park your car, rent the truck, take your materials home, unload, return the rental truck with any gas you burned replaced, and pick up your car and drive home.

When choosing lumber, refer to your materials list and buy the exact sizes you need if they have them. This will eliminate the need to do some of the cutting on-site, and eliminate waste. If you need an 8 foot 6 inch 2 x 4 board, then you’ll probably need to buy a 9 foot board. But, a 10 footer may be cheaper since it’s a more standard measurement. By the way, the 2 inch width is actually 1 and a half inches. And the 4 inch is actually 3 and a half inches. The sizes for lumber have traditionally been determined by the rough dimensions before milling. The good thing is that the lengths are as stated. A 10 foot board will be 10 feet. An exception is the 2 x 4 stud. This may be 93 inches, standard for use in building 8 foot walls in residential construction. So just watch for that.

In the store, be sure to take your lumber from stacks that have not been picked through. That’s what you need to do – pick through the lumber. Look for any serious defects. The main thing is to choose straight lumber. If the lumber is still in a tightly stacked pile, or is still strapped into a bundle, then you’re in luck. You should have no problem finding good and straight materials for your job. For any questionable stud, look down it’s length edge-ways. It should appear straight.

If you look at the end of a 2×4 stud, or at the end of any dimension of lumber for that matter, you’ll see the growth bands from the original tree where the lumber was cut from. These circular annual bands will determine the warping tendencies of the wood. Spruce lumber has the lightest of annual bands and resists warping the best. Longleaf Pine lumber, on one hand being very strong, also has strong annual growth bands, and will tend to warp more. This is not a problem in your finished shed. It’s only a problem while the studs and beams are not yet installed.

When you get home and create your own stack of materials, make a separate stack for each kind and dimension of material, and place it on blocks off the ground. Stack it straight and tight, and cover it with black plastic to keep it out of the weather and protect it from sunlight. It’s best to use the materials in the building within a couple of weeks to avoid warping and other damage. If you do leave a stack of lumber exposed to sunlight, then you should turn the top pieces over every couple of days to counter the warping tendencies. Wrapping your material stacks in black plastic is best as it cuts out the sunlight that causes drying out one side of the wood, which results in warping. Place something heavy on the plastic where it overlaps on the ground on each side of your stacks to insure that the plastic does not blow off in the wind. Ideally this would be a long piece of scrap lumber weighted down by a cement block if necessary. This will keep your materials “high and dry”.

George Frankel has over 30 years experience as a builder / carpenter / designer. For more cool tips like this, visit 10 Steps in Building a Storage Shed. Want FREE shed plans? Find them at http://www.GardenShedPlansCenter.com

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