Or, the crop rotations will only grow shorter since chops sticks suffice for engineered wood and pulp products. >"Maybe now some of the older trees will be left to remember what forests once were."
Maybe now some of the older trees will be left to remember what forests once were. I suspect that once sawmills gave us standardized lumber, the labor savings and speed overwhelmed other choices. It might be nice to go back to the very old days when whole sections of trees were fitted together like twisty timber frame homes, some of those are now over 500 years old. I dare say I wouldn't want to be trying to frame a roof with dimensional lumber these days, LVL and Glulams allow much more freedom. At minimum, tall walls and kitchen cabinet walls are good places for engineered framing lumber. Once and done is generally best for the bottom line.
Lvl beam cost Patch#
If you are building for a living, ask yourself what the true costs are for having to remove and replace twisted walls or patch drywall failures. The monoclonal forests of today grow fast and loose, so we get potato chip framing lumber. Even the C grade plywood of the 60's would be to die for. The two bys I have pulled out of older homes during remodeling make me weep for the forests we have devoured. Particle board and MDF are more of that category. While not from exactly prime lumber, the source materials are far from waste. The flakes and strands used in engineered lumber are pretty specific in characteristics, as are the veneers used in LVL. Many are the mysteries of why TJIs don't turn to dust after a few decades and I won't be here to see if they last a hundred years. I do think the glue levels and types in OSB are quite different than say rimboard stock or even floor deck sheathing.
Lvl beam cost verification#
I know it sounds like they are gouging (and probably are to some extent), but in our litigious world the price of verification of materials gets costed in. The permanently stable glue to hold the sheets together, the press to keep them tight while drying, the gang rip saw to make them into 2x4's and the certification to assure that they don't collapse under load. Not trying to sound snarky, but you left out a few things with the OSB example. I get how the studs would be more expensive than that since they would presumably be using better materials or glue… but TWICE or even FOUR TIMES the cost? Cut that into 13 strips of 1-1/2″ x 3-1/2″ x 8′ (2x4x8) for an individual cost of $3.23 - on the low end for even natural lumber. Laminate three of them together and you’d have a block that is 1-1/2″ thick by 4’x8′ for $42. That describes both OSB/plywood and LSL/LVL as far as I know.Īs a thought experiment, let’s look at 15/32″ OSB at about $14/sheet. That is, you gather up the raw material into a big “chunk” mix with glue put through a huge press and heater and then slice it into the requires widths.
The processing? My understanding is that LSLs are made essentially like OSB sheets and LVLs closer to plywood sheets. LVLs are closer to plywood… also relatively cheap, if you’re not getting hardwood based ones. Kind of like OSB… and OSB is a notably cheap product for what you get.
Maybe the materials? But both are essentially made of “waste” materials mixed with some kind of glue. What I want to know is: WHY are the engineered versions so egregiously much more expensive than standard lumber? Oof!! We’re looking at twice the cost and FOUR TIMES the cost. My online (public pricing) searches come up with: The two notable ones I see are TimberStrand LSL and Versa-Stud LVL. I am gaining a ever increasing aversion to standard dimensional lumber and so gravitate towards the engineered alternatives.