special order plywood at mernards?

[Mike McCann]

Has anyone ordered any special order plywood at Mernards. they have thick veneer A1cherry 3/4" 4' x 8' for 99 dollars. the sample piece the cherry veneer looks to be about 1/8" thick.

[eugene thomas]

I have few sheets in past but hate doing it. Can't pick through the stack that way....

[Julian Tracy]

Keep in mind that though they show you seemingly endless options for oddball cool plywoods that are hard to source elsewhere, quite a few either have prohibitively high minimum orders or ridiculous handling charges. In my store's case, they literally had NO idea how much it would actually cost to get a certain type without ringing the entire transaction. I saw the selection they had in the displays and had all kinds of ideas of cool things you could do with some of the stuff only to find out half was realistically unavailable (unless I bought 200 sheets) and the other half might have $80 fees just to order.

I may be exaggerating a bit, but it wasn't near as great of a source as it first seemed.

JT

[Jim A Walters]

I just ordered a few sheets of Baltic birch thru Menards. They wanted $20 extra due to small qty. Since I had no other source nearby I went ahead with it. Supposedly the extra cost is for the separate "packaging" needed when it's not a full pallet. I didn't receive it yet. Crossing my fingers that it's not all marked up or damaged.

[Steve Rozmiarek]

I was out back picking up some shingles in the rain at my local menards this spring, and noticed an open bunk of some expensive looking ply just sitting there getting wet. They ship it on open trucks, they handle it outside, and the crews at my local store really don't seem to care that it could be ruined. I wouldn't touch high dollar ply, or any for that matter, from them with an 11 foot pole.

[Mike Heidrick]

It was stocked at our store for awhile. It was separately boxed - each sheet was boxed!

[Rich Riddle]

Mike,

You do know there is a large plywood supplier in Cincinnati on the North side, don't you? They have an enormous quantity. That's where all the local places, including Home Depot, Lowe's, Paxtons, Menards, and formerly Hardwood Lumber & More purchase their plywood.

[Max Neu]

Contact DSI (distributor service inc.),they have every species of ply and any other sheet goods,along with finshes and other products for professionals.They will deliver it to your door also.I personally would not bother with Menards.

[Rich Riddle]

Contact DSI (distributor service inc.),they have every species of ply and any other sheet goods,along with finshes and other products for professionals.They will deliver it to your door also.I personally would not bother with Menards.
DSI is the company that supplies Menards and the rest. They don't advertise but will sell to the public. It will prove much cheaper. On the North side of Cincinnati located at:

2525 Commodity Cir
Cincinnati, OH
(513) 771-8022

[Mike McCann]

thanks for the info on DSI

[Jim A Walters]

I picked up the three sheets of baltic birch I ordered from Menards. It arrived in great shape. The three sheets were sandwiched between two other sheets. On the top was a sheet of 1/2" melamine covered mdf that was peeling pretty bad so it was scrap. On the bottom was a 1" thick sheet of fiberboard of some type. The stack was then banded together with metal strapping supported by a couple pine boards on the bottom. Over the top and sides they put a sheet of plastic so it was all pretty well protected. They had it stored inside and used a fork lift to pick the whole stack up and put it in my trailer.

The down side is I now have two sheets of useless packaging material to get rid of but I live in the country so I'll add it to my burn pile out back.

Jim

[Rick Thompson34]

Jim -- did they charge you for the packaging materials? Reason I ask is because that is their policy when it comes to the ribbed steel roofing and siding -- they create a shipper for the steel with 11 2x4x20 boards and then charge you just north of $100 for the materials. The rationale they use is that you can just return the shipper materials when you're done, but not everyone has the means to transport 20 foot long stock, especially when the larger loads of roofing steel and siding tend to be delivered to the site anyway. The same is true for their pole barn trim, but in that case they build crates out of 2x6 stock and charge for that as well.

All that said, I'm guessing Menard's special order plywood is likely pretty decent. Although I know a lot of folks are hesitant (and rightfully so) about buying big box store plywood, the stock that I've bought at Menards has been pretty good and oftentimes American made. Their prefinished birch has been pretty good and I've also purchased limited amounts of their unfinished birch and maple sheets with consistent success.

Rick

[Jim A Walters]

They charged $20 for packaging and handling. In this case, of course, there was nothing returnable included.

I looked back at the tracking for the shipment and it came from Menards in Holiday City, OH. That makes sense based on an earlier post that said Menards sources much of their plywood from DSI in OH. Though it cost me $20 for packaging I didn't have to pay anything for the actual shipping. I assume if I try to buy a few sheets from DSI there will be further shipping charges which I would think might be more than $20.

Jim