Another Indication of Way Things Headed

[Mike Hutchison]

I bought an 8' piece of PT 1" x 6" for a small project.
As soon as I picked it up out of steel the thought
check this for thickness occurred to mind.
Sure enough it was 11/16" thick.
Milling aberration or trend?

[George Yetka]

When dealing in construction lumber nearest 1/2 is close enough, so its still 1"

If it is a mistake then I would be just as upset as if it was to cheat us. This stuff should be consistent on thickness and dimension. I can understand the drying process making things crooked or twisted but dimensions should be within tolerances

[Tyler Bancroft]

1x nominal should be 3/4" actual – you've been shorted by 1/16", which may or may not fall into an acceptable range depending on where you are.

[Phil Mueller]

PT lumber, in particular, can vary to that degree. Just depends how wet it was when milled. 1/8” off doesn’t surprise me.

[Warren Mickley]

I buy rough lumber. A 4/4 board is thicker now than it was 35 years ago. For historical work 7/8 is the most common dressed thickness.

[Thomas Wilson]

PT lumber, in particular, can vary to that degree. Just depends how wet it was when milled. 1/8” off doesn’t surprise me.

Grain orientation determines which dimension changes the most.

If dimension really matters, you could buy 5/4 treated deck material and plane it down. You lose the heavy concentration of chemical treatment that is right on the surface but the wood should have been saturated all the way through.

[Mike Brady]

Construction lumber has increasingly deviated from nominal thickness. I haven't bought much lumber yard hardwood in a few years, but what I have seen doesn't seem skimpy. The big-box-store stuff is especially changed in thickness; even the poplar being guilty of this.

[Scott Clausen]

This brings me to wonder, the wet part of PT, does the wet treatment happen after cutting to size or after? I will bet that sucker was fat and happy while wet and is losing weight now.

[Thomas Wilson]

This brings me to wonder, the wet part of PT, does the wet treatment happen after cutting to size or after? I will bet that sucker was fat and happy while wet and is losing weight now.

Pressure treatment is done after the lumber is milled.

[Richard Coers]

Grain orientation determines which dimension changes the most.

If dimension really matters, you could buy 5/4 treated deck material and plane it down. You lose the heavy concentration of chemical treatment that is right on the surface but the wood should have been saturated all the way through.

If he has a heavy 1" now, he did buy 5/4

[Stephen Rosenthal]

Not at all surprising. This type of thing has been happening for years in many other sectors. I first noticed it with canned pet food and then other food items. Instead of increasing the price, the size of the container stays the same but the weight is reduced. Then I started checking the labels for everything - paper goods, office supplies, etc. They assume people won’t notice if it’s done gradually; most don’t but some of us do. It’s another of the many ways corporate profitability is increased. So while the government claims inflation is low because prices for certain goods haven’t increased, in reality consumers are paying more for less.