With builders having a problem because the lumber they were using wasn’t uniform sizes, a number of lumber yards started cutting and planing dimensional lumber to a uniform size to appease them and sell more of their product. Rough lumber wasn’t really a big problem because it was assumed that it would need to be cut to a specific dimension, but the framing and building lumber was a different story. When that started happening, builders really started noticing the big differences in the sizes of the lumber they were receiving. The railroads made a big difference because now lumber from lumber mills hundreds of miles away could be shipped all over the country. But that all changed as the railroads started to be built and started to connect the country from one end to the other. As before, there wasn’t a big problem with size variations because most regions of the country got their lumber from specific regional sources. Regular boards for siding and flooring were more or less 1 inch thick. The evidence that this gives us about what was used at the time is very interesting.įor example, at the turn of the century, the common board thickness for studs, rafters, joists and other framing boards was 2 inches.
If you’ve ever watched “ This Old House“, a show about remodeling houses, you might have seen episodes where they removed boards from very old homes. Locally made lumber became more of a rarity and, as this happened, builders began to notice that the lumber from 1 lumberyard was different from another in terms of the sizes that they were cutting. If a board wasn’t cut to the correct size it was simply made to fit by the builder, usually with an ax) and uniformity of lumber from one lumber yard to the next was practically unheard of.Īs the 19th century drew to a close, however, forests were cut back further and further from the towns and cities where it was needed, and thus it had to be shipped longer and longer distances to the end-user. Keep in mind that, at this time in America’s history, most houses, barns, and other buildings were made by hand-fitting the lumber piece-by-piece, which was extremely time-consuming but made the buildings much more durable and strong. In most cases, the lumber that they produced was cut to the sizes that builders in the specific area were using and asking for, and so they were different from one lumber yard to the next. There were lumber mills all across the United States producing lumber for towns and cities from coast to coast. It was at this time that the lumber used in construction was almost all produced in lumber yards and sawmills that were very close to the town where they would be used. We won’t go back that far but instead to the middle of the 19th century. Of course, wood has been used for centuries all over the world in the construction of homes and other buildings. The history of how lumber sizes were determined is quite fascinating if you go back far enough. Nominal vs Actual Lumber Size Nominal Size – Actual Size In the construction industry, the actual dimensions don’t actually matter anymore because everything has been sized to fit the new, smaller pieces of lumber that are today being produced.
Once the lumber is planned to actual size, then the edges are rounded to reduce injury.Īll other dimensional lumber, from 1×2 boards all the way up to 2×12 boards, are planed as well, and thus are smaller than the name they are given suggests. By planning the lumber on all four sides, the original 2×4 is now reduced to 1 ½ inches by 3 1/2 inches. The simple reason why 2×4 is not 2 inches by 4 inches is that lumber mills trim off rough or warped surfaces of a 2×4 to give it a more polished and finished look. Are lumber companies trying to fool us into thinking we’re buying more lumber than we actually are? Have you ever purchased a 2×4 piece of lumber at the hardware store and started working on the project to realize that the 2×4 is not 2 inches by 4 inches.
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