Plywood Shortage

[mountainsoft]

My brother and sister in-law are building a new house and asked me to build an entertainment center for them. I agreed and went down to my local Home Depot the other day to pick up some "inexpensive" birch plywood to get started. I was shocked at the $60 price, which is at least $15 more than I paid a few months ago when I built my wife's office desk.

Unfortunately, they were completely sold out. I checked online when I got home and no stores within 100 miles had the birch plywood in stock. So I checked with Lowes and they don't have any either. I can't tell if they're just out of stock, or if they completely quit selling it.

So, I'm planning to call lumber suppliers in my area tomorrow to see if I can track down some plywood (I need 14 sheets!). This is the first time I have ever had trouble finding plywood for a project.

 

[RobbieB]

That must be huge! Fourteen sheets of plywood? That's 330 square feet!

I dunno, just bought some yesterday at the depot, lots of stock.

 

[Amethyst]

We ordered custom kitchen cabinets, through a local store, from a company in Minnesota. The cabinet boxes are maple plywood. We were told 8 weeks till delivery, which seems a long time, but the local store owner didn't mention any shortages.

Now, the refrigerator and ice machine are a little concerning. Even the store owner said it was hard to predict exactly when they will be available.

 

[JoeWras]

Come to Raleigh. We have 19 sheets available from "Columbia Forest."

Hmmm. So forest products with a Pacific NW name are available in the SE, but are not available in the Pacific NW.

EDIT: I thought the above was a cute observation. I'm wrong. Columbia Forest Products is an east coast company, actually with headquarters just up the road from here, and mills up and down east of the Mississippi and into eastern Canada. Birch of various types grow well in this area.

 

[Bigdawg]

no shortgage here in Southern MD. But, like you noticed, the price has gone way up on not just plywood but all building materials.

 

[Ronstar]

I just bought a 2'x4' sheet of construction grade plywood last week - no shortage at our local Menards. And a few months ago bought a 4x8 sheet of furniture grade 1/2" baltic birch for around $100. Paid $500 in material to make 3 - 6'x2.5' cabinet doors. Thought that was expensive.

I'm not having any wood shortage issues for my woodworking projects, but material costs are skyrocketing.

 

[Sue J]

My son put a sliding glass door in his kitchen and planned to build a deck. He found that pressure treated lumber was in very short supply and had just about doubled in price.

So instead of a deck he built a small porch and steps. Very nice temporary solution that could go long term if needed.

 

[WyomingLife]

There have been articles about wood product shortages driven by the pandemic, which has resulted in folks doing more home projects than normal. Home Depot, Lowe's and similar hardware stores are benefiting: https://www.cnbc.com/2020/11/20/hom...ings-boosted-by-pandemic-induced-nesting.html.

Here, we can't get pressure-treated lumber. We also cannot get cedar fence pickets.

I used to think the Oregon fires were a contributing factor, but I've since come to believe it is just the pandemic.

 

[ponyboy]

We ordered custom kitchen cabinets, through a local store, from a company in Minnesota. The cabinet boxes are maple plywood. We were told 8 weeks till delivery, which seems a long time, but the local store owner didn't mention any shortages.

Now, the refrigerator and ice machine are a little concerning. Even the store owner said it was hard to predict exactly when they will be available.

8 weeks is a quick turnaround for custom cabinets.

Its the dimensional lumber that is skyrocketing and it shortish supply. Think of the frame of your house...thats the stuff they're jacking up considering most things are built from that.

 

[Car-Guy]

I was in the lumber department of the local Lowes last week to buy 20 treated 4x4's and didn't notice any shortages... Higher prices and poorer quality but plenty of lumber... I "seem" to recall seeing stacks of plywood since it's usually near the checkout lane.

 

[sengsational]

Has anyone made note of the price of that kind of plastic-like "wood" that's used for decks? My deck is in need of a new surface. I know that stuff is "a lot more expensive" than PT, but I wondered if it's price was level, or also shot up.

 

[Music Lover]

Pressure treated lumber has doubled in price around here. I put off a couple projects in summer/fall because of that. Hopefully prices are closer to normal in spring.

 

[38Chevy454]

8 weeks is a quick turnaround for custom cabinets.

Its the dimensional lumber that is skyrocketing and it shortish supply. Think of the frame of your house...thats the stuff they're jacking up considering most things are built from that.

No kidding on the regular dimensional prices, around here double or slightly more. Not a good time for a large construction project!

 

[mountainsoft]

That must be huge! Fourteen sheets of plywood? That's 330 square feet!

I dunno, just bought some yesterday at the depot, lots of stock.

Yeah, it's gonna be a 16' wide x 2' deep, x 7' high monster. Seems way too big from my perspective, but that's what they want.

They also want me to build a matching 6' wide x 2' deep x 7' high cabinet for the office.

These things are going to be massive. Even building them in smaller modules they're going to be tricky to move, deliver, and set up.

Maybe the plywood shortage is a local thing. I've never had a problem in the past.

 

[Sunset]

And when they want a larger TV in 5 yrs, it won't fit

I've seen so many people throw out/give away their entertainment center for this reason, it really brought into sharp focus how a few years ago, nobody thought of a TV 6 ft wide or more.

 

[Franklin]

Has anyone made note of the price of that kind of plastic-like "wood" that's used for decks? My deck is in need of a new surface. I know that stuff is "a lot more expensive" than PT, but I wondered if it's price was level, or also shot up.

Just finished a deck with TREX. It is a poly that is smooth, screws in, and looks like wood. That seems to be the trend if you are looking for a cleaner wood like surface. I did not notice any pricing increases. My DW's family owns a custom home building company and they are recently stressed over the rising cost of lumber.
https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct...ww.trex.com/&usg=AOvVaw2q8BMAO3V0CLo-rBKpwdv5

 

[mountainsoft]

And when they want a larger TV in 5 yrs, it won't fit

I've seen so many people throw out/give away their entertainment center for this reason, it really brought into sharp focus how a few years ago, nobody thought of a TV 6 ft wide or more.

We're planning for a TV up to a 65 inch diagonal. That's much larger than the 50" they have now, and are unlikely to go any larger based on the viewing distance.

Many years ago I built my first entertainment center around our old 25" tube TV. Unfortunately, when TV's went flat panel and got larger there was no way to adapt the old entertainment center and I had to sell it. My current center can handle up to a 55" TV, which is probably the largest we would ever go (I upgraded from 41" to 49"). However, I made it modular so I can easily remove or rebuild the side cabinets and accommodate anything up to eight feet wide!

 

[mountainsoft]

No kidding on the regular dimensional prices, around here double or slightly more. Not a good time for a large construction project!

My brother-in-law said lumber costs on their new home ended up being 30% more than the original estimate.

On the flip side, he works for the state and said lumber companies were raking it in on new timber sales.

 

[mountainsoft]

I was in the lumber department of the local Lowes last week to buy 20 treated 4x4's and didn't notice any shortages... Higher prices and poorer quality but plenty of lumber... I "seem" to recall seeing stacks of plywood since it's usually near the checkout lane.

Yeah, there is plenty of construction lumber and regular CDX and OSB types of plywood. It's the hardwood cabinet grade plywood that is out of stock, specifically the 3/4" thickness. They did have 1/2" and 1/4" in stock, though the 1/4" is terrible quality.

 

[Chuckanut]

A lot of plywood was used to board up stores in my area when certain groups were protesting. Other stores used it when they were closed for months to help prevent thefts. Apparently street artists in some communities like to use it as a 'canvas'.

One store owner had his plywood protections painted over by some very talented people. Others liked the art so much they stole it (leaving the store vulnerable but untouched.) So he had to buy more plywood to protect his storefront. You can't make this stuff up.

 

[MRG]

Pandemic has definitely increased the number of home projects. In this area building is going very, very strong. I'm seeing realtors advertising for homes to list. Our real estate market has been on fire according to my observations and a couple conversations with local agents.