We have considered not using Nominal Dimensions, however, we decided it would be more confusing for professionals than it would be helpful for novice consumers. As a consumer, it is important to understand the difference. There were some lawsuits against Home Depot and Menards in 2017 that resulted in the Nominal size use being upheld as an industry standard. Actual sizes can vary depending on where the wood is stored and installed due to the expansion and contraction of natural wood. It also addresses the shrinkage and expansion of the boards that is caused by less or more humidity. Simply instead of having to say “let me get three-quarters by three and one-half inches” you can simply say “one by four”. Nominal sizes are simplified ways to reference not actual sizes. For anyone not in the lumber and construction industry, this can be confusing. This is important to remember when building a wood fence, for example, so that future shrinkage can be taken into consideration.The entire wood industry uses what is known as nominal sizes. This is due to the fact that water is used to impregnate the chemicals into the wood at the factory.
It’s also great to test firewood for proper seasoning.įinally, be sure to take note that fresh, treated wood will probably have a higher moisture content (35%-75%). This is the moisture meter I use almost on a daily basis. They are great little tools and aren’t too expensive. If you want to test for moisture content before you buy, pick up a moisture meter. Other more stringent kiln-dried standards exist but KD-19 is the most common. KD-19 (Kiln Dried 19%) lumber will have an average moisture content somewhere around 15%. This means that it has to have a moisture content below 19%. Most building lumber sold at home stores is kiln dried to some extent. Average equilibrium for interior wood in US ~8%.Here are some typical moisture contents of lumber: Moisture Contentįinally, enter in the moisture content of the lumber and hit calculate. Now you can enter the length of the lumber in question followed by the number of pieces of that lumber. Note that if you select from the list of nominal dimensions, the board feet and volume will be calculated using the nominal dimensions instead of the actual dimensions. For example, a 1×12 that is 1 foot long will equal 1 board foot and 0.0833 cubic feet (cft). Here is a table showing nominal sizes vs actual sizes for reference: Nominal Size (inches) You can either choose from a list by nominal dimensions or enter in the actual dimensions manually. If you choose pressure treated lumber, take note that 85% of pressure treated lumber sold in the US is southern yellow pine, so that is probably what you have. You can usually find the species of wood by looking on the tag stapled to one of the ends. Spruce-pine-fir (SPF), which can either be subalpine fir, balsam fir, black spruce, Engelmann spruce, jack pine, lodgepole pine, red spruce, or white spruce.Southern Yellow Pine (SYP), which can either be loblolly, longleaf, shortleaf, or slash pine.Hem-fir, which can either be western hemlock, California red fir, grand fir, noble fir, Pacific silver fir, or white fir.Douglas-fir-larch, which can either be Douglas-fir or western larch.for framing a wall) is usually one of the following softwoods (also called whitewoods): The most common species of dimensional building lumber (e.g. A few examples of these are shown in the picture above. Wood used for furniture and for appearance is often of a hardwood (or Pine) variety. Common Lumber Types Common wood species for furniture making. Standard treated wood has about 0.06 lbs/cubic foot chemical retention while wood treated for ground contact has about 0.15 lbs/cubic foot. Treated wood has chemicals (usually MCA or micronized copper azole) in it that will slightly increase the weight. If you chose to select lumber weight, select whether or not you have treated wood. Forest Serviceįirst, select whether you want to calculate lumber weight, volume, or both. *Most of the specific gravities used in this calculator are derived from “Wood Handbook, Wood as an Engineering Material” written by the U.S.
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