MLive.com - NewsFlash

Sticker shock at the lumberyard; wood prices soar


By AVERY JOHNSON
The Associated Press
8/11/04 11:08 AM


The Wall Street Journal

Summer remodeling projects are getting more costly, thanks to rising lumber prices that are affecting such things as backyard decks and fences.

Lumber prices have risen sharply during the past year, due to a collision of factors as diverse as the war in Iraq, trade with China, the strength of the dollar, the housing-construction boom and wildfires in the American West.

The wholesale price of low-grade boards and plywood used in home-improvement projects like decks and additions is up 24 percent from June of last year, according to the government's producer price index. An ordinary eight-foot-long, two-by-four, a common type of lumber used for building construction, costs $2.95 today, up from about $1.85 in January 2003, says Gary Bowman, vice president of materials management at the T.W. Perry lumberyard in Chevy Chase, Md.

The biggest jumps have come in plywood, a low-grade product made by gluing together very thin sheets of wood, as well as oriented strand board, a lower-cost product much like plywood. At Wiley Bros. Inc., in Schaghticoke, N.Y., a four-foot-by-eight-foot sheet of oriented strand board now goes for $19.84, compared with $7.60 in January 2003, says co-owner David Moore.

The tumult in the lumber industry means higher prices for homeowners planning to remodel, add a deck, put up a fence, repair a shelf, build a treehouse, or create anything else that requires wood. While the higher prices aren't slowing down housing construction, they are hitting do-it-yourselfers hard -- creating order backlogs at lumberyards and forcing people to slow down projects or look around for cheaper grades of wood. Some woodworkers are even trading lumber on eBay in an effort to find better prices.

High Tech Marketing Firms SR22 Mailing List for Chicken Recipes Famous Quotes Chicken Breast Recipes Payday Loans Gatlinburg Cabins Famous Quotes Flow Meter Arizona Relocation sms.ac Famous Quotes Phoenix Real Estate Chicken Recipes