When I roofed my house a little over a year ago 7/16" OSB was about $6 a sheet. I went out this weekend to pick up some and now it's $11 a sheet. I expect to see some price fluctuation, but nearly double the price in a years time? WTF?
When I roofed my house a little over a year ago 7/16" OSB was about $6 a sheet. I went out this weekend to pick up some and now it's $11 a sheet. I expect to see some price fluctuation, but nearly double the price in a years time? WTF?
Hurricane Sandy...same the happened after Katrina.
Supply is down, so prices are high
$16 round here.
yes.. there are a LOT of destroyed homes in Northern NJ/ NY/Conn that are in deep need of all that lumber. Until the demand levels off, prices will continue to stay high
I didn't think about the hurricane. That totally makes sense.
I have to replace my deck in the spring - I'm thinking of just doing it in stainless steel square tubing as TIG welding practice. The price of that plastic E36 M3 that looks like wood is freaking absurd.
No kidding. Especially since that stuff is made from recycled bottles and E36 M3 like that. Doesn't that mean that their materials were nearly free?
that stuff gets VERY hot in sunlight too
Yeah, I thought about the plastic stuff too till I found out how hot it gets.
GPS, go buy your decking now...Lowes Depot has traditional treated 5/4 wood decking on sale usually in the offseason - its all old stuff and they dont like having to warehouse it in the winter (at least here in Ohio where winter = frozen white death from above). Their suppliers will be wanting them to place orders in the spring, offering big discounts on larger orders. Retailers wont want to place big orders if they still have inventory on the shelves (I used to work in lumber, so I know how their games work). I bought all deck lumber out of their racks versus going to a real lumber store. Took me about a day to go through it all and pick out the best of the lot, but I re-covered my 14x20 deck for like $200...71 cents a square foot is pretty good.
Giant Purple Snorklewacker wrote: I have to replace my deck in the spring - I'm thinking of just doing it in stainless steel square tubing as TIG welding practice.
Either don't wear your shorts too baggy, or be thorough with the sunscreen 
I have a white plastic deck. It's so bright with the sun's reflection, I really never use it. Plus I feel like a redneck sitting on my front porch...not to say I've never done that though... 
mad_machine wrote: that stuff gets VERY hot in sunlight too
My deck is done with the Weatherbest brand and you can lay down on it in full sun. It doesn't get any where near as hot as the wood it replaced. I used the blond coloured stuff.
its not the storm. it was up before the storm.
it goes up every winter and goes back down in the spring. there is less demand so the stores jack up the margin to keep profits up. wait to do your project until the prices go back down, and if you want to do something next winter buy the wood in july or august and sit on it.
The demand for lumber has been reduced for a number of years due to the small number of new homes being build compared to the mid 2000's period. Lumber companies have reduced the number of mills, etc. so the price spikes when ever there is increased demand. Since this demand is temporary the lumber companies are not going to open up new mills until they see continued demand. With the economy as slow as it is I don't see that happening anytime soon.
I'm with patgizz.
Commodity lumber has fluctuated wildly for decades, ever since it became normal for retailers to inventory minimal quantities. Doubling in price then halving again for various seasonal adjustments is not that unusual for items like plywood, OSB, sheetrock, and 2x4's.
It's worse now, with less mills and yards (as jimbbski noted).
Expect more of the same.
SVreX wrote: I'm with patgizz. Commodity lumber has fluctuated wildly for decades, ever since it became normal for retailers to inventory minimal quantities. Doubling in price then halving again for various seasonal adjustments is not that unusual for items like plywood, OSB, sheetrock, and 2x4's. It's worse now, with less mills and yards (as jimbbski noted). Expect more of the same.
I was gonna say something like this, but SVreX beat me to it. Huge price swings have long been the norm.
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