Hello
Following on from my decking saga I’m now worried about my wood..
I had 11 lengths of tanalised / pressure treated 4*2 at 3.7m lengths delivered, for my decking frame.
I stored it all in the garage and a week ago took 4 lengths out to the garden to offer up for sizing.
Yesterday I noticed that 3 lengths are warped to the point that the middle sits 3” higher than the edges if placed on a flat surface! It hasn’t rained all week for info.
So, is this to be expected? Seems a bit pants tbh.
What can I do about it?!
Yes, that’s what wood does. Nowt to worry about.
If continuing to store, store flat, ideally on timber ‘stickers’ rather than straight on a floor, and in a stack so boards weigh each other down. You could chuck something heavy on the top board too if really important.
But it doesn’t matter, it’ll easily pull straight once screwed to your deck frame.
It's to be expected to a degree.
Fast grown softwood, saturated with treatment left inside a garage, probably pretty hot.
It's why you have to self-select at the timber yard. This can't be done lately so you're at the mercy of whatever they pick.
Usually you will inevitably get a few bananas in there. Use them for the noggins and anything else that you cut down shorter.
I was cutting up some 4x1 treated recently and moisture was flicking up and covering my mitre saw. Some boards felt twice the weight of others.
If they're that bad I'd ask for replacements.
Building a framework will naturally tame some of the bends however.
The ones in the garden The sunny side will shrink hence the warp , flip them over and they should straighten a bit, never put new timber out in the sun like we have now without covering it with a tarp or similar , the treated wood is often damp as it is palletised after treatment , once it is fixed down it should cope.
Sorry I just realised you meant they have cupped by 3”, that’s quite a lot actually.
Without pointing the finger, this is not necessarily a fault of the timber supplier, rather it’s how they’re stored. Get The rest of the pile weighted down flat or hurry up and get them fitted. Avoid storing them in conditions that are going to force them to dry out too quickly...
Thanks all
I really should have ordered more than I needed. I’m going jogging-less so kind of need them all for length ways er lengths!
Sorry I just realised you meant they have cupped by 3”, that’s quite a lot actually.
[Pendant] Bending along the grain is bowing, bending across the grain is cupping [/pendant]
I’m with you on the pendantry kayak. I’d brushed aside OP’s use of the casual term warped and thought he meant bowed. My second reading & post was that the boards were cupped. Blimmin wood, it’s anything but straight
Three inches of cupping between the centre and edges of 4 x 2 does seem extreme.
So a crooked piece of wood is just a bowed piece on its edge?
I think its more to do with the orientation of the grain.
A bowed plank would have been cut from the top or bottom of a bent limb (for eg). A crooked pieces would be from the sides.
Bowing is cross grain
A crook is along grain.
