When you are prepared for your carpentry diversion, it’s a great opportunity to begin purchasing wood straight from a merchant in Houston rather than the enormous box retailers. You’ll have much more hardwood choices to look over, and you’ll set aside some cash at the same time.

Visiting a wood merchant to buy lumber yards Houston can be a scary procedure for the novice in this field. First of all, the phrasing and estimating is not the same as what you would discover at any local shop, and the sheer measure of wood choices with respect to species, review, thickness, and kind of cut. The following guidelines provided will take you through these choices with the expectation that your first visit to the lumberyard isn’t your last.

• Learn how the thickness is measured

Thickness of hardwood is not measured in inches but in quarters. Any 1” thick board will be termed as four quarter and 2” board as eight quarter and so on. You can also find certain uncommon thicknesses like 5/4. 6/4. 12/4 or 16/4 etc. Also, remember lumbers are pre-milled and thereafter it is dried and hence the board of 4/4” will be approximately ¾” to 7/8” however you will be charged at the rate of 4/4.

• Understand what is “Board Feet” volume

Distributor will sell his wood in volume and it is measured as board feet. The basic formulae to be used to calculate board feet is as follows:

Board foot = length (in inches) X width (in feet) X thickness (in inches)

Thus any 4/4 board which is 6” wide and 8’ long is 4 board feet.

• Types of wood cuts

Any saw mill will cut the wood in three different ways which will produce different characteristics of the lumber

1. Plain sawn

This is the most common type of cut and are the least expensive and 90 per cent of lumber are cut in this way

1. Quarter sawn

Where more attractive grain is required this type of cut is preferred particularly for table tops, flooring or cabinets

1. Rift sawn

Similar to above but cut at different angles and is popular option for flooring.

• Lumber grades

Lumbers are available in different grades and higher the grade it will be less perfect like it can have knots etc. You can save money by choosing lumber of higher grades.

• Milled or un-milled

Lumbers are never straight so you can prefer to buy milled by paying little higher price. You can use planner by taking un-milled variety.