We may receive a commission when you use our affiliate links. However, this does not impact our recommendations.
I don’t know exactly when I learned that a 2×4 isn’t 2″ x 4″, but I’m quite sure it was well before I joined the staff of Popular Woodworking. I studied English literature and journalism in college, and took one shop class in grade school that covered little more than basic turning – no construction.
When I was a kid, I was busy playing soccer and bugging my mom to let me take riding lessons, not building stuff. And neither of my parents built stuff, either (though I recall hearing some cursing during a DIY tiling job). My grandfather built stuff, but it wasn’t until I was in my 20s that I ever joined him in the shop.
Yet I knew as a kid that “2×4” was a nominal measure (though I wouldn’t have at the time used that term), not the actual width and thickness of the stick in question. And just look at a 2×4 – it is clearly not 2″ x 4″.
Commercial construction lumber hasn’t matched its nominal S2S size when dry since 1906, according to the 1964 the Forest Products Laboratory “History of Lumber Sizes” report. And the current standards have been around since before I was born – they were proposed in that same report.
Rain is wet. Everybody poops. A 2×4 isn’t 2″ x 4″.
My house was built just before construction lumber began shrinking; the interior framing is 2″ x 4″ (some of it with axe marks in evidence). For my renovation project I at times need to match it; I have to cut my own studs out of thicker and wider material. I can’t just run down to the home center and buy it. This causes me inconvenience, costs me a bit and slows my progress. It causes some people to call a lawyer.
It seems ignorance has become an acceptable excuse. (See: Coffee is hot.)
All three of the large home center companies in the United States have now been sued for the size of their wood, and while two of those suits are recent and pending, Lowe’s has already had to pony up.
In 2004, a Marin County California superior court judge directed the company to pay a $1.6 million settlement for inaccurate description of building materials. Lowe’s has since updated its signage to indicate both the product name (2×4) and actual dimensions (11⁄2” x 31⁄2“).
Home Depot and Menard’s didn’t heed that judgment.
In June of this year, suits were filed against those two companies; plaintiffs are asking for $5 million in each case. The suit against Menard’s alleges the “defendant has received significant profits from its false marketing and sale of its dimensional lumber products.” Home Depot faces accusations of being “false and misleading.”
Both of these accusations are, I suppose course, arguably true – but it has been more than a century since a 2×4 was 2″ x 4″. So in effect, the plaintiffs have filed lawsuits for failing to properly inform themselves before making a purchase…or perhaps because they were a bit short of dough.
If you’re unfamiliar with lumber and can’t be bothered to learn enough about it to know what you’re buying, take up fishing instead. But don’t tell any fish tales; those could land you in court. PWM
Here are some supplies and tools we find essential in our everyday work around the shop. We may receive a commission from sales referred by our links; however, we have carefully selected these products for their usefulness and quality.
Think “nominal”. It means what we call it, not what it is. Nominal : Name. If your name is Baker, are you one? Names are used for convenience. Going to sue Subway because their 12″ is really only 11 1/4 ” ? What about McDonalds and Quarter Pounder. Well, it WAS as quarter pound before freezing, thawing and melting half the grease out while cooking. Supposedly a 2X4 WAS 2×4 just after cutting from the tree and before drying 10% moisture out, planing smooth and losing more moisture on the rack in a dry environment. Also, “Could have used tape measure before purchase” What a HOOT. Thanks Megan, always enjoy your articles.
For years I heard about the lady who “sued McDonald’s for having hot coffee.” Then one day I happened upon a detailed account of Liebeck v. McDonald’s and it became pretty clear McDonald’s got off FAR too easily. Treat yourself to reading about Ms. Liebeck sometime when your blood pressure needs a quick boost.
The bozos who want lumber retailers to make them whole for the (what? inconvenience? embarrassment?) of bringing home inadequate studs (I KNEW there was a “that’s what she said” joke in there) are in a different league than an elderly woman who suffered third-degree burns requiring skin grafts in her “pelvic region.” Yeah, let that sink in for a moment.
I may have dumpster dove once or twice when I see houses in my neighborhood undergoing renovation. A hundred year old 2×4 sticking out of the top of a dumpster is hard to resist.
If you have a local sawyer near where you live, I am pretty sure he has got regular 2×4 in stock. You just need it straight from the saw mill be it either a circular or a band saw mill.
But I know that it might involve a bit more planning or having a stack of wood at home which is not always the optimal situation while renovating an old house.
I have a problem since the insulation mats are no longer 50 or 100 mm thick. Now they are all 45 mm or 95 mm, to fit to the size of our dressed 2×4 lumber.
Brgds
Jonas