Building your own house gives you infinite customizable options when it comes to layout, design and materials. One of the most important aspects of the home building process is selecting the lumber that you will be using. Your choice of lumber depends on several different factors, including your preferences, the scope of your project and the budget that you have in mind. When selecting a type of lumber for your home building project, you will also need to determine the amount that you will need.
Choosing the type of lumber you need
While there are almost endless options when it comes to types and sizes of lumber that you can find at a lumber store in Houston, there are two main types of lumber that you will need to choose from—softwood and hardwood. As its name implies, softwood is a classification of wood that tends to be soft or easily dented. It also absorbs and loses moisture much more easily than other types of lumber. Softwood lumber is harvested from conifer trees such as cedar, pine, fir and spruce, which all grow relatively quickly. Because these trees grow quickly, softwood lumber tends to be less expensive than hardwood and is very commonly used for construction.
Hardwood lumber, on the other hand, is a much harder classification of wood and comes from trees such as walnut, oak, mahogany, maple and hickory. Since it takes much longer for hardwood trees to mature, hardwood lumber tends to be more expensive than softwood lumber. Because of its cost, hardwood is commonly used for furniture making, fine woodworking and flooring. When you construct a house, it is usually a good idea to go with softwood lumber for the frame of the home and use hardwood for furnishings, floorings and cabinetry.
Estimating how much wood you need
Determining how much wood you need will help you estimate your total costs and better plan your project. In order to frame an average 2,400 square foot home, you can anticipate that you will need about 16,000 board feet of lumber for framing. In addition, you will need wood for things like beams, joists, particleboard and other structural features that will total approximately 14,000 square feet of material. Using this information as a guide, you can get a rough idea of how much material you will need to purchase from a lumber store in Houston.
Visit a high quality lumber store in Houston
When you embark on the process of building your own house, your first priority should be ensuring that you are using only the highest quality materials for the project. For high quality lumber and exceptional service, stop by Houston Hardwoods Inc. We are a lumber store in Houston with experience providing lumber and custom wood molding for a variety of construction, woodworking and carpentry projects of every size and scale. We carry a wide variety of premium lumber options to fit your needs and specifications. Give us a call or stop by and see us in person to find out more about all of the lumber options and services that we have to offer.