Ordering & Measurement

Lumber orders are technical rather than catalogue work, so a project is described in figures before any material is cut. There is no online ordering for lumber.

• 01

  Take the square or lineal footage

  The starting point is the square footage or lineal footage of the project. That comes either from the figures themselves or from the dimensions of the areas being covered.

• 02

  Describe each area and its board direction

  Each area is described with its dimensions and the direction the boards run, because the run direction decides how the lengths are cut. A worked example: the first area is 12 by 30 with the joists running in the 12 foot direction, the second area is 18 by 50 with the deck boards running in the 50 foot direction, and there are two sets of stairs 4 feet wide with 15 treads.

• 03

  Draw the complicated layouts

  Projects with complicated designs are worked out from a rough drawing of the layout rather than from a description alone.

• 04

  Add the allowance

  Roughly 5 to 10 percent additional material is factored in for miscalculation and miscuts before the footage is fixed.

• 05

  Convert to lineal feet

  The area is then converted at the published rate for the board: 220 lineal feet per 100 square feet in 1x6 decking, 343 lineal feet in 1x4 decking, and 370 lineal feet in 1x4 tongue and groove porch flooring.