SYP vs SPF lumber
 

Any suggestions to which would make a better wall stud?

Yellow pine is stronger but is less stable, warps and twist.

SPF is lighter, more stable, rot resistant.

I need around 400 2x6x10'. Last thing I want to do is deal with twisted, warped material.

Every piece of lumber I see at the stores is messed up to some degree. QC is shoddy. Doesn't matter what type of wood it is, its all junk. You can bang them into place and they pretty much stay put.

Lowes had a very nice selection of SPF 2x6s. I just think that YP is much stronger and has a better faster holding ability. However, being unstable nails tend to walk out.

For studs where most the load is vertical bearing it may not really matter. The problem here in my application is that I will be using them as form framing in an 8 foot high 8 inch thick concrete wall. then the forms will be re-used as framing for the first floor walls and the left over plywood as subfloor/sheathing.

Over the years whenever I needed lumber I called the local lumber yard (was handed down father to son I think) and got a delivery sight unseen. It was always better quality than whatever I was able to pick out myself at the big box stores. I'm in a different location now so I went to the local lumber yard here to get a few things and check out some cedar he had for a possible future order. He had one of his workers show me what he had and I could see the quality was excellent. Then he offered me a discount.

I would think a form would fail at its joints rather than the wood breaking, so the design of the structure would be most important. But I am no expert on concrete forms. I do know they blow out at the bottom first due to the higher pressure.

Same here... Always better quality, price, service.

I try to only deal with HD, Lowes on small quantities or the weekend.

Not too worried about wood breaking. Deflection over a large span creating a bowed out, wavey surface in the concrete is what concerned me.

The bottoms will be bolted to the footer beam. Tops tied together as well as ties spaced throughout the center of each panel preventing spreading.

Lateral loads will be fierce at the bottoms when its wet so, I may pay for a little extra truck time and pour around the perimeter in lifts, let it set a bit, (have a beer) and pour some more.

Hmm... that may be the day to have another GTG.

I would go with SPF; strength is not the prime concern; twisting is.

Years ago when I was building houses, I had a visiting lumber salesman ask for my materials list, and he gave me a price that looked very good. What I failed to notice was that he had substituted 5/8 SYP for sun-flooring. It went down great, and stayed that was for maybe a week. Then the humidity got to it, and it warped, twisted and moved all over the place. First, last, and only time I ever used SYP sheathing. Yes, it is strong, but it is also strong-willed, and has a mind of its own.

SYP lumber should be outlawed.

Jim

We get all our lumber from a local lumber yard.

One of my uncles started using those partical board beams now, they are cheaper and pretty damn stiff. IMHO they suck, new houses are all saw dust and glue. But when its a business they do make a lot of sense.

I prefer yellow pine for framing.

I would not use it for deck material outside in the weather though.

SPF is about half as strong and will deflect a lot more, so if you use it for your concrete forms you'll need to place it closer together to equal the holding power of the yellow pine.

No lumber will be worth a damn if left outside to dry willy nilly. Keep it banded and restrained until you want to frame with it. After that if you have extra and need to store be sure to put it on a flat surface and put things on top of it to keep it from warping.

The worst for warping is the wolmanized yellow pine used commonly for decking. I never use it for decking material. Framing for decks is ok but never decking.

Tom W

You got that right...

I built a large split level deck and an arbor at the house here in town. My joints looked like fine trim, cabinet work for about three weeks. Now it looks like I used a chainsaw for all the cuts. Alot of it is cupped, twisted and the shrinkage is unbelievable.
About five grand worth of lumber. Never again...