The forest materials for long have been used as the construction materials. And, lumber has been the leading one. But the lumber that we use in domestic or commercial construction has been graded into multiple different categories and each type has its own usage. The Eastern and Western Spruce-Pine-Fir (SPF) lumber is the most commonly and widely used lumber. So let us know about it in depth.
What is SPF lumber?
SPF is the common acronym used for Spruce, Pine and Fir. This is mostly referred to the dimensional lumber or the traditionally engineered wood which we get from the coniferous trees of North America. While most of the SPF is sourced from Canada, this can also be sourced from the trees in the Northern US. They are mostly categorized into the Eastern and Western species.
Eastern vs Western species
Western species are mostly associated with the white spruce and they are available in much larger sizes. This happens because of the general climate and the overall length of the logs. The eastern species on the other hand, tend to grow a lot slower and produce the woods that have immense strength.
Wood properties
These woods have very high strength-to-weight ratios. The knots are very tight and relatively smaller. These woods also have a massive dimensional stability, which makes its glueing properties very robust. It can hold the paint and nails together very well. They also meet the standards of fire safety, sound transmission and strength, which makes it perfect to be used in any construction.
What is it used for?
This lumber is best used for any single or multi-family home construction, crating and packaging, commercial construction or even furniture framing. This wood has a good competitive pricing and this is why most homeowners prefer this wood over anything else.
What are the lumber grades?
The SPF lumber is graded as per the rules of the National Lumber Grades Authority. #2 SPF is the common grade of wood which is used for framing and as dimensional lumber. This is fit to be used in domestic as well as commercial construction. #3 is regarded as the stud lumber, which is for vertical uses like load bearing walls.
Hope this article has given you enough information to make a choice. Now you can pick the best ones from the Spec Wood spf low grade wood segments.
