And that's all the local HD carries!! Went down to get some other stuff and needed one 2x4....no regular greenish stuff...just dark brown everything.

Asked the lumber dept head what the deal was. What if I wanted to paint it or stain it cedar or redwood? His only response? "Corporate...".
I didn't look to see if its a real stain or more of a paint...but from the way the ends look I'm thinking paint. I'll bet it wears just wonderfully with foot traffic...not!

Haven't checked Ace or TV....but I know their prices are much higher if they do have the regular stuff.

So now..when it's time to build my BBQ deck in the fall...I either match the pergola and stairs down to the alley and pay more.....or it gets built in brown. Great!

 

Vic, I was in HD a couple days ago and picked up some 1 x 2's, but I didn't notice this with any of the lumber. That doesn't mean it's not coming over to the right side eventually. Seems they'd lose business if they starting carrying only brown.

 

I was thinking about it talking to a neighbor earlier. What about the sales of stains for decks and structures? Sure..they use a lot redwood out here...but most of it is covered with a clear AFAIK. So why buy all the tinted or solid types?

 

I'm having a hard time visualizing your brown lumber but a few yrs ago I built a fence using 1x6 deck boards. I had a coupon for 10% off at HD so I went there instead of big blue. All the treated lumber at HD was lighter in color than the normal green PT I get at Lowes. When I needed to extend the fence about 20' I had to go back to HD to get the lighter colored PT or the CWF I put on the fence would not have matched.

I can't imagine the wood would have paint on it surely it must be some type of pressure treatment. Do you have any other lumber yards nearby that you could compare with?

 

They actually have signs out front comparing prices between HD and Ace or TV, for the brown stuff specifically. HD is anywhere from $3 to almost $5 less for 4x4, 4x6, and 6x6 stuff.

As I said...haven't checked to see if the others carry the regular stuff.

Imagine regular lumber with a semi-solid chocolate brown stain applied to it...or just look at this pic...lol.


Unfortunately the old time lumber yard that was open when we first started to buy here closed about 3-4 months after we moved.

 

That almost looks like it was soaked in creosote - a very effective preservative but it was outlawed 20 or so yrs ago.

 

I would do a test by scrubbing with a 4 to 1 mix of water and bleach with a small amount of dish detergent added to see if the color changes.

 

Vic, had to stop in Home Depot again today and this time I walked all around the lumber dept and there wasn't one brown piece anywhere. Everything looked the same as always.
Maybe your store had a problem with the regular supply and thought no one would notice.

 

No...I'm sure it's just a corporate buyer and Southwest area kinda thing. Lots of old abandoned places have wood that looks like that after years of sun and heat...maybe they're trying to simulate old mesquite?

Love to hear from a Texas or New Mexico member to see if they've seen similar.

Going to try to talk to a asst manager this weekend maybe. We're going up to LV for my wife to do a 10K at LVMS, so might be able to sneak in a quick HD stop between the visits to Whole Foods, Trader Joes, and the oriental supermarket.

If I have to, I'll build my next project out of whitewood and just use treated for the ground contact supports. After a coat of some preservative and a year in the sun, you'll never know the diff. We don't really have the rot or termite problem here that we used to back in VA.

I do miss being able to buy SYP though.

 

Nuthin' like that in Alamogordo as of last week. I'll be in Las Cruces this weekend and will report back if it's different.

 

The "brown treated" lumber we have around here isn't THAT brown!

 

About 15 years ago the local Menard's stores carried brown treated lumber but they discontinued it. All the HD stores around here only carry the light green wood and Lowes carry the dark green stuff.