If you're buiding a barn, lean-tu, fencing...

[Marty]

THIS IS A PUBLIC SERVICE ANNOUNCEMENT:

Jerry and I were completely floored yestarday as we watched the workers in Home Depot, raise building material prices right in front of our eyes. We had just begun to load our wood cart with 2 X 10's and before we could finish, the prices had sky rocketed.

In the first place, the wood was not in good supply. Quite a few sizes we noticed were not avaiable. The store needed some stock in other departments as well.

Jerry began to run the numbers in his head and almost immediately he said we had to think of another way to construct the stalls. The 2 X 10's were out. His plans that were very well thought out and priced out for a long time just went right out the window.

A bit upset and shocked, or more like caught off guard, we took a lunch break at Subway to re-group and Jerry and I designed a PLAN B because no way could we tripple the budget for the stalls at this point.

I wanted to let you know that if you are contemplating to build ANYTHING to house your horses this winter, please by all means gather your materials asap. Don't wait any longer.

Supply & Demand is what it's all about now.

I am in the habit of stock piling metal T posts and fencing and those little pickets that I build our gates out of. To be safe, I'm going to get another roll of fence soon as I can because all these things that we always seem to need have gone sky high.

By the way, Jerry did build out first stall today, just one, as an experiment to see if it would work out. I must say that I am thrilled to pieces with it.

I think it's so cute I can just picture the Prancers in it all cozy as can be this winter. It's not what we had in mind at all, but it's very servicable which is what counts and I don't think the Prancers will mind a bit as long as the room service flows.

I'll post a pic tomorrow for you.

 

[justaboutgeese]

The lumber and building materials prices jumped after hurricane Andrew hit Florida. I am not at all surprised that they are taking another big jump. They call it the law of supply and demand but it is just another illustration how big business cashes in on disaster situations. You can rest assured that the materials they currently had in stock had not gone up. They were raised in anticipation of making extra money by claiming materials are all being diverted to repair damage from Katrina. Maybe now would be a good time to let your feelings be known to home depot.

 

[coopermini]

Marty,

Have you and Jerry thought of using 2x6's instead of 2x10's. Space them about 4" apart. use blocks on each end as spacers or just use some 1x4's as vertical clets on each end to keep spacing. Use heavy deck screws to attach them to the 2x6's.

Sort of like making a wood corral panel. Only draw back is they are not as simple to remove. Have to take out in on peice or take completely apart.

Maybe this will help?

Mark

 

[ChrystalPaths]

Marty, I know we're far from you and with the price of gas itmay not be feasable but our Amish mill rough cut lumer at a much lower price than Home Depot. You're welcome to bunk here if you want to come for some.

 

[SILVER]

We do the same as Dinimore. A friend of ours has a sawmill and we have a small acreage with some softwood, hardwood mix. We take our own logs to the mill and he cuts them into lumber for $$$ a thousand. We built a fairly large barn for about $1500.00-1800.00 including the metal sheeting. 24 X 26 Look around for a mill for sure. If you have your own trees better still. If you have your own trees and cannot haul them to the sawmill look for a guy with a portable mill to come there.

Looking forward to seeing pics of the new stalls.

 

[Marty]

Not to worry, our new plan has worked well. I love it. Will get some pictures for you today.

We cannot use any ruff cut lumber inside the barn. The barn is "in square" proportions if you know what that means ****ruff cut is not an exact cut and not fit right to what already has been done, and would throw it all out of whack. Also, ruff cut would take much time to dry out and also require being plained. The mills here have not been running now for quite some time and also it's nearly impossible to find anyone to plain them. Even with being plained ruff cut would still not work. Just wanted to explain that, because I had been on Jerry's case to get ruff cut too and he had to explain this to me a hundred times to get me to shut up about it and I was like OK OK OK OK I get it. Geesh.....men.....

Anyhow, it's still all good. I'm excited that things are underway. It won't be long for us now to get in that barn.

I tell you I am glowing.

We are going to get the rest of all of the supplies this week though because the longer we wait, the more these prices are going to hike up. So we are going to bite the bullet and get the rest of the lumber in here quickly.

I'm taking inventory of our fence posts today and I want to be sure I've got enough to finish the fencing around here once and for all before those double in price too.

If these prices were what they are now when we begain this barn, we surely would not have been able to do it the way it was. We spoke to two men in the line for the cashier that had just spend $3500 on a run in shed for thier goats.

 

[Bess Kelly]

Oh, yes!! After Andrew things went through the roof. Fortunately we were contractors who did a lot of building, so we actually sent 7 tractor trailer loads of product to FL to be able to rebuild our apartment units. Our home was part of a condo, so that was not an issue for us -- except we couldn't use it

Things will go back down but it will take a while! I have had good luck buying some things 2nd hand -- we have a publication called the "Trading Post" where people list items for sale. Often used lumber, posts, fence, etc. (sometimes never used just over purchased). A couple of weeks ago I found a guy near me selling hay who had minis. Used to be a cattle farmer and had removed a whole LOT of fence when they left and he began hay. Bought 100 T-Post in great condition for $1.50 each -- you know they are almost $3 each at the stores? I was thrilled! A couple of years ago I bought an entire building's super structure. They had taken it apart and stacked under cover -- I've put up a couple run ins from that deal. Of course, this works best for "on hand" or "in the future" use.

Can't wait to see the barn stalls.........hey, much of my barn is made from board fencing "seconds" -- there's a savings there, too.

 

[wildoak]

Think about building a house now. We have just finalized plans for our new house and getting ready to send them out for bids. Don't think our timing could have been any worse, I'm really afraid of what we are looking at now. We have sold our house, so not much choice. Getting the barn up in the next 2 weeks and will move into living quarters there. At this rate, that may be home for awhile.

Jan

 

[Valerie]

Thanks for the info Marty, we are in the planning (but moving ahead) phase for a small barn for the minis........always good to hear about others insights and experiences. Thanks for the heads-up.....

 

[shminifancier]

Well a few years ago a friend of mine built a nice new barn indoor riding arena and 10 stalls~! Every Bit of lumber used inside the barn was ruff cut lumber from the Amish. I mean the whole thing inside was from Amish limber No drying no plaining it we just cut it to fit and used a Nail Gun because this was Oak~! Worked great and now 10 years later the barn is still looking great... We even made the doors and sliding doors at that from that lumber~! If we needed 2 by 2's for framing we just used the table saw and ripped them to size.. Worked fantastic. And even the walls for the indoor arena were the ruff cut ones and were put on at a 45 Degree angle to look nice.. just ripped the lumber to fit.. We would go to the Amish place load up lumber right from them as they were being cut take them home and nail them up after cutting them to size if needed..

 

[nootka]

Wow, I hadn't thought of that aspect. I wonder will at affect prices here in the NW?

Not that I'm building, but I would like to get some new stall fronts/doors at some point in the near future. I am SO DONE w/my current ones.

Thanks, Marty, for the heads up.

Liz M.

 

[crponies]

Wouldn't it be nice if the enviromentalist would give it a break and actually let people do some logging? Now, I don't mean logging without thinking, but logs/trees are a renewable resource. However, a bunch of mills have closed here in ID and other states too because of the stupid lawsuits over the owls or whatever that don't even live in those specific areas but that make it so logging can't be done. If we could harvest more, there wouldn't be such a shortage of lumber. Log right and replant, give people a job (a lot of loggers get laid-off), and give people the lumber they need to build and do other things.

P.S. I've often wondered what kind of houses those environmentalist live in, what they read off of/print on, and what they use in the bathroom!