Lumber Grading - Materials For Construction

Lumber grading is usually done at the lumber mill, by a lumber inspector. I'd don't know exactly, how the process works, because I would imagine most of the lumber that's going through a lumber mill, is traveling at high speeds. I couldn't imagine someone actually looking at a 2 x 4 and stamping it accurately, with a rubber stamp, while the lumber is traveling over 20 miles an hour.

Lumber grading provides construction workers, architects and engineers with a variety of different types of building materials. Most homes use a number 2 grade of lumber or better for home framing.

If you look at the picture above, you will notice a number 2 in the middle of the grading stamp. Carpenters will look at these numbers every once in awhile, just to make sure that they're not using a piece of wood that they're not allowed to.

Most framing carpenter's don't even need to look at the grade stamp, to tell whether the lumber is acceptable or not. If the board has too many knots, cracks or other defects, it shouldn't be used as a structural framing component.

There are other grades of lumber ranging from number 3 (crappy) to select (premium).

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