Local Building Code: Post And Beam Buildings

Over the past several years, three or four of our students at Earthwood Building School have reported difficulty in using their own lumber or locally sawn lumber in the construction of their own homes, the local code enforcement officer insisting in each case that the lumber be professionally graded.

The cases I have heard about have occurred in Michigan and Ontario, but it could happen almost anywhere in North America now, so the owner-builder needs to be aware.

In short, the grading of expensive proposition, which defeats the advantage of using local rough-cut lumber in the first place.

At this time, despite widespread adaptation of the International Building Code, it is possible for most people in rural areas to build with non-graded lumber.

Check on this with the town or county building inspector before placing a big lumber order with your local sawmill, or cutting quantities of your own lumber with a chainsaw mill.

If evasion is a strategy that you have in mind — I am not advocating this, you understand — then you might want to gain the information anonymously.

My guess is that wherever the local forest products industry is strong, there will be (or soon will be) provisions such as the one recently adopted by New York to allow the use
of rough-cut lumber.

Economic considerations aside, you cannot easily purchase heavy timbers from ordinary building supply yards. Local sawmills, farm sawmills, and personal timber cutting (small chainsaw or bandsaw mills) are the realistic and affordable choices.

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