Lumber and Building Materials
Since 2011, Fireside Lumber & Sawmill has been selling building materials in the Durham-Chapel Hill area. Since the beginning, our specialty has been board and batten siding and framing material for post and beam barns. Our products include the following.
Board and Batten Siding
Flooring & Paneling
Shou Sugi Ban Siding
Countertops & Stair Treads
Eastern Red Cedar
Framing Lumber
Shop Talk: Why Our Source of Urban Lumber Is Well-Suited For These Products
Most lumber sellers meet builder needs by calling upon international suppliers. The challenge with a 100% local lumber business is that you must depend on local suppliers’ diversity of species, lengths, and volumes. After 1 years running sawmills in the Durham-Chapel Hill area, we have narrowed down our list of what our regular supply of logs looks like— and what dimensions we’d be able to keep in our inventory.
White Oak
Logs are usually from 80-150 year old trees. Very heavy and brought in at 8’ or 12’ lengths. Larger diameters can show signs of heart rot and need to be quartered. Best processed into 8/4 boards 12” wide for countertops and stair treads. Quartersawn into 5/4 for fine furniture.
Red Oak
Lots of logs come in from pin oaks in downtown Durham. Heart rot in some, but most 12”-36” diameter logs are solid. Most have dramatic coloration that puts off woodworkers and interior designers. Process into 4/4 boards 6” wide for tongue and groove flooring. Process some into 1x8 for sun-bleached siding.
Pine
Abundant and cheap locally. Thrives in our environment and usually arrives by the truck load. Homeowners tend to take out a lot at once. Most lengths are 12’6 and 16’6 as the softwood is lighter and arborists can handle more. Process into 1x8 siding and traditional framing dimensions. Process heart pine into 1x6 flooring.
Maple
Most logs come in 12”-28” dia in small batches— single trees. Lots of spalting and rot potential. Process into 3” thick 12” wide stair treads and 6/4 thick 12” wide boards for fine furniture.
Poplar
We tend to grow large and straight popular, 16-30” dia. They come in as single or multiple trees but not truckloads. Prices at wholesale lots can vary, esp when veneer logs are in demand. Process into 1x8 for siding and 4/4 for cabinets and trim.
Cedar
Highest demand local wood and hardest to source. Small loggers used to cull large clearings and deliver to local mills. Now, consolidation among forest management firms makes this impossible. Older larger logs tend to have heartrot. Process into 4x4 for garden beds and 1x6s for closets and other siding applications.
Walnut
One of the highest demand, most fetishized woods locally. Owners sometimes think their logs are worth gold and offer for sale. Older trees can show signs of heartrot. All worth processing into live-edge 8/4 for table tops.
Sweet Gum
Abundant and cheap with little demand. Typically arrives by truck load at 9”-28” dia. Process into 6x9x9 cross ties and 18x18 bench blocks.
Ash
Voluminous local supply as the ash borer decimates the local population. Trick is getting homeowners to arborists before the trees decay. Borers don’t damage lumber, but ambrosia beetles entering weakened tree do. Pin holes in older wood. Process into 4/4 boards 6” wide for tongue and groove flooring.
Cherry
More abundant in the western part of NC, the cherries that grow around here tend to be isolated and smaller diameter (~12”). Process into 5/4 live edge for fine furniture.
Hickory
Logs usually come in as single trees, sometimes as large as 36” dia. Woodworkers value the heartwood coloration and ratio of sap/hardwood varies. Process into 4/4 boards 6” wide for tongue and groove flooring.
Beech and Sycamore
Rarely see many beech trees or sycamores. When they do come through, they are single trees. Process beech into 4/4 boards 6” wide for tongue and groove flooring. Process sycamore —which tends to move while drying— into 5/4 quartersawn boards for furniture.