Sawmill service for building projects

bjseiler

5 year old buck +
We are converting an older barn into living space. Going to have a local sawmill guy come out and get the wood from our timber and turn it into shiplap for the walls and tongue and groove for the ceilings. Anyone having gone through this have any questions that they are happy they asked or wished they would have asked?
 
Won't you need to Kiln dry it to get all the bugs out of it? Powder post beetles come to mind
 
What's your definition of living space? Will you be residing there or will it be a hunting camp?

Here's why I'm asking. When I built my cabin I bought some tongue and groove from a local guy who cut and milled the wood himself. Turned out to be a nightmare. The wood was only eight feet long, never sanded, had all sorts of huge knots on the edges and numerous other problems. The stuff on the outside of the pile looked good but the further in I got the worse it got. Ended up selling the whole pile at a loss and went to Menards and bought tongue and groove the length I needed and cherry picked the pile so each board was straight and no knots on the edges.

My rooms were only about 11x11 feet so I bought 12 foot boards and cut them to the length I needed. I didn't have to worry about which stud to land a joint on and what would the joint look like in two years. If you want the joints to look good the boards should be end matched. I prefinished the boards at home with one coat of amber shellac and three coats of water based varnish. The shellac was to add some color as the water based varnish won't get the amber color like oil based will. I used a sprayer for all the finishes.

I did about 800 square feet of tongue and groove in the three bedrooms and there are no seams any where along the length of the boards and they went up like a breeze.

If the sawyer is cutting the boards from trees you'll have it have it kiln dried like Bill said. And I think the edge treatment should be done after drying, otherwise it'll shrink and not be the proper dimension.

Take a ride to the local lumberyard and price their boards of your choice and compare that price per square foot to the cost from the sawyer for sawing, drying and edge treatment. Take into consideration the convenience of the product from the lumberyard. If you need a little more you just go buy it but you only buy as much as you need.
 
Locally sourced lumber will need to be kiln dried or air died for several months you could spray the lumber with Timbor pesticide and or run it threw a sterilization run in the kiln to get rid of bugs. I hope you’re not in any hurry. I usually mill the lumber spray it with Timbor depending on species then air dry for several months after the bulk of the water in the lumber is gone. I kiln dry it for two-three weeks after air drying at the end of kiln drying it gets conditioned and sterilized. If your guy it’s using terms like this run he has no idea what he is doing.
 
The guy will be kiln drying it.
This is full time "house" like living space with HVAC, etc.
I had not heard about edge treatment so I am going to ask this morning when he comes. Thanks!
 
We are converting an older barn into living space. Going to have a local sawmill guy come out and get the wood from our timber and turn it into shiplap for the walls and tongue and groove for the ceilings. Anyone having gone through this have any questions that they are happy they asked or wished they would have asked?
Sounds cool. As others have mentioned, much, much more than a sawmill is required to make molding like that.
 
The guy will be kiln drying it.
This is full time "house" like living space with HVAC, etc.
I had not heard about edge treatment so I am going to ask this morning when he comes. Thanks!

Sounds like your sawyer is getting the logs at your place and then transport them back to his sawmill to have them sawn, dried, and milled? Good plan. Pretty straight forward.

The only thing I would discuss with him is the size of the boards of course....1x6, 1x8, 1x10, etc. The length you want. And if you want them rough sawn or planed smooth. If planed smooth, you can ask him to plane one side and that may save you a bit of money.

What kind of wood it is?
 
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He came out to look at the timber. It will probably be red oak or white oak. I gave him all the dimensional needs from the carpenter. He has to give me a quote now. No idea what it will be but I'll definitely compare it to just buying regular. It would make it special to use my own wood but not at a crazy price versus the box stores who take returns, have unlimited supply, etc.
 
I did this when I built my basement. I cut the timber, hauled it to a guy I knew, then helped him mill it. Very rewarding to have something you built this way. I'm not offering advice but good luck and congrats on your project!
 
He came out to look at the timber. It will probably be red oak or white oak. I gave him all the dimensional needs from the carpenter. He has to give me a quote now. No idea what it will be but I'll definitely compare it to just buying regular. It would make it special to use my own wood but not at a crazy price versus the box stores who take returns, have unlimited supply, etc.
I used knotty pine in my cabin. I don't know if hardwood tongue and groove is available at the big box stores. I did get a screaming deal on some 6 inch oak flooring that I did a little milling myself and used it for wainscot on the wall. It had the end matching though.
The guy will be kiln drying it.
This is full time "house" like living space with HVAC, etc.
I had not heard about edge treatment so I am going to ask this morning when he comes. Thanks!

The edge treatment I'm referring to is the tongue and groove or the rabbet for the shiplap. Your boards need to be the same width for the full length or the edge treatment could have gaps that you may be able to see through.. I would definitely have the boards end matched like hardwood flooring so you don't have the unsightly gaps where the board ends meet.
 
He came out to look at the timber. It will probably be red oak or white oak. I gave him all the dimensional needs from the carpenter. He has to give me a quote now. No idea what it will be but I'll definitely compare it to just buying regular. It would make it special to use my own wood but not at a crazy price versus the box stores who take returns, have unlimited supply, etc.

You're not going to find ship-lap or T&G oak at the big stores or even at the locally owned lumber stores....I don't think. You can buy 1x oak and have it milled somewhere...but now you're talking ridiculous prices for a ceiling and your walls. To use your trees I think you're on the right path.
 
I personally wouldn’t use hardwood for walls and ceilings. It’s just way too heavy. I would use pine or cedar there and would only use the hardwood on the flooring where it can take some abuse. In my house I used hardwood on the floor and all the window and door trim. The rest was soft wood. But, if it’s cheap enough you can certainly make it work.
 
I have a bar/man cave made out of oak and walnut from my Iowa farm ! It’s the highlight of my house … in my opinion 😉!!BFD48C81-0C92-42FE-8F1D-6401D85222F4.jpegB53D49E6-F43C-4EA6-98A2-56FBA0258D45.jpeg
 
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