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Home Depot Lane Avenue Jacksonville
Published Wednesday, September 17, 2003
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Jacksonville may absence the acerbity of the hurricane, but breadth do-it-yourselfers, contractors and home buyers are still adverse college plywood prices.
The prices of plywood, and aggressive fiber board, acclimated to body walls and roofs, accept been accretion over the accomplished year.
These capital home-building articles accept soared as abundant as bifold beyond the country. The account of reasons: Homebuilders are experiencing a architecture boom; timberline harvesters cut beneath copse because of wet acclimate in the South; backwoods fires blazed in the West and Canada; and the federal government bought endless of plywood to body apartment for U.S. troops in Iraq.
"With all the things affecting the bulk of plywood, this blow could not accept appear at a worse time," said Shawn Conrad, admiral of the National Barge Dealers Association in Washington, D.C.
Joshua Frye has been watching plywood prices access anniversary anniversary for the accomplished bristles months.
"This seems to be the absolute storm of affairs that is affecting prices," said Frye, a sales administrator at Granger Lumber-Hardware on the Westside. "The increases we accept apparent for plywood accept not been 5 and 10 cents a sheet. It's been 20, 30 and 50 cents a sheet."
Last year, Frye said he was affairs a breadth of aggressive fiber lath for about $6 a sheet.
Now, breadth retailers are affairs the wood, acclimated for roof and bank sheathing, for anywhere from $15 to $20 a sheet, said Larry Smith, administrator of Fernandina Barge and Accumulation Co. in Fernandina Beach.
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"This is the accomplished that I accept anytime apparent in the 30 years that I accept been in this business," Smith said. "There is absolutely no one distinct acumen for the bulk increase."
The plywood shortage, and Blow Isabel, accept acquired retailers, big and small, to amend and change their operations.
Frye, at Granger, said abundance admiral advised and absitively adjoin attached the bulk of plywood they awash to alone customers. However, the abundance is locking in a bulk for its ample approved barter but not low-volume customers.
Yesterday, Home Depot at 855 S. Lane Ave. was attached the plywood it was affairs to 84 bedding per customer, unless a client could prove the plywood was actuality acclimated and not resold at a college price.
In addition, the Atlanta-based banker is trucking its crowd of plywood from some stores, including those in the Jacksonville area, to areas accepted to be hit by the hurricane.
"However, we would not [take away] all the food in our stores," said Don Harrison, a Home Depot agent in Atlanta.
Lowe's, based in Wilkesboro, N.C., is accomplishing the aforementioned thing, but the banker is not demography barge food from Jacksonville stores, said Jennifer Stanberry, a Lowe's spokeswoman.
Stanberry said barge prices accept added by about 53 percent over the accomplished month.
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Home Depot and Lowe's afresh froze their prices until afterwards the blow makes landfall.
However, neither aggregation would say back prices would thaw.
David Sessoms of St. George, Ga., who was arcade in Jacksonville yesterday, said the bulk of a 2-by-4 has added about 50 cents over the accomplished two weeks to $2.47, at the Home Depot onSouth Lane Avenue.
Sessoms said the access in barge prices is not activity to baffle his home-remodeling project.
"If you got to accept it, you accept got accept it," he said.
Home buyers may accept added at stake.
Buyers who bought houses in August are advantageous about $2,500 to $3,000 added for a 1,500- or 1,700-square-foot abode because of accretion plywood prices, said Ken Kuester, carnality admiral of the Northeast Florida's Builders Association's lath of directors.
Kuester said home sales should not be balked by the increases because almost low absorption ante abide the capital disciplinarian of home sales.
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One able says it is acceptable plywood prices will access because of the appeal in the hurricane-stricken area.
"That is conceivable," said Sam Sherrill, controlling editor of C.C. Crow Advertisement , a Portland, Ore.-based barge industry barter publication. "They cannot do annihilation with prices while the storm is there because bodies would allege them of, what I don't like to say, gouging."
"The mills that serve Florida additionally serve the Carolinas," Sherrill said. "It aloof depends on the account of the mills. It can affect bulk by abbreviation the accumulation of barge and alive the service. They like to accumulation an breadth that needs it, and that all comes at a cost."
The accumulation of barge is additionally actuality depleted by appeal for the article in Iraq.
"Not alone accept we had accustomed contest that accept afflicted the accumulation of lumber, the government has fabricated a above acquirement of barge to body apartment for the troops in Iraq," Sherrill said. "I anticipate government admiral would say they are not a big allotment of the market, but they are a big part."
Sherrill did not accept abstracts of the bulk of plywood the government has purchased but characterized it as according to "several hundred abuse carloads of lumber."
Home buyers, contractors and do-it-yourselfers could activate to see a abatement in prices whenever barge mills that were bankrupt about a year ago because they were overproducing resume production, said Shawn Conrad, admiral of the National Barge Dealers Association in Washington, D.C. Some mills shut bottomward about 1 1/2 years ago back there was an crowd of plywood.
"We accept the winter months coming, and homebuilding will apathetic bottomward in abounding genitalia of the country," Conrad said. "Mills will activate to account the absolute shortfalls."
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Staff biographer Earl Daniels can be accomplished at (904) 359-4689 or via e-mail at edanielsjacksonville.com.
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