looking for lumber

egpitt22

I'm just going to throw this out there, on the off chance that anyone has lumber laying around that they hope to get rid of!  Brian is fulfilling his childhood dreams this summer and is building a treehouse for the boys.  I'm on the hunt for free or super cheap supplies, specifically wood. 

Like I said, I know it's a long shot, but I figured it was worth posting!

bride2003

OMG so awesome, we were in my sister's neighborhood yesterday and one of the neighbor's kids built one for her class project in the front yard for all to see! Needless to say the neighbors didn't appreciate her efforts and complained & she has to take it down this month.   I thought it was cool but apparently didn't go over well in Sewickley!  Make sure you check your neighborhood covenants to make sure you can build one.  We aren't allowed!

egpitt22

bride2003 said:

OMG so awesome, we were in my sister's neighborhood yesterday and one of the neighbor's kids built one for her class project in the front yard for all to see! Needless to say the neighbors didn't appreciate her efforts and complained & she has to take it down this month.   I thought it was cool but apparently didn't go over well in Sewickley!  Make sure you check your neighborhood covenants to make sure you can build one.  We aren't allowed!

hmm....never even thought to check on something like that!  I figured we put up our large playset (that is probably bigger than this treehouse will be) and didn't get any type of permit for that.  but maybe I should look......

bride2003

If you have an association then there are covenants and any restrictions would be spelled out in the covenants.  For some reason you can't even have sheds in our neighborhood which is crazy. 

egpitt22

ahhh....we don't have an association.  at least not like that, we have one but it's mostly social stuff, not a governing body-type.  I checked on our township's page and I don't see anything about it, so hopefully we're in the clear.  Brian would probably cry if I told him it wasn't allowed, he might be more excited than the kids!

MrsAmers

A place like Paul Lumber & Supply will be cheaper than a big box like Home Depot or Lowes. In my theater days we had small budgets and did well at Paul Lumber. There are probably similar places north of the city, but none that I have experience with.

MrsAmers

You could also try Construction Junction in Point Breeze.

egpitt22

Thanks, Amy!!

amyjoy18

Are there any new construction developments in your area?  DH was able to get 85% of the wood needed for our chicken coop my pulling it out of dumpsters on a construction site. 

northhillsbride

Hi Emmy! Definitely call the Township to check if a permit is needed. I only say that because, while we didn't live in an HOA when in Pgh, we did require permits for things like a shed, an above-ground pool (even those "pop-up" types) and, I think, the swingset. Granted, our Boro was money-grubbing and we didn't get a permit for any of those.... O:-)

Also, Amy offered great advice! My husband was a contractor on a lot of the Heartland Homes sites and, over the years, accumulated enough base boarding, roof shingles and even a nice new mailbox that were left in the dumpsters. Apparently since the materials were bought/sold for the particular house, they had to be used for that house only. It took him two years, but he gathered enough to re-shingle the roof of our house, which saved us a ton!

billiburrows

lumber liquidators? 

let me know what you find out if you explore the permit issue. now that we are in ross twp that would apply to us too and a tree house is a possibility for us too!

kris356

Lumber Liquidators is a flooring company.

I agree that I would check into zoning. When we lived in Reserve we needed a permit for EVERYTHING. Fence, shed, treehouse, Check the township website, they usually list this.

I agree with Amy, if you go with new Paul's is the way to go.