For All Your Building Needs, Lumber, to Windows, to Advice...

Remember when in the good old days, you could go to the lumberyard and get everything you needed for your project, not just lumber, but advice, knowledge, and experience to help you? You still can at the Two Inlets Mill in Park Rapids. We are a locally owned, family business, with a staff who has a couple hundred years of experience in the woodworking and building industry. We can not only help you pick out the right lumber or building materials for next project, but also help answer your questions. Big or small, complicated or simple, a mansion or barn, we do them all, with the same great service and knowledge.

...To Design and Plan Service. Stop in and See Us.

Give the Two Inlets Mill a call today or drop in and let us help you complete your next building project. Estimates are free. From your plans we provide a line item list of all the parts and pieces necessary for your building, or we can work off your list. You can also ask us about our design and service plans available.

Two Inlets wooden sign inside the Two Inlets Mill office.

Tips from the Pros - Excellent Solutions for Acclimating Wood

Congratulations on your choice of natural wood products. Whichever wood type or species you’ve purchased; flooring, V-G paneling or boards, all will lend beauty and warmth to your home for years to come.

 

As wood is a natural product, it requires a little care to help it perform, as it should. Wood in service is usually exposed to long-term (seasonal) and short-term (daily) changes in relative humidity and the temperature of the surrounding air. Thus, wood is virtually always undergoing slight changes in moisture content. These changes are usually very gradual and short-term fluctuations. You can get a jump-start at giving your wood the best performance possible by acclimating it before installation.

 

What acclimating means is to allow your wood to become accustomed to its new home by placing it in the environment and allowing the moisture and temperatures to equalize.

 

This is simply accomplished by stripping out the boards and allowing the air to circulate through the pile. A fan will help.

Here Are a Few Useful Hints:

  • Never place your wood directly on a concrete floor. Use at least a 2x4 to elevate it off the surface. If it is new concrete, a 4x4 is a better idea.
  • Always place the spacer strips directly above each other.
  • You should acclimate kiln dried lumber as well. Kiln drying only means that moisture was taken out of the wood. It may have picked up moisture between that time and when you purchased it. Or, conversely, the wood might be too dry compared to its new environment and needs to pick up a little moisture.

Don’t be afraid. This may sound complicated, but it’s not. Patience is the key.