Charlie:
Jackie in Conroe says she’s having a house built, and the builder is using finger jointed 2×4 studs for the interior framing. How good are these studs? It’s a single-story home.
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Tom:
Studs are cut to size. If you have an 8-foot, 9-foot or 10-foot ceiling. That way you don’t have to cut each and every one of them.
Charlie:
Mm-hmm (affirmative), [perfect size 00:00:17].
Tom:
A finger joint is small pieces of pine that are put together with these little finger joints that keep them very straight, actually, so they’re less expensive than fir studs, which I would prefer if I was building a custom home. We used to use fir all the time, and much better than solid pine studs that get very erratic and make your walls incredibly crooked.
Charlie:
Solid pine is bad.
Tom:
Solid pine is bad because it twists, turns, it’s just a lousy way to make a straight … You can’t make a straight board out of it anymore. What they’re doing is using the small pieces and it keeps them very straight, so if that’s what the builder is using, as long as it’s the studs, and that’s how they use them, they don’t use them for beams or headers, it’s a great product. It really is a way to increase the quality and …
Charlie:
That was not the answer I was expecting.
Tom:
I know, see? That’s why I don’t like to answer them before a show.
Charlie:
Twists and turns with Tom Tynan.
Tom:
Yeah, well, actually there’s no twist and turns. They’re very straight, and the glue joints of the fingers, they will let, they’re stronger than the actual wood itself, so they will not break.