Estimating lumber for a new house?

I'm going to be building a new house, from scratch and I'm doing the architectural work and contracting myself. Is there any ';ball park'; method of estimating how much lumber is required, say by square feet? We are talking conventional platform frame construction here. I just need to get a rough estimate so I can figure how big a house I want to build.Estimating lumber for a new house?
First The first gut is way off you need 9 studs per 10' section and second you need three plates per wall (NOT TREATED) The only time you need treated material is when you are putting wood on concrete. Theis prevents rotting base plates on your foundation for your sub floor. You do not want to put this in your living space of the house. The old treated material has been the cause of a handfull of deaths from the fumes it gives off because it used to be treated with arsnic.


That is not the case anymore as they use liquid copper in place of arsnic





Second don't try to do it yourself. Take your blue prints to a lumber yard (not lowes or home depot, no matter what the commercials say I have yet to find any real professinals that work there)


99% of all lumber yards in the country have an estimator on staff. He knows all the calculations to use to figure everthing you need down to the last sill plate. Did I mention that this is a free service even if you don't use that company.





No matter what company that you use try to buy everything from one place. You will get a discount if you do not to mention the continued discount if you keep going there to buy what ever else you need in the future.





Trust me when I tell you it worth you time to go to a real lumber yard, because they can figure all material in about a week where it will take you a month or two to just figure the frame material.





Word of advice I would recomend TJI floor joists. They do cost more but they won't squeek and they go up faster and they are lighter to carry. (well worth there weight in gold if you ask me)





Also use advantech subfloor once again it is more expensive but it will hold to the weather much better than standard plywood. This stuff is heavy so don't try to do too much at once with this stuff.





I would be glad to help with any other questions you might have just shoot me an email on yahoo same user name. and I will do my absolute best to help.


You have a daunting task ahead of you and I know how much of a pain in the a** it can be.





Good luckEstimating lumber for a new house?
Stay on the short side,here It is:





For every 10'ft of wall it takes about 8 pieces of Studs...





Now you Need Lower Plates PTL Pressure treated lumber..





And then 2 Top Plates....





Measure the Perimeter of The House and Divide by the Length of lumber Used If its 20' ft or 22' and so forth times 2..





So if your Perimeter measurement is 240' ft divided by 20'ft 12pcs times 2 =24





or





240' divided by 22 = 11 (rounded off) times 2 = 22 pcs...





Hope this Helps...