With almost all building materials, there are different levels of quality and price based on what products you select. One of the most important in our opinion is framing lumber. This is the structure of the home, that everything else is attached to and it’s important for it to be strong and stable!
When trees are first cut they have quite a bit of moisture in the wood. As builders we call this “Green” Lumber – for example 2×4’s that were just milled from a recently cut tree. Over time as the wood dries out, it tends to shrink a little (picture a sponge full of water, as it dries out it gets smaller). Sometimes wood can take as long as a year to dry completely. The problem with using green lumber to frame houses is when green boards are cut to length, they haven’t had enough time to dry out and don’t stay quite the same length after they are put into place.
Depending on the grain of the wood, it may also twist or curve as harder & softer parts of wood grain behave differently when they dry. So as the framing lumber shrinks in place, the structure of the home shifts and settles slightly. This may not be much, sometimes only 1/8″, but the movement leads to things like cracks in drywall, nail pops, squeaky floors, or walls that aren’t very straight.
“Kiln Dried Lumber” has been baked dry by circulating heated air in a controlled environment. This extra step in the milling process costs a little more, but provides a much more stable material than using wet, green lumber. 
Skyline Custom Homes uses exclusively Kiln Dried Lumber for all of our new construction projects. The other component that’s critical to consider is not just purchasing dry lumber, but also keeping it dry during construction. It’s common for new houses to be exposed to rain or snow during framing stages – while this can’t always be prevented, as soon as possible after framing is complete, getting the roof dried-in is important to keep moisture out. If framing does get wet, we’ll allow it to dry properly before covering up with other products (a step that some production builders will choose to skip). This allows us to have more accurate carpentry work – straighter walls, less squeaky floors, less drywall cracks, and a more stable structure than our competitors. It’s another example of our overall philosophy about home building: choosing higher quality for our homeowners so they have a well built home.
Please Contact Us with any questions about building materials and techniques.