Finger jointed wall studs??

[tom]

One of the homes we have been looking at has finger jointed wall studs. Is this cheap construction or will it suffice at being strong enough? By the way they are 2 x 3's.

[rmurray]

The engineers of this wood will tell you that they are actually stronger than regular studs...Does that make sense????...??? Who knows...Standing on end..as studs are..it seems thay will be all right..

[Randy Eaton]

Hello Tom,

Finger jointed wall studs do the job. They are straighter then regular studs and are stronger.

Randy Eaton

[Charlotte]

Finger jointed wall studs!!!!!! Anyone care to define that term for me? I'm mystified having never heard that before.

[rmurray]

The wonders of the internet...I was trying to think of a way to answer this question ...and decided a picture is worth a thousand words...

Actually is is small lenghts of wood with the ends scored in the fashion of W ...The teeth of the ends fit together and are glued (a formaldyhyde based glue is used)....They are made in 3,4,6 inch sizes as long as 60 feet..In my search for a picture, I learned that the main reason for the use of this type of wood is that very good quality boards of any length can be made from smaller trees...which means that trees can be havested at a much younger age..

Any way..you can find a picture at

http://www.tembec.ca/DynamicPortal?key= ... l_products

You will want to copy and paste the link into your browser..

[Charlotte]

Without checking the picture, is this similar
to but still different than OSB?

Will go check the picture now. Thanks!

[Charlotte]

After having seen the picture very, very differenet.

Any problems with glue etc. as with pressboared (NovaDeck) etc. ?

[rmurray]

I have never heard of any problems with this type of wood...
Whan I first saw this wood, I was very concerned....but...we have had 0 complaints..Also...many traditional studs have problems with warping over time...This cannot happen with these studs...