The yard is the spec.
Stud-grade, #2 and better, treated, and engineered wood on the deck every day. We hold the volume so you can pull what you need when you need it, not wait on a re-stock.
Framing Lumber
The structural backbone.
Set on the deck.
Dimensional lumber, pressure-treated, engineered wood, sheathing, and OSB: the materials that hold a Tennessee build up. Strong on-hand inventory, coordinated engineered packages, and Moffett-flatbed delivery placed where the framers want it.
Before You Price Lumber
Know what you are framing with.
Three short reads on framing lumber and engineered wood. Written for the builder who has to answer to the money, and for the money.
Lesson 1
What you are paying for
Grade stamps, moisture content, species, treated ratings, and what an I-joist or LVL buys you over sawn lumber. Each one you can check on the stack.
Read it →
Lesson 2
Read the stamp
The grade stamp, span table, APA mark, treated end tag, and the engineered-wood code report. What the marks mean and who checks them.
Read it →
Lesson 3
The callback is the expensive one
Wet lumber, twisted studs, squeaky floors, and the drywall crack in year two. Run your own numbers on the frame.
Read it →
Why Midway for Lumber
Stocked, coordinated, delivered right.
I-joists, LVL, glulam, rim board.
Boise Cascade, LP, Weyerhaeuser, and Roseburg engineered-wood components. We coordinate the order with the truss package and floor system so the whole structural envelope arrives together.
Set on the deck, where you need it.
Flatbeds with Moffett piggyback forklifts deliver lumber across Middle Tennessee. We set bundles where the framers want them, not wherever the truck stops.
What We Carry
Eight working categories.
Dimensional Lumber
2x4, 2x6, 2x8, 2x10, 2x12 in stud-grade, #2-and-better, and premium grades. Spruce-Pine-Fir and Southern Yellow Pine.
Pressure-Treated
Ground-contact and above-ground treated lumber. YellaWood and United Treating & Distribution for decks, sills, and exterior framing.
Engineered I-Joists
Boise Cascade, LP SolidStart, Weyerhaeuser TJI. Floor and roof systems with predictable depths and spans.
LVL & Glulam
Laminated veneer lumber and glue-laminated beams. Versa-Lam, MicroLam, TimberStrand, Parallam.
Rim Board
Engineered rim board to match I-joist depths. Dimensionally stable, structural-rated.
OSB & Plywood
Sheathing-grade OSB and plywood, subfloor-rated, structural-rated. CDX and treated panels available.
Studs & Plates
2x4 and 2x6 pre-cut studs in 92-5/8″, 104-5/8″, and 116-5/8″, plus 8-, 10-, and 12-foot lengths. Top and bottom plates pulled to length on request.
Trim Board & Specialty
1-by stock, beams, posts, columns, and specialty rough-cut on request.
Grades
Pick the right grade for the job.
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Stud Grade
Vertical-load only. Common for stud walls and non-load-bearing applications.
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#2 and Better
The contractor standard. Suitable for most framing applications: floor joists, rafters, headers under engineering.
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Premium / Select
Tighter knots, straighter grain. For exposed framing or finish applications.
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Pressure-Treated
Above-ground or ground-contact rated. Required for sills, exterior decks, and ground-contact applications.
Engineered-Wood Specs
What we coordinate when we quote.
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Span Tables Coordinated
We pull span tables from the manufacturer to confirm depths against your floor or roof loads.
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Connector Coordination
Simpson Strong-Tie and USP hangers, hold-downs, and connectors specified to the engineered-wood components.
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Waste Allowance
Estimating includes typical waste so you do not finish a wall short of one stud.
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Field Modifications
We pass through manufacturer guidance on field cutting, hole drilling, and notching.
Why Dry, Graded Lumber Is the Straight Wall
Built the way Lesson 1 says a frame should be.
Every item on the "what you are paying for" checklist, and what each line Midway stocks does about it, from the grading agencies' and makers' own published literature. Read the checklist first: What you are paying for →
| Checklist item | Dimensional SPF and SYP | UTD Wolmanized treated | Engineered wood |
|---|---|---|---|
| Grade stamp | Agency, mill, grade, species, and moisture mark on every piece; graded under SPIB, WWPA, or NLGA rules and ALSC accreditation. Stud, No. 2 and better, and premium on the yard. | Grade stamp plus the treated end tag; UTD stocks No. 1 and No. 2 Prime in 2x4 through 2x12. | No grade stamp; series and depth printed on the web, backed by a code report (Roseburg ICC-ES ESR-1251 joists, ESR-1210 LVL and rim; onCENTER under APA-EWS inspection). |
| Moisture | KD19 or S-DRY: dried to 19 percent or below before surfacing. About 1 percent shrinkage per 4 points of moisture after that. Stored off the ground and covered. | Treating puts water back in. KDAT, kiln dried after treatment, is a UTD service and is stocked for porch flooring. | Made at a low moisture content; will not warp, twist, or shrink, and made without camber. Kept in the factory wrap, 6 inches off the ground. |
| Species | SYP at 0.55 specific gravity holds fasteners hardest and takes treatment best. SPF at about 0.42 is lighter and spans a little farther at No. 2. Both stamped, both stocked. | Southern Yellow Pine, the species the SFPA says takes 85 percent of the country's treatment because preservative goes into it deep and even. | LVL or machine-rated flanges on an OSB web; LVL beams stamped with their stiffness (onCENTER 2.1E). |
| Rating | Grade and species set the design values in the SFPA and NDS tables; the span tables are read from those two marks. | AWPA use category on the tag: Above Ground (UC3B) or Ground Contact. Ground Contact required for joists, beams, anything within 6 inches of grade, and anything hard to replace. | Floor tables at L/480, a third stiffer than the code's L/360, assuming a glued and nailed APA subfloor; hole chart and bearing rules in the same guide. |
| Warranty | The grade stamp is the promise: a certified mark is the agency's evidence the wood was graded and seasoned to its rules. | Wolmanized: termites and decay for as long as the original owner holds the house; wood, not labor; not transferable; tags required; warping and twisting excluded. | Roseburg and onCENTER product warranties, conditioned on storage, span tables, and holes per the guide. |
| On the yard | Stud, No. 2 and better, and premium grades, pre-cut studs in three lengths, pulled from the bunk and set on the deck by Moffett. | UTD and YellaWood above ground and ground contact, sills to deck frames, on the yard every day. | Roseburg and onCENTER I-joists, LVL, and rim board stocked; Boise Cascade, Weyerhaeuser, and LP quoted with the span table pulled first. |
Lumber & Engineered-Wood Brands
The mills and engineered-wood lines we run.
Boise Cascade
BCI / AJS I-joists, Versa-Lam LVL, Versa-Stud. Engineered-wood backbone for many Tennessee builds.
Visit www.bc.com →
Weyerhaeuser
TJI I-joists, MicroLam LVL, Parallam PSL, TimberStrand LSL. Trus Joist engineered systems.
Visit www.weyerhaeuser.com →
LP
SolidStart I-joists, LSL rim board, OSB sheathing, FlameBlock fire-rated panels.
Visit lpcorp.com →
Roseburg
Plywood, panel goods, framing lumber. Strong contractor mid-grade choice.
Catalogs & Spec Books
YellaWood
Pressure-treated lumber for sills, decks, and exterior structural.
Visit www.yellawood.com →
United Treating & Distribution
Southern Yellow Pine pressure-treated with Wolmanized chemistry. Above-ground and ground-contact, sills to deck framing.
Catalogs & Spec Books
REGIONAL MILLS
Other Mills
Pacific, Stimson, Idaho Forest Group, and regional mills depending on what is running clean.
How a Lumber Order Works
From takeoff to delivered package.
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Step 01
Send the takeoff.
Plans, schedule, or a list. Our estimators do the math.
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Step 02
Coordinate the package.
Lumber, engineered wood, sheathing, and connectors specified together.
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Step 03
Quote & PO.
Itemized line by line. Approve and we pull it.
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Step 04
Set on the deck.
Moffett-flatbed delivery, placed where the framers want it.
Frequently Asked
Lumber questions, answered.
What is dimensional lumber?
Dimensional lumber is solid wood that has been milled to standardized cross-sectional sizes. 2x4, 2x6, 2x8, 2x10, and 2x12 are the most common. The "2" is the nominal thickness in inches; the actual milled thickness is about 1-1/2 inches because the wood is planed after rough-cutting. Most residential framing across Tennessee uses Spruce-Pine-Fir (SPF) or Southern Yellow Pine in #2-and-better grade. Midway Supply Co. in Ashland City stocks dimensional lumber across all common sizes and grades for Middle Tennessee builders.
What lumber grades are used for framing?
The contractor standard is "#2 and better", suitable for floor joists, rafters, headers under engineering, and most general framing. "Stud-grade" is vertical-load-only lumber for non-load-bearing wall studs. "Premium" or "Select" grades have tighter knots and straighter grain for exposed framing or finish applications. All grades are stamped by an approved grading agency such as SPIB or WWPA. Midway carries stud, #2-and-better, and premium grades in dimensional sizes, plus 2x4 and 2x6 pre-cut studs at 92-5/8″, 104-5/8″, and 116-5/8″.
What is pressure-treated lumber and where is it required?
Pressure-treated lumber is wood infused with preservative chemicals (typically copper-based) under pressure to resist rot, fungal decay, and insect damage. Code requires pressure-treated lumber for sill plates touching concrete or masonry, ground-contact framing, deck framing, fence posts, and any wood within six inches of grade. Two retention levels are common: above-ground (UC3B) and ground-contact (UC4A). YellaWood is the dominant brand carried at Midway Supply for Middle Tennessee construction.
What stud sizes are standard for residential framing?
Standard 8-foot residential walls use pre-cut studs at 92-5/8″. That combined with a single bottom plate and double top plates produces a finished wall just over 8 feet. For 9-foot walls, the pre-cut size is 104-5/8″. For 10-foot walls, the pre-cut size is 116-5/8″. Studs are usually placed 16″ on-center, with 24″ on-center increasingly common for energy-efficient framing. Midway stocks pre-cut studs in standard residential lengths.
What is the difference between Spruce-Pine-Fir (SPF) and Southern Yellow Pine?
Spruce-Pine-Fir (SPF) is a Canadian-and-northern-US lumber group made of spruce, lodgepole pine, and balsam fir. It's lighter, more dimensionally stable, and produces less sap, making it popular for finish-grade framing. Southern Yellow Pine is denser, stronger pound-for-pound, and more common in the Southeast US. It holds fasteners better but is heavier and more prone to warping if not kiln-dried properly. Both meet residential framing code; the choice comes down to what the span table and the fastener need, and what is running clean that week. Midway carries both at the Ashland City yard.
How is framing lumber graded and what do the stamps mean?
Lumber is visually graded for strength and appearance after drying. The grade stamp shows the grading agency (e.g. SPIB, WWPA), the species or species group (SPF, SYP), the moisture content at grading (KD-HT means kiln-dried, heat-treated), the grade itself (#2, #1, Select Structural), and the mill ID. The stamp is on every piece. Contractors verify it before installing because building inspectors look for it. Lumber at Midway Supply ships with stamped, gradeable boards.
Request a Lumber Quote
Tell us about the package.
An estimator will follow up, usually same day.
Related Categories
Often spec'd together.
Come See It
Put your hands on it first.
Specs only tell you so much. Come walk the yard and the showroom.
119 Cumberland St, Ashland City. The coffee’s on.