[Closed] what does 'finished size' Mean?

Finished size is what they actually will be when you get them.

EDIT: this kind of thing can be a bit confusing to the uninitiated. You get the same thing with, say, skirting boards. You ring the timber merchant, order 150mm skirting...it arrives as 144mm-ish. 🙂 Generally, it means that the skirting went into the machine as 150mm planks, but comes out at 144mm-ish. Why they can't just bloody sell it as it is I don't know. But there you go, it wouldn't be selling timber unless they could confuse you. 😀

22x150 will probably be the rough sawn sizes, the finished sizes will be after planing

Thanks. 🙂

I would expect that finished size is the size once the tongue and groove are fitted together.

When not fitted the tongue will be sticking out a bit further

******or not as just re read and realised you wouldn't have 22mm wide pieces

It's a bit of a throwback to when timber merchants used to price and sell wood by volume. Therefore you're paying for 22x150x2400 (rough sawn) which is then machined down to a nicely finished 18x144.

Mmmm, you'll need to ask what the '[i]cover[/i]' is too for working out how many you need; there's a good chance the 144mm finished size includes the tongue so the tongue needs to be deducted to find the cover... 😕

Nominal = original size
Finished size = size after planing/machining
Cover = actual width a rebated/T&G board covers

(hi bigjohn!)

Ask them for the 4mmx6mm that they have machined off your timber - I would. You're paying for it.
Tell them it's for your hamster.

BigJohn - Member
It's a bit of a throwback to when timber merchants used to price and sell wood by volume.

They still do essentially, though you often can pay per metre when it's lengths of machined timber.

It can be to do with imperial to metric confusion/conversion too. I recently bought a load of 2x4" timber. It was 45x95mm. Ripped off!

But yeah, quoted finished size is the size you should expect.

Ask them for the 4mmx6mm that they have machined off your timber - I would. You're paying for it.
Tell them it's for your hamster

I think the guys at my timber yard would insert it somewhere and tell you to send your hamster in to fetch it 😀

Cover area is the most important thing you need to know IMO if it's something like flooring and cladding.

The reason it's stated like this has more to do with money, these days, than dimensions.
Certainly today, most timber is traded by the cubic metre, many companies machine these sections from sawn goods rather than buy them at source.
So, they take say 25x150 and machine it to 18x144.
In making the conversion from cost per M3 , they need to assume 25x 150, not the finished size, otherwise they will lose out and also, come audit or stocktake , they will actually be down on stock, whereas in reality it simply got turned into wood waste and sucked into their extraction system.

Hi Pete. How's that lovely pub in ruardean?

The think about cu.m. is slightly off because of the kerf. How much is lost cutting it down to rough sawn.