BajaNomad

help with lumber smuggling to rosarito beach?

LukeJobbins - 4-7-2017 at 08:00 PM

Anyone coming south by Rosarito Beach with a truck that can sneak a piece of plywood and a few 2x6's and 2x4's in the back of their truck? I have an suv and can't fit them inside. I can meet in SD or at one of the Home Depots next to the border and pay for everything myself.

I just checked Rosarito's Home Depot and they are double the price than in the U.S. and not as good of quality. I need one- 3/4"plywood and 4-2x6s and 3-2x4's. I can probably fit the studs in my car because if need be they can be cut down in size but full length 8 footers would be best. At this HD, pretty beat up plywood was $40 a piece and they didn't have 3/4" so I would need two of theirs plus 4 2x6's at $8.70 a piece and 3 2x4's at $5.40 a piece. Crazy. If no one is coming in the next few weeks I may be able to just borrow my brothers truck. Thanks

chuckie - 4-8-2017 at 06:04 AM

Ugly American...

Hook - 4-8-2017 at 06:35 AM

I feel for the guy. It's not so much the pricing as the quality of the wood. Pathetic for a company as large as HD. I have often felt that big companies like Walmart, HD and even Costco dump some of their unwanted product down here. Corporate tianguis.

Does that make me ugly, too, to feel like this?

Hook - 4-8-2017 at 06:58 AM

You point is well taken. It is rather crass to ask someone else to do this, especially to take the risk of being sent back at the border.

I guess I was just commiserating with the guy over the lack of quality.

Getting a good piece of plywood often involves making several trips to the HD or Lowe's (those are down here, too) and getting one from a new shipment. It's time-consuming............like everything else in Mexico.

DENNIS - 4-8-2017 at 07:21 AM


If the price of a few pieces of wood is actually an issue, perhaps the entire project needs to be re-thought. "Mexico on 5 dollars a day" is history.

chuckie - 4-8-2017 at 07:26 AM

Buy the lumber wherever you want, put it in or on top of your rig and pay the Fricking duty if they want to charge you...I object and am offended by these cheap SOB's trying to cheat the Mexicans out of a few bucks....

woody with a view - 4-8-2017 at 07:44 AM

Helped an old guy lay out his joists for a new room one day in BdeLA. Next day the plywood was delivered. It was over an inch short of nominal length and width. THAT was awesome! I woulda never believed it if i wasn't reading the tape.

LukeJobbins - 4-8-2017 at 09:55 AM

Wow you guys took this all the wrong way. Its one sheet of plywood for a workout thing so strength and quality is most important. I can pay the import fee if I need to but I was just asking if anyone wants to be NICE and just throw it in their truck since they are coming down anyways.

Please don't ANYONE try to say I am taking away from the Mexicans or you are better for buying things in your country since most US products are made overseas and most are happy to pay those lower prices(WALMART, etc).

I served my time for America and now I am enjoying life down south and most of my money is being spent here. Rent, groceries, gas, food, etc. is all bought local whether I'm in the U.S. or any other country.

Before you try to call me out for cheating a small fee, think if you have ever received any cash tips and not filed it with the IRS, or do you call out every hitchhiker for being jerks and not having their own cars? Do you cross the border with an empty truck and buy everything for your vacation in Baja or do you supply in America cheating the locals out of your vacation money? Come on guys it was a simple question of me trying to find a person willing to help me out. Ive brought stuff down for people and stuff north for people and if you have too, you know it's not really a big deal to help someone out for 10 min.

BornFisher - 4-8-2017 at 10:41 AM

It`s not smuggling unless it`s over $75 worth.

del mar - 4-8-2017 at 11:46 AM

Can-Cun lumber up the free road in rosarito, tons of used and new lumber, cool restored cars and a chevy nova with a huge table saw run off the driveshaft!

norte - 4-8-2017 at 12:21 PM

If you can get the lumber at the Mexican Home Depot....Why can't you get the lumber at the USA HD instead of asking someone to sneak it?

norte - 4-8-2017 at 01:05 PM

Quote: Originally posted by paranewbi  
I don't think he's asking someone to sneak it...it's more of a transporting problem for him. I use to tie anything down on top of my VW bug for a beer, but I was a little more adventurous then.

I'd have to add up the logistics and the border hassle to see if it really offset the expense of local material.


His words not mine. "Anyone coming south by Rosarito Beach with a truck that can sneak a piece of plywood..."

And he did not seem to have a problem transporting it from Rosarito HD.. Maybe their more to the story that I do not get. I was just going by his statement.

LukeJobbins - 4-8-2017 at 03:38 PM

Quote: Originally posted by norte  
Quote: Originally posted by paranewbi  
I don't think he's asking someone to sneak it...it's more of a transporting problem for him. I use to tie anything down on top of my VW bug for a beer, but I was a little more adventurous then.

I'd have to add up the logistics and the border hassle to see if it really offset the expense of local material.


His words not mine. "Anyone coming south by Rosarito Beach with a truck that can sneak a piece of plywood..."

And he did not seem to have a problem transporting it from Rosarito HD.. Maybe their more to the story that I do not get. I was just going by his statement.


Here is the story if you didn't read the first post. Plywood is crap and really expensive down here. No matter if it's Home Depot or the local building supply guys.

I have an suv that can not fit a full 4' wide piece of plywood in my car. I honestly don't know how much the import fee is for a sheet of plywood but I know last year when I brought a small amount of junk 2x3s cut up for firewood they tried to charge me 40 dollars for "import taxes". It was pretty obvious I wasn't selling the 2x3s and they were trash and it took a lot of negotiating to get them to let me keep the firewood so I know a fresh piece of plywood would not fly. If someone has other info to the contrary please let me know because it would be so much easier to just strap it to my roof.

I know plenty of home owners down here that have put a sheet or 2 under camping stuff to sneak it in. If there was quality stuff down here for anywhere near the cost of the US I would just get it here. If I could do it myself with my car; I would. If you don't like it just add it to the list of problems in the world and stop judging me and hating everything. If you can't or won't help then move on please. If no one can help within a month I can borrow my brothers truck.

I can and do cross often and have no problem meeting someone and paying for a sheet myself. 30 dollars for a sheet of underlayment 3/4" plywood at Home Depot in the US.

ncampion - 4-8-2017 at 04:06 PM

I don't have a problem finding good quality wood in Loreto but you do have to look and know what you're buying. We have a yard here that even has good quality Birtch plywood imported from the US. Most of the plywood is Pine you have to ask for Fir, but they do have it. Get away from HD and find a good local yard.

DENNIS - 4-8-2017 at 07:23 PM

Quote: Originally posted by woody with a view  
Helped an old guy lay out his joists for a new room one day in BdeLA. Next day the plywood was delivered. It was over an inch short of nominal length and width. THAT was awesome! I woulda never believed it if i wasn't reading the tape.


I had a similar thing happen with OSB bought here. I framed the roof joists at 16" OC and started to sheet. Plywood was about three inches long and I figured I made a mistake on the joist spacing so I cut the OSB to fit 16 OC.
Next sheet....same thing so I put a tape on it, as well as the rest of the stack. All three inches long.
Independent yards will be seconds, so don't leave home without your cinta.

[Edited on 4-9-2017 by DENNIS]

woody with a view - 4-8-2017 at 07:40 PM

😎 part of life, eh?

RnR - 4-9-2017 at 08:32 AM

Quote: Originally posted by DENNIS  
Quote: Originally posted by woody with a view  
Helped an old guy lay out his joists for a new room one day in BdeLA. Next day the plywood was delivered. It was over an inch short of nominal length and width. THAT was awesome! I woulda never believed it if i wasn't reading the tape.


I had a similar thing happen with OSB bought here. I framed the roof joists at 16" OC and started to sheet. Plywood was about three inches long and I figured I made a mistake on the joist spacing so I cut the OSB to fit 16 OC.
Next sheet....same thing so I put a tape on it, as well as the rest of the stack. All three inches long.
Independent yards will be seconds, so don't leave home without your cinta.

[Edited on 4-9-2017 by DENNIS]


Yes, you need to verify sizes.

You are actually buying 'metric' sized plywood and not the expected 4' x 8' US sizes.

Standard metric sizes -

1200mm x 2400mm - 47 1/4" x 94 1/2" (Over an inch short...?)

1200mm x 2500mm - 47 1/4" x 98 1/2" (Almost three inches long ...?)

Mexico is a 'metric' based country.

DENNIS - 4-9-2017 at 08:45 AM


Some independent lumber yards here buy special order "seconds." A standard sheet of plywood .......anywhere....is 4x8.
Mexico is also a Peso based country, but we all know how that goes.

David K - 4-9-2017 at 08:46 AM

When you buy a tire in Mexico, is a 265/75-16 known as a 265/75-406?

willardguy - 4-9-2017 at 08:58 AM

Quote: Originally posted by DENNIS  

Some independent lumber yards here buy special order "seconds." A standard sheet of plywood .......anywhere....is 4x8.
Mexico is also a Peso based country, but we all know how that goes.


in Australia......plywood is 1200x2400mm, don't know about anywhere else

LukeJobbins - 4-9-2017 at 09:01 AM

I don't know what places are up in tijuana as I am not a fan of exploring or spending too much time in that city, but in Rosarito at Home Depot, and the smaller yards I checked the plywood is 1/2" max thick and pretty bad quality. Already starting to bubble up or missing big chunks from knotty wood. They don't care about the quality though because for them its just something to throw concrete on top for the construction.

woody with a view - 4-9-2017 at 09:50 AM

I'll defer to the dimensions above.

gnukid - 4-9-2017 at 11:31 AM

You should be able yo order it through home depot to your specification if it's in the catalog but it might take forever and still be wrong...

bajaguy - 4-9-2017 at 01:05 PM

He answered his own question in the original post......."I may be able to just borrow my brothers truck."

chuckie - 4-9-2017 at 01:58 PM

smuggle.....sneak?

woody with a view - 4-9-2017 at 01:58 PM

Keister?

chuckie - 4-9-2017 at 02:02 PM

Rind?

monoloco - 4-9-2017 at 03:25 PM

Quote: Originally posted by Hook  
I feel for the guy. It's not so much the pricing as the quality of the wood. Pathetic for a company as large as HD. I have often felt that big companies like Walmart, HD and even Costco dump some of their unwanted product down here. Corporate tianguis.

Does that make me ugly, too, to feel like this?
At the home depot in Cabo and all the lumber yards they sell radiata pine plywood that's really high quality with no voids for about 700 pesos a sheet for 3/4".

monoloco - 4-9-2017 at 03:43 PM

Quote: Originally posted by ncampion  
I don't have a problem finding good quality wood in Loreto but you do have to look and know what you're buying. We have a yard here that even has good quality Birtch plywood imported from the US. Most of the plywood is Pine you have to ask for Fir, but they do have it. Get away from HD and find a good local yard.
Be careful of the birch ply, it's a termite magnet. I used it for a bunch of projects around the house and almost everything I made with it was completely infested with dry wood termites after a couple of years.

micah202 - 4-9-2017 at 04:00 PM

Quote: Originally posted by monoloco  
.........Be careful of the birch ply, it's a termite magnet. I used it for a bunch of projects around the house and almost everything I made with it was completely infested with dry wood termites after a couple of years.


....perhaps those are included as freebies from china ;)

bajabuddha - 4-9-2017 at 04:11 PM

All this for 7 sticks and one sheet of ply.... much ado about nothing. Must be a major project methinks. Let's just annex Baja to the States so we don't have to put up with Mexicano product in Mexico. His bro's truck is the answer.

monoloco - 4-10-2017 at 07:59 PM

Quote: Originally posted by micah202  
Quote: Originally posted by monoloco  
.........Be careful of the birch ply, it's a termite magnet. I used it for a bunch of projects around the house and almost everything I made with it was completely infested with dry wood termites after a couple of years.


....perhaps those are included as freebies from china ;)
That is a distinct possibility.