South Carolina man goes to Lowe’s for fence lumber. Then he has to return 2300 of 3500 fence boards—it’s not just him

Whenever a person starts a project, the quality of their materials is just as important as their craftsmanship. Look no further than the parable of the three little pigs to understand how what a building is made of can literally make or break it.

Enter contractor Steven Ruighaver, who owns The Fence Company in Sumter, South Carolina. According to him, he had to return literal truckloads of building materials to Lowe's because they just weren't up to par.

‘It's pretty ridiculous that you can't even get 50%'

Ruighaver (@thefencecompanyofsumter) posted a video sharing his grievances with a specific strain of Lowe's products. The video has since accumulated more than 30,000 views.

Ruighaver began his video directly outside his local Lowe's, addressing his viewers to camera.

“Well we're back here at Lowe's, and I just wanted to show everybody how many fence boards we had to return because of their [poor-quality] lumber,” he said. 

Then, Ruighaver flipped his camera around to reveal more than a dozen bundles of lumber laid out on the pavement in front of Lowe's. He then revealed that these bundles accounted for a little more than 65% of the total lumber he'd initially purchased.

“We brought back 2,300 fence boards out of 3,500,” Ruighaver said.

Ruighaver expressed distaste for Lowe's apparent standards for its lumber, reproaching the hardware store for not offering higher-quality products.

“It's pretty ridiculous that you can't even get 50% of the boards good,” he said.

Is Lowe's lumber actually that bad?

Multiple posts on various internet forums discuss the quality of Lowe's lumber. While anecdotal, they echo similar sentiments to Ruighaver.

One customer took to TalkBass.com to report that various kinds of wood at Lowe's — ranging from plywood to construction lumber — were warped, twisted, wet, split, or filled with knots. Woodworking forum LumberJocks sports a post from a Lowe's shopper who expected some bad boards. The shopper said, “[he] ordered more than [he] needed. But what [he] got was complete garbage.”

“Not one 2×4 was straight,” the post reads. “And 90% had horrible tear out, and 50% had so many knots I'm pretty sure they wouldn't satisfy code for regular construction. Really a complete waste of money.”

Yet another Lowe's shopper posted a TikTok about seeing an entire bundle of lumber for sale that “was infested with black and green spores.” A supervisor allegedly refused to sell clean lumber until the moldy stock was sold out.

According to Centennial Woods, big-box stores like Home Depot and Lowe's are good lumber options for shoppers looking for convenience and affordability. However, shopping at local lumberyards will generally be a better avenue for those seeking quality lumber, as “local yards are renowned for their higher lumber grades.”

@thefencecompanyofsumter #nightmare #fence #thefencecompanyofsumter #Lowes #smh ♬ original sound – thefencecompanyofsumter

What did viewers say?

Ruighaver's comment section flooded with viewers who criticized both Lowe's and Ruighaver for procuring his lumber from there in the first place.

“Lowe's will just put it right back out for sale,” one viewer wrote. Another replied, “Sure will. I returned 2x4s and they still had the same ones out there the next day.”

“Their wood is so wet and immature that when it dries it warps, cracks and shrinks 20%,” commented another.

“And they want to give you a hard time on returns,” added a third viewer.

A lumber mill worker even chimed in, explaining that this phenomenon wasn't unique.

“I used to work at a lumber mill and we grade them 1 2 3,” he commented. “3 being the crappiest ones being the best most companies today are buying seconds and thirds and sell them as ones and twos it's really hard to find grade A lumber anymore.”

In response to multiple viewers who advised Ruighaver to simply “buy from an actual lumberyard” rather than “big-box stores,” Ruighaver expressed one big problem. He said that there are no lumber mills nearby for his company to patronize. So he started asking his viewers for South Carolina lumber supply recommendations.

Luckily, one viewer pulled through.

“Summerton Hardware has good lumber and is cheaper than Lowes,” they wrote. Later, Ruighaver responded, “Just got a quote from Brian.”

Lowe's responds to the lumber drama

The official Lowe's TikTok account ended up leaving a comment on Ruighaver's video. In it, the company apologized “for this experience” and requested he DM them with more information. 

Ruighaver replied to them publicly in the comment section.

“It is the Sumter location and management acts like it's not a big deal,” he responded. “The store managers have already said oh we're gonna take care of it for eight months now and nothing has been done and it has cost me a lot of time and money.”

Buzz News has reached out to Lowe's via email and Ruighaver via TikTok comment.