How To Calculate the Cost of Beetle Kill Pine

We can all breathe a sigh of relief that the pine beetle epidemic in Colorado finally seems to be ending! The situation was becoming dire, but, thankfully, it seems nature has run its course and that things are balancing out. But, then again, there’s still this to deal with:

Cringe-worthy. We know.

All-in-all about 70% of Colorado’s lodgepole pines met this fate. These trees, as you can tell, pose a major fire threat. They have to be removed, but if they are not recycled then they have to be burnt, which will further add to the elevated CO2 levels caused by their absence.

So what can you do? You can choose to use Colorado Beetle Kill Lumber of course! The more that homeowners use, the less that has to be disposed of. So, how much does  beetle kill pine, or blue stain pine, cost?

The Formula

One important factor to keep in mind when buying materials for Beetle Kill Pine projects is that, like most lumber, the price is determined by the amount of linear feet that you need. Many projects are estimated in square feet, so it’s first important to convert your square feet into linear feet. This may seem straightforward to some, but here is how we do it:

Linear feet = (square feet x 1.33) / 0.5

Don’t be squared now y’all! Take out your smartphones. Let’s say you want to put blue stain flooring in a 300 sq ft. room. You would need:

Linear feet = (300 sq ft. x 1.33) / 0.5

Linear feet = 399 / 0.5 = 798 linear feet!

So now that we have our linear feet we just need to multiply by the average price per foot of blue stain pine, which on 7/12/17 (subject to change of course) is about .75 cents/foot for a tongue and groove 1×6. We therefore have:

Price = (798 linear feet x .75 cents)

Price = $598.50

Not bad! Donate that extra .50 cents to charity and you’ve got a new deck for $599 dollars! But…then there’s labor costs.

Don’t worry, though, because after 42 years in business, we at Rocky Mountain Forest Products are pretty well qualified to recommend some contractors for you. Just give us a call and we can do the math FOR YOU or answer any other questions that you might have about beetle kill materials. Here’s some inspiration for you in the meantime…