I’ve long held the view that LVL (laminated veneer lumber) is a bit overrated. You see it everywhere in pre-nail framing, especially in lintels, but most of the time it’s just not necessary.

Yes, it’s straight — until it gets wet. Then it swells, and unlike standard SG8 timber, it doesn’t shrink back. You end up plaining it to make things fit. It’s also pricey, and the supposed ‘performance’ benefits are often more theoretical than real.

I was reminded of this recently while designing a small project. I use a great bit of software called Design IT, which lets you enter window spans, roof loads, wall zones — and spits out a list of compliant lintel options. You can choose LVL or good old SG8 timber.

When I sent the design off for truss drawings, the big-box supplier’s package came back with some LVL lintels that didn’t make much sense — big, expensive pieces of timber doing very little work for a 0.9 m window. So, I checked the numbers. My supplier didn’t list that exact size, but based on similar products, the LVL came out around $180 per lineal metre. That’s a lot for something holding up a modest window.

Then I reran the calculations using SG8. A simple 2 × 90 × 45 mm solid timber lintel did the same job for about $8.50. That’s a massive difference — especially when you multiply it across a whole build.