DIY

3 Ways to Get Plywood Home Without Owning a Truck

about-zoe-pine-and-poplar-diy

Hi, I'm Zoe

My mission is to teach you to confidently build magazine-worthy DIYs. I used to be terrified of power tools, which is why I'm a firm believer that ANYONE can DIY.

Search the Blog

Join Thousands of Others Getting Weekly DIY Tips and Tutorials

by
February 1, 2022
Zoe Hunt

Whenever we go to Lowe’s and buy plywood for a project, our Instagram DMs get filled with messages from people saying things like “I wish I had a truck so I could buy plywood 😭😭 ”

Well, I have good news for you: you can! You don’t need a truck to get plywood home. In fact, there are a few different options that you can choose between. 

How to get plywood home without a truck text overlay on image of plywood aisle in home improvement store

Let’s dive in. Here are the 3 main ways to get plywood home without owning a truck:

Free download wood sizing cheatsheet

Get your plywood cut at the store

Home Depot and Lowe’s both have saws designed for this exact purpose. It may vary by store, but generally, they’ll give you two free cuts per piece of plywood to get it down to a size that will fit in your car. 

You’ll have to measure your car specifically, but in both my Nissan Rogue and Andrew’s Honda Accord, we can get the plywood cut in half at 24″ and have it fit nicely in the car. We just put the back seats and passenger seat down and the 8′ piece of plywood slides right in. I have to ride in the back seat behind the driver which feels a little strange, but hey, it works! 

plywood sheets in trunk of red Nissan Rogue

A few things to consider if you choose this option:

  • Keep a blanket or towel in your car to place under the plywood. This will let it slide in easier and help protect the seats in your car
  • Check that the saw is working BEFORE you load your cart up with wood. 99% of the time it works fine, but I’m still scarred from the time we went to 5 stores on the same day and the saw was broken at every single one of them.
  • You’ll want to plan your cut list before you go to the store to make sure that 24″ is wide enough for the pieces you want to cut out of it.

Rent a truck or van

Whether you rent directly from Home Depot/Lowe’s or you grab a UHAUL for an hour, this is a great way to get a few full sheets of plywood home. Personally, we wouldn’t do this on every project because it’ll add about $20-$30 to your total, but when we have a few big projects coming up, we’ll go to the store and stock up. 

We actually just did this in December. We needed 9 sheets of plywood to complete the 100″ TV console, the bar hutch, and my desk. Rather than trying to adjust the measurements to fit within the constraints of the 24″ width that will fit in our cars, we decided to just rent a truck for all of it. 

The $20 was well worth it to get all of that plywood home! 

Buy project panels 

At both Home Depot and Lowe’s, they sell pre-cut pieces of plywood. These are generally cut to 2′ x 4′, so they should fit in pretty much any car trunk or backseat. 

project panel section at Home Depot

This is a great option if you don’t need a massive sheet of plywood for a project, but there are a few things to keep in mind:

  • Project panels are generally ¼ of a sheet of plywood, but that sheet costs about ½ the price of a full sheet. If you’re buying 2 or more, it’s likely going to be more cost effective to buy a full sheet.
  • Look at the direction of the wood grain! On some pieces the wood grain will run horizontally and on some it will run vertically. Just know what you’re looking for before you get to the store. 
Want to DIY buy don\'t know where to start? Click here to grab your free guide!

Bonus option: delivery 

Above are the top three methods we use to get plywood home, but there is one more option: delivery. We’ve only done this method once. 

It was right at the beginning of lockdown and we needed a lot of supplies to kick off our laundry room renovation. Delivery from Home Depot was a flat fee of $89. 

That’s a steep cost, but it’s an option to consider if you need a lot and don’t want to haul full sheets of plywood around. 

They delivered everything right into our garage. We didn’t have to lift a finger until it was time to actually tackle the project. 

Getting plywood home without owning a truck is definitely a possibility. It might require a little more pre-planning, but it’s doable. 

Don’t let not owning a truck hold you back from any more DIY projects! 

"you don't need a truck to buy plywood" text over image of plywood in trunk of car

Now that you know how to get plywood home, it’s time to start your next project. Here are some of our favorite DIY projects that use plywood:

If you’re just getting started with DIY, be sure to grab our Beginner’s Guide to DIY. It’s the guide created to shorten your DIY learning curve so you can build more impressive things with less frustration. 

Beginner\'s Guide to DIY virtual mockup of pages
Add a comment
+ show Comments
- Hide Comments
  1. Sarah Symonds says:

    Great tips! I love when they offer the service to cut in store.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Join the List

Our mission: give you the resources to build magazine-worthy furniture.

First up? Sharing the 5 key steps to getting started with DIY.

 Get  the best DIY tutorials, project inspiration, and  DIY tips sent straight to your inbox weekly.

Get My Getting Started with DIY Guide as a free gift!

Find your next project

Premium, printable plans

3D renderings, detailed shopping lists, cut lists displayed two ways (both in chart form and visually), AND a bonus SketchUp file. Printable plans don't get better than this.

See the plans
diy with confidence

Our Courses

Whether you're just getting started or you're a seasoned DIYer who's ready to unlock the full potential of DIY, our courses are here to help.

SEE OUR COURSES

Instagram

Join us for project tutorials, behind-the-scenes, and quick DIY tips and tricks.

@pineandpoplardiy
5 Days of DIY Deals! See what's on sale today -->
SEE TODAY'S DEAL
close-image
Thanks for shopping small! Check out our DIY Deals -->
SEE THE DEALS
close-image