Cargo & Freight · Driver Training VideoLumber & Building-Products Securement

Dressed lumber, plywood, OSB, gypsum board — none of it moves the way steel or machinery moves, and that's exactly what gets drivers hurt. A shifted bundle at highway speed doesn't just fail an inspection. It comes off the trailer.

Start with the federal baseline

The combined working load limit of your tiedowns has to equal at least half the weight of what you're hauling. That's the floor, not the target — load conditions, chain wear, and strap age all eat into that margin.

For length and count: an article five feet or under and under 1,100 pounds needs one tiedown. Heavier than that, or longer than five feet up to ten feet, you're at two. Past ten feet, add one more tiedown for every additional ten feet or fraction of it.

Lumber gets its own rule on top of that baseline. Any bundle longer than five feet needs a minimum of two tiedowns, regardless of what the weight-based count alone would call for.

Every bundle needs something stopping it from sliding forward into the cab — a headboard, blocking, or direct contact with a strong front-end structure. Side by side, bundles should touch or be blocked so nothing walks sideways in a curve.

Your company standard: chock or block before you climb the load. Inspect every tiedown within the first 50 miles, again every 150 miles or three hours, and after every break — cargo settles, straps stretch, wood dries and shrinks. If a bundle looks off from the ground, it is off.