Tens of thousands of homeowners have used the coronavirus pandemic as an opportunity to complete that home improvement project or expansion they’ve been talking about for years. But they’ve run into a big problem: not enough wood.

The demand for lumber has skyrocketed over the past year as hunkered-down homeowners remodeled, low mortgage rates triggered a building boom, and lumber processors and distributors got disrupted. Home improvement retailers such as Home Depot and Lowe’s couldn’t keep it on their shelves, and prices soared as a result. At one point, the price of a two-by-four plank was more than three times its normal price.