Wood Storage Question

newtowood · 06-16-2008, 08:45 PM

Ok, I am starting to buy more and more wood. My little 10x20 shop cannot possibly hold it and equipment too, let alone me in there working. I am not able to build on right now. Can dry wood be stored outside as long as it is covered on the top and sides and protected from moisture? What I was thinking about is the possibility of a lean to on the back of my shop. Would that be sufficient to protect the wood that is pretty much dried and ready to use? I could build it so the sides would be protected also. This would just be a cover for the wood without protection from rising and falling humidity.

pcooper · 06-16-2008, 09:03 PM

It'll be interesting to see what others say on this. I have stored lumber in the rough outside covered with tin so that the top of the stack and most of the sides were protected from the weather making sure that the boards were stacked and stickered so that air would circulate. I don't think I'd do milled lumber that way, but in the rough I'd had no problem with it. You don't want to cover it up too much as I'd think it might hold too much moisture in there. I know some of our sawyers here should have some really good input on this. I've got a lean to type thing now that has some rough lumber in it, and seems to be doing well. My only other fear is bugs, so far they haven't discovered my stash.

DaveO · 06-16-2008, 09:07 PM

Wood will equalize in moisture content to it's surroundings (EMC). If you have kiln dried wood, and store it outside it will slowly increase in MC to the level that you could expect with air-dried stock. That's not a problem if you know that and bring it back into an area that has similar humidity level as where the piece will finally reside and allow it to re-acclimate. You also have a lot of fudge factor with that, IF you build the piece to allow the movement that it might potentially have.

I try to keep all my kiln dried lumber in climate controlled storage. Air dried can stay outside as it is already at the EMC with that environment. Now if I can only get my wife to give up her side of the bed I can store some more KD stock.

MTCW,
Dave

newtowood · 06-16-2008, 09:44 PM

I have enough space in a loft in my shop to store about 150 bf of kiln dried lumber. The lumber that I am gonna buy next will be air dried, so maybe I will be ok. I also have a ton of space under my house, about 70ft long, and five feet high crawl (walk) space that stays fairly dry. I have about 24 foundation vents that keep the air flowing fairly well. Could I store the kiln dried stuff down there without fear of it gaining too much moisture?

PLC'woodart · 06-16-2008, 09:54 PM

I have no problems with my rough cut wood outside but I keep all of my milled work stuff inside - I don't know if I would store it under the house unless I had plastic on the ground - even then I would be concerned about it A lot of water moves under houses - when we build houses we have to put the plastic in the crawl space or they will not pass it

newtowood · 06-16-2008, 09:58 PM

I would place it on cinder blocks to keep it off of the ground and away from soil contact.

Rod · 06-16-2008, 10:37 PM

I recently ran into the same problem. I went to Northern Tool and bought their 10'X20' canopy for $75 (on sale). It seems to work well for now...hasn't seen a bad storm yet, though. I have also used "recycled" tin roof with a tarp over it. This is a tricky one as you need to make sure that ALL of the burrs in the tin are hammered down for obvious reasons.

Good luck!

scsmith42 · 06-17-2008, 12:23 AM

Ditto DaveO's comments.

Tracy, rather than underneath your home, from a moisture content perspective a much better place to store wood is in the attic.

Scott

sawduster · 06-18-2008, 06:32 AM

I have the same issue ...small shop ( 12x20 ) with a loft and a newly discovered love of purdy wood that I don't have room for

My loft only extends a quarter of the way so I built a support rack about 4 more feet out so I can store 8' boards
I have made a stack outside by laying out a large tarp, using concrete blocks and then folding the tarp over the stack, leaving the ends open . I've culled out the really special stuff and placed it in the loft.
I am learning to plan ahead on my projects so I take the next wood I'm going to use and place it it in the loft for awhile . Not sure if it will make a difference, but it sounds good in my mind

Ken Massingale · 06-18-2008, 09:42 AM

I've been using a couple of these for several years. I use pallets for 'flooring'.

link

Will Goodwin · 06-18-2008, 11:37 AM

Originally Posted by DaveO

Now if I can only get my wife to give up her side of the bed I can store some more KD stock.

.. I think I have a solution for you Dave: build a few steps up to the mattress and build long cubby holes (for sorting) under the bed long wise. So at the foot of the bed you'd see something like this:

[ ][ ][ ][ ]
[ ][ ][ ][ ] ... I think that'd hold a good bit of KD.

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