Sawmilling lumber for my new home

William Roscoe

New User
William
With the recent increase in lumber cost, I've decided to cut my own lumber on my sawmill and air dry it. Should I be spraying it with something to keep mold from developing on it?
 

Oka

Casey
Corporate Member
We never did. But I was in Northern California. Bruce (aka sawman) probably can better answer that.
If you going to get it city inspected (the house) they may want the structural lumber certified, by a licensed lumber grader. If you decide to do this, then be advised you want ALL your lumber to be stacked by size and type. Leave enough room to allow it to be flipped over into a new stack by the inspector, then it will be the least costly. They all charge by the hour, so time IS money.
 

William Roscoe

New User
William
If it comes from the same land that the house is built on, no inspection stamp needed. You do have to show the trees to the home inspector first, before you cut them down
 

tri4sale

Daniel
Corporate Member
According to Iredell county in NC, yes you can if:

as an alternate material and method according to Section 105 of the 2018 Administrative Code. Ungraded, unstamped lumber may be used for the construction of a house or accessory building on the owner’s land if:

1. The timber is cut from the owner’s land.
2. The structure shall be occupied by the owner or a member of his immediate family for a period of at least one year after the Certificate of Occupancy is issued.
3. The lumber shall meet the 19 percent moisture content requirement at the time of construction. The lumber must be air dried for 90 days or kiln dried.
4. The homeowner contacts the local building inspection department before the timber is cut to verify the source and use of the timber.

Source: https://www.co.iredell.nc.us/Docume...r must be air dried for 90 days or kiln dried.
 

William Roscoe

New User
William
I'm first building a 36'wide by 84' long pole barn to house the sawmill on one end and the middle 36'x36' area will be dried in for my shop tools and the last 36'x36' section I'll dry the lumber with vertical boards about an inch apart so the air can circulate thru. I'll probably come back in a year or 2 and put the battens over the 1" spaces. I'll take a picture when I finish it
 

Wiley's Woodworks

Wiley
Corporate Member
1st: Your best protection against mold is good air circulation. If you think you don't have it, set up a box fan at each end and run them when the air is really humid. Buy a cheap hygrometer and set it on top of the lumber.
2nd: You definitely want to paint the ends of each board to prevent checking and longitudinal cracks that will cost you a lot of board feet. There are special paints available for this, but any water based latex paint will get the job done.
 

William Roscoe

New User
William
I use anchorseal on hardwoods but I didn't think I would need that on pine and poplar 2x boards. I don't want to waste any so thanks for the tip!! I will be using white oak for the floor joist.
 

Gofor

Mark
Corporate Member
You might want to spray the boards with a boric acid solution to stop any boring beatles, as well as any roaches or ther bugs getting into your lumber stack. I would suggest Boracare, but think that may be cost prohibitive. If you mix the boric acid (i.e Roach Pruf) with Borax detergent, you will also add a bit of fire proofing to them. If you do go with Boracare, they also have a mold killer/deterrent that works well.

Keeping the bugs out will keep the mice out which in turn keeps the snakes out.
 

Hmerkle

Board of Directors, Development Director
Hank
Staff member
Corporate Member
Keeping the bugs out will keep the mice out which in turn keeps the snakes out.
YUP - snakes - I HATE snakes! LOL
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