Lumber storage

[dupont6480]

I am looking at storing my lumber vertically. I read most of the threads on the subject and have one question. . . What is the nominal length to store? If I have a 16 foot piece of oak flooring or molding or a 12 foot plus piece of rough sawn lumber; should I cut them into 8 foot sections or attempt to store them in longer sections?? Is there any advantage of having lumber over 8-10 linear feet long? Thanks.:icon_scra

 

[ScottM]

My 2 cents is keep them as long as possible. Say for example you have a project that calls for three 3' pieces. If your stock is all 8' you get two pieces out of one 8' board forcing you to cut up two boards and leaving you with a 2' and 5' off cut. Now is you stock is 10' you get three pieces and only have a 1' off cut. If I had to select a size I would say 10'.

 

[dupont6480]

Scott,
Thanks for the response. I was hoping you would recommend 10 feet. My concern was attempting to store 12 foot boards or longer; I think I can manage 10foot boards but, anything longer than that would have to stored horizontally.

 

[scsmith42]

Tim, I store about half of my lumber vertically, and the rest horizontally. Ten footers are fairly easy to handle vertically; 12 is about the limit (and it's easy to manage if you have the height). Definitely keep the boards as long as possible until you need them.

 

[NCGrimbo]

I just switched over to vertical storage this past winter and I find it easier to get to the wood this way. Since I'm in a garage, I'm limited to about 9' boards since I have a 10' ceiling and I lift the boards up about 4-6 inches off the base of the storage before moving the boards. (9' board + 4" base + 6" lift leaves me about 2" to the ceiling)

-NCGrimbo

 

[dupont6480]

Thanks Scott.

 

[dupont6480]

What kind of base design are you using? Is this because of concrete deck? Thanks

 

[red]

I'm all for keeping boards as long as possible. I stored my lumber horizontal and could easily store 16' lengths but I had the room to do it. A little of a pain if you needed a board towards the bottom of the stack but it all stayed flat.

Red