I have a 56 x 30 ft Garage / Shop. the shop part is 20×30 ft closed off and insulated from the rest of the garage.All Concrete floor, Shop has heat and dehumidifier. What I want to do is be able to buy between 100-300 bf of wood at a time, stack it in the unheated garage side next to my shop and then a few weeks before I need the wood to bring it in the shop to let it stabilize. The wood will be inside the garage at all times . From reading the posts here I need to sticker the wood outside of the shop but once its brought in do I need to sticker it inside also? I live in Central Illinois so the temp and humidity do change a bit I try to keep the humidity in the shop in the range of 48%-51% which is about the same as the house.
Thank for the help.
Replies
The wood brought into the shop will have to be stickered. The boards can't gain or lose moisture to the surrounding air unless circulating air can reach the wood. Wood stacked without stickers will end check and the boards at the top and the bottom of the stack, which have one face exposed to the air, will cup.
In my experience wood stacked and stickered close to floor level over a concrete floor will have a higher moisture content than wood stickered at waist height, but this depends on how much moisture may be coming off the concrete and whether the air is circulating actively. For this reason I try to sticker the wood I will be using next on shelves at around bench height.
Jiohn W.
I agree with Johnww - sticker it, even in the unheated portion. You could consider laying down a large sheet of plastic vapor barrier on the floor, then put some pallets on that and stack and sticker the wood on that to help avoid excess moisture coming up thru the concrete.
You could also consider running a dehumidifier in the storage area also.
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