Does anyone have any good ideas for lumber storage? Outside in separate building, inside shop, heated vs. unheated., etc. I’m thinking of building an unheated pole barn outside. Its not bothering me, but wife wants car in garage before winter. I know, I know.
Thanks,
“If we do not change our direction, we are likely to end up where we are headed.”
Fortune Cookie
Replies
I have a basement shop, the only redeeming factor is that I get 1/2 the basement, 22x24. The vast majority of my wood is store indoors, in my basement. The more precious stock is stored on a wood rack against the wall, the rest is stacked flat on the floor. Fortunately, I have a bone-dry basement, never been wet in 24 years, I also run a dehumidifier, just in case. I also have about 300 BF of walnut in my garage, in a ceiling hung rack. My limited experience has proved out the key thing is to keep it dry, I don't worry about humidity, since I acclimate the lumber in my shop for a couple of weeks before I use it anyway.
Basically, it comes down to keeping it dry and allowing air to get around it.
Good luck!
Since I've taken over the garage with tools and lumber I've not opened the main garage door. I was concerned about temperature and humidity changes. I have a 12 X 12 garden shed for tools/mowers, plenty of room and no water leaks. Maybe thats the answer to peaceful woodworking and marriage.
WW3301
Cookie....
I started thinking about lumber storage with a basic idea of a lean-to attached to the rear of the workshop. Having seen what schools, homes, and businesses have had to deal with in regard to where the two are attached, most had a leaky roof. I decided to keep my roof line and added a 12' wide by 33' long concrete and metal addition.
The outside wall holds 32-36" wide by 20' long shelving based on how the big-box stores store their lumber and plywood. My inside wall has 4 shelves that are 24" deep and 20' long. I welded arms and made them removeable in case I wanted to take down some of the length to make room for something big.
There is room behind these shelves for some vertical storage. I sealed the floor with Behr's one part epoxy paint to help keep out moisture vapor. Last May I had a chance to cut up a huge Pecan tree that was blown over. In sections of 7-1/2' long, 18" wide, and 6-8" thick, they are sealed, and stored on the floor due to their size and weight.
Here's some shots of the wooden shelves and support arms. Anything painted red means it is load bearing but can be "unpluged"...
Bill
Edited 9/25/2006 12:54 am ET by BilljustBill
Edited 9/25/2006 1:00 am ET by BilljustBill
Edited 9/25/2006 1:03 am ET by BilljustBill
I built two small lean-tos or shed on the back of the garage, each approx 9-10 feet long by 5 feet wide. My advise in retrospect would be to go big. For all the work you put in, getting four or five shelves of storage in each unit is just not worth it.
Not incidentally, I build my with another use in mind as well. They are sound-proofed to house a dust collector and, maybe in the future, a compressor.
Best regards,
Jim Bell
Agree totally with you on the "going big" comment. My first lean-to attachment to my shop was a total failure. I now have a 24' X 19' woodshed, which is great for stacking all my milled logs in varying degrees of readiness (moisture content) without having to mix it all together.
Jeff
Jim,
A thought or two about the dust collector in the shop attachment. If you plan to have your return air pushed back into the workshop, think about insulating your extra space so the atmosphere won't heat up or chill down your workshop as the air comes back. Insulating and making the whole area as airtight as possible so the heated/cooled filtered air comes back into shop and not leaking out into the world...
Also, in one of Tauton's dust collection books, there is a formula for the size of the return air opening. It's based on the CFM of your collector. I've seen some baffle box that lets the air pass, but traps the noise of the collector.
Bill
Thanks, Bill. I have the lean-to/shed well insulated (floor, three walls, door, and ceiling), but i have no idea yet how big to make the return air opening or what kind of a baffle box to build. I've just bought Workshop Dust Control, so maybe that will tell me.
Jim
Bill,
I've got a shed in the back that can be easily lengthened to 12' X 30'. My initial concern was lumber stored in heated/air conditioned shop vs. unheated or A/C. Do you bring in the wood a few days before working?
Also, just curious approx. how many hours a week do you get to spend woodworking?
I'm currently less than (4) due to work schedule.
Thanks,
WW3301.
Hello 33,
Actually, since completing the storage addition, there's been lots going on from my wife's broken leg and ankle, rehab trips, and rearranging some of the workshop in planning for a homebuilt resaw table. Most of this summer has been outside the workshop and building some raised beds frameworks and welding arched trelleses.
So woodworking this summer has been 5hrs or more a day... The hardwoods I've collected would best served with two or three days inside the workshop itself.
Here's some shots of my square foot gardening and of a freak wind blowing down a big Pecan tree at a local park last May. I was able to slab cut sections from the trunk. They were stickered and covered for 3 months. I sealed the concrete floor of the addition with Behr Epoxy, and now they are now air drying in the storage addition....
Keep on working,
Bill
Pecans are not native to Australia, but I remember the pie from my year in Va as a kid. There was also a huge one down by the swimming hole in Canungra (queensland) that we used to harvest. I'm now looking for one to plant in the front lawn, no luck so far. I might get the nuts, unlikely to get the timber.
Dave
Dave,If you find them and you want nuts, you need at least 2 trees, preferably from 2 different varieties in order to get good pollination.good luck,Jim
Jim,
I found an enthusiast (we are all the same really) on the North Coast. This means the nothern end of NSW which is really only half way up the country, but Australians regularly seem to abandon Queensland.
She identified two varieties that will self polinate if that doesnt seem to be working I will try and con a neighbour into planting one. I dont have room for two, but in my last place the original owners had planted pears on both their place and the neighbour which worked well. Cliamate seems OK, but the soil will be a real challenge. Apparently Pecans like alluvial soils - I live on clay and rock.
Its fun trying to emulate the universal man - long way to go.
Dave
Good luck with the pecans and your quest to emulate the universal man.im
Where I live protecting wood from various bugs is equally as important as heat and humidity. It could be a good idea to consult a pest control service concerning that problem. I certainly don't want to buy bug food at around $5/board foot.Cadiddlehopper
Sorry reply is so late. I've been out of town for a few weeks. No woodworking....
That's a good idea. I have some "valuable" lumber that I'd hate to feed to bugs. My house has been treated and my lumber is off the floor. Yet it would be a good idea to at least spray the area. The re-inforced shelf brackets sounds like a good idea. Thanks for the suggestion.
Our you a Red Skelton fan!
WW3301
I currently use the attached garage for shop space which is a single story and store wood which is drying in the rafters. I figure the heat buildup there will speed the drying process.
WW3301, this was one of the zillion things I am factoring into my new digs in East Tn. My solution was that no garden stuff go under the house (24' x 48') thus a 12' x 20' high wall barn shed was just dropped on concrete blocks behind the house with two barn doors (short end and the opposit long side) with 6' ramps. A ridge beam was extended 2' over the short end and 6 2x8's notched and braced down the legnth between the roof trusses. There is an 18"x18" top hinged hatch under the extended ridge beam to load in mill cut lumber for storage in the overhead. There will be a roller mounted 3/4' up from the bottom of the 18" hatch to facilitate loading in and out.
In the shop a LV monster wall rack system for sticks and planks will mount over the long bench for the RAS and chop saw for dry wood or wood in process. Sheet goods will store verticaly 8' edge down along the dead side of the basement staircase to the house in a rack with a bottom roller and high density poly pads to slide them in.
Good luck, I have been planning this for the last 14 monthe and started setting the shop up in earnest last March in 3 or 4 or 6 week trips to the house . It's tough but soon as I sell the old house things will progress faster. Pat
Lumber storage is a widely varying problem, over my career I was moved many many times to a wide range of climates each with it's own lumber storage issues. As I tried to establish a shop for my woodworking hobby in each location, it forced me to work with each climate and the related problems. Most of the time the problems were not so simple to manage; however, I now live in the high plains next to the Rocky Mountains where the humidity is quite low and the wood damaging bugs absent. The current wood shop is air conditioned and centrally heated with the furnace adding additional humidity to the air in winter to keep it from being too dry. A friend of mine is a professional violin maker who has worked in several places in Europe, east coast and now lives in this area. He finds the low humidity here to be the best he has experienced for storing and working wood for his instruments. Just wanted to say that I understand the complexities of storing wood well in various places and that I am thankful to live here where it is much simpler. Attached is the modest wood storage system that I now have in my shop.
Moksha,
Your attachment didn't come through. Can you re-send? Do you live in the Denver area?
WW3301.
Here is the picture of the wood storage area within my shop. It is behind the table saw. Yes, I live in the Denver area.
When I lived with my parents my Dad had a two car garage and he made a lumber rack above the cars for his hard wood.He had a little over 1500 br. ft.of lumber over the top of the cars ,of course you must seacure it well.
LARRY
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