Ideas for a wood store

[planetWayne]

Hi people,

I would like to ask the collective on the best ways to store timber?

My garage is getting ever more loaded with wood, mostly processed stuff from the likes of b&q etc and I don't really have anywhere to store any more. (not like I have a whole lot of space anyways)

I was thinking of making some sort of covered area in the garden to just stack planked rather than trunk form, and was wondering what pros and cons or considerations I should be mindful of.


Is it ok for example to store kiln dried timber back outside or would it cause it to split ? That kind of thing.




Still learning the basics so please bare wi

Thanks

Wayne.

 

[Benchwayze]

Hi Wayne,

Welcome to the Forum...

I always intened to make a proper 'shelter' for storing timber.
Still haven't got 'a round tuit'.

At the moment I have timber on the paves in the yard, raised up on 200mm square treated timbers. The planks are 'sticked' 25mm apart, with lengths of 30 x 25 mm every three feet or so.

I keep it covered with plastic corrugated sheets, and some waterproof ply at the side that's open to the weather. So far no problems, but then my yard is sheltered.

I transfer stuff I am going to use into the shop for a few weeks before I start a job. Which makes it 'cosy' in my garage.

You need to have air freely circulating, and protection from major downpours. and out of full sun if possible.

But as I said, so far, no problems.

HTH

John

 

[Paul Chapman]

Is it ok for example to store kiln dried timber back outside or would it cause it to split ? That kind of thing.

It will, of course, absorb moisture from the atmosphere if stored outside, so the moisture content will rise to somewhere near what it was before it was kiln dried. If you want to use the wood for making furniture or other stuff that will live indoors, you will, as John says, have to bring it inside some considerable time before you want to work on it in order to lower the moisture content.

If you are going to buy kiln dried wood and are unable to store it inside, you might be better off buying it as you need it.

Cheers :wink:

Paul

 

[RogerS]

When you say 'processed' wood from B&Q do you mean their special banana wood, man-made boards like hardboard or something completely different?

 

[ondablade]

Logosol if i remember correctly have a download plan on their site for a low cost DIY kiln. It's basically frameless - built from polyurethane insulating foam board panels held together with fixings.

Even if you didn't ever progress to kiln drying it looked on a quick scan like a very low cost way to build a storage enclosure....

 

[planetWayne]

Hi all,

Thanks for your replies, couple of more thoughts,

benchwayze: the one thing that sprung to kind was 'hot tin roof'! I'm guessing that this area is not covered all around as I could imagine that it gets quite hot if the sun was to hit it?

Paul: I'm thinking then it would be best to move all the 'not bought for a project' outside and leave the space inside for the good stuff. (note the real novice terms here )

Roger: the timber I have mostly stored is, as you say, the banana wood from b&q. Although I would also wonder if you could indeed store man made boards outside (suitable covered). I have been to places and seen mdf sheets that seem to be open to the eliments, you woulnt want to choose the top onethats for sure!!

Ondablade: may well have to take a look there, could be an idea, but again I'm guessing that you would only really use it for none project timber?


Thanks all again for your comments, am slowly taking this all in

Wayne

 

[Benchwayze]

Hi all,

Thanks for your replies, couple of more thoughts,

benchwayze: the one thing that sprung to kind was 'hot tin roof'! I'm guessing that this area is not covered all around as I could imagine that it gets quite hot if the sun was to hit it?

Thanks all again for your comments, am slowly taking this all in

Wayne

Wayne,
It's all against a wall, and by the time any sun gets to it, the worst of the heat is over. So like I said, I don't have many problems keeping it there. (Except occasionally with SWIMBO, who wishes I would use it up and make some more furniture. ) :lol:

Cheers
John :wink:

 

[Paul Chapman]

Although I would also wonder if you could indeed store man made boards outside (suitable covered). I have been to places and seen mdf sheets that seem to be open to the eliments, you woulnt want to choose the top onethats for sure!!

I wouldn't store MDF outside (unless it was in a proper shed). If it was to get at all wet it would be useless and you would have to throw it away.

Cheers :wink:

Paul

 

[ondablade]

It'd certainly need to be kept dry Wayne - so it'd need some sort of raised floor with a moisture barrier, and a leak proof roof. It'd need some ventilation openings to get rid of any moisture build up too. (if e.g. the wood was drying, or you got a leak)

The other issue is that timber if stored outside (average 70% relative humidity year round) will it seems tend to 16 or 17% equilibrium moisture content - which may be rather high for some uses.

So it would need the help of some heating in winter, and some dehumidification in Summer to get down to or be maintained at say 8 or 9% moisture content.

On the other hand if you can let the moisture content wander up a bit (as would happen in most workshops), then some moderate heating (maybe light bulbs?) in winter might still deliver usable material - depending on what you are looking to achieve.

Bruce Hoadley's book 'Understanding Wood' contains the information on how wood takes up and sheds moisture. There would no doubt be some trial and error involved in getting the ventilation, heating and so on working right too, and depending on how much you want/need to know you might need some measuring kit ( a hygrometer, and a moisture meter?) if you want to know what's really going on...

 

[planetWayne]

Hi all,

Again thanks for all you input here, I think I might need to rethink the end goals a little here. I was kinda thinking along the lines of something like those outside log stores you sometimes see on the outside of cabins. I don't think having a fully enclosed store would go down too well with the missus!
We will ask ;-)

Cheers
Wayne.