Storing timber

[Matt1245]

Here i am stealing your knowledge again.

I have access to a large amount of timber (off cuts from a joinery manufacturer friend). It ranges from about 2' - 4' long, 1" - 2 1/2" thick. Mainly Oak, Ash, Iroko, Poplar and Sapele.

As my workshop is the spare bedroom, i don't have much room for storage, so is it possible to store it outside and what is the best way of going about it?

I was thinking of stocking it a few inches of the ground with stickers and covering with polythene.

Thanks in advance.

Matt.

 

[Scrit]

Hi Matt

If you store it outside it will absorb moisture whe and after it rains and pretty soon all your nice kiln-dry (10%) timber will be at 16% and you'll need to dry it out again....... It may be dry now, but we all know what Manchester is like in winter :roll:

Try to store your dried stuff inside if at all possible, although not in the cellar (too damp) or the attic (too hot)

Scrit

 

[Matt1245]

Cheers Scrit, looks like i'll have to increase my workrate to get it used up.

Matt.

 

[mailee]

You could always trnasport it over here to the East Coast and I will look after it for you, well whats left of it. :lol:

 

[Matt1245]

Cheers mailee,

Good to know there are such kind hearted people on this forum, i can feel a lump in my throat.

PM me your address.........OI 'ANG ON A MINUTE.

:lol:

Matt.

 

[syntec4]

Same here Matt, you can drop it off and I'll keep it safe for ya :twisted:

Lee.

 

[dedee]

Scrit,
what's the problem with the attic being too hot?
There is normally plenty of ventilation and I would hope that the humidity levels are pretty constant too.



Andy

 

[Colin C]

Try going in your loft tomorrow (about 1-2 o'clock) and you will see what Srit meant

 

[dedee]

Colin,
I know that it gets very hot up there but at what point does the heat start to affect the timber and what are the results?
I have always assumed that the dry & ventilated atmosphere of the loft was a good place to store timber. I have two boards of beech and one of walnut in my loft at the moment that have been there for about 4 years.

They were bought as kiln dried stock and have been stickered and weighted down with bricks. They do not appear to have bowed, cupped or twisted. Should I expect them to do so? When (if) I get around to using them I would expect to acclimatise them.

Andy

 

[Paul Chapman]

I think the problem with most lofts is that the floor tends to be insulated but not the roof. So in the summer it's very hot and in the winter damp and freezing cold. It would probably be OK if the roof was well insulated so that the temperature was relatively constant.

Paul

 

[Colin C]

Hi Andy
As to storing timber in the loft, some timbers will be ok but when you go to a wood yard ( a good one ), you will see all of the timber is covered ( the roof ) but has lots of room round it and the walls are slated.
In a loft you will get high and lows in heat, I also have some old mahogany panels but I dont want to put it in loft as it is figured and I dont think it will do to well up there.
If I ahve this wrong I guess I will be put right

 

[Taffy Turner]

I may be way off the mark here, but I would guess that if the timber was kiln dried it would be OK in the loft. In my experience problems occur when wet timber is allowed to get too warm, as the rate of moisture loss is too great, resulting in uneven stresses and hence splitting.

My workshop gets very hot in warm weather, and I used to have a lot of problems with green wood splitting in the summer. A couple of years ago I built a lean-to roof off a north facing wall. All my green logs spend a year in there before coming into the workshop - net result is far less scrap timber through end checking and heart shakes.

Regards

Gary

 

[Scrit]

Any house with what is called a "cold roof" depends on there being an air flow through the attic to keep the roof timbers free of rot. That means that insulation is normally above the ceiling of the floor below and air from outside is free to circulate through the loft space. That air will not be heated in the loft space because of the insulation and so will retain a lot of its humidity. I feel that translates to putting the timber in a similar situation to that of storing under cover outside, which will see timber kilned at 10% RH or so climbing to 16% RH (equilibrium with the atmosphere) or possibly higher during the winter/wetter months. Note that fungal attack can start somewhere around 16% to 18% RH. In order to make the timber suitable for use in a centrally heated house it would then need either to be rekilned or left in a centrally heated roof for 3 to 4 weeks (depending on thickness, how wet, etc.) to get the RH down again.

Scrit

 

[dedee]

Looks like I'll shall have to invest in a moisture meter.

Andy

 

[Scrit]

Looks like I'll shall have to invest in a moisture meter.

If you just acclimatise your timber before use you should be OK. The other possibility might be to build a storage box up there, but then you'll need to start looking at ceiling joist loadings :roll: - many modern houses just aren't designed to take much of a load in the attic.

Scrit