Wood storage and acclimation in open back garage

[Michael Alu]

Yes another wood movement thread, but hear me out. I've been researching this topic for weeks now and will continue to learn about this subject. Currently I am not at luxury to have a fully enclosed shop. I have a two car garage with an open back wall. Therefore I use the front half of the garage for all my big tools. I do a pretty damn good job at keeping them waxed and rust free. But here is my problem I'm running into, wood storage and wood movement. Side note I do have an attached small storage shed off of the right side of the garage. Back to the question at hand. I live in South Louisiana so it is very and I mean very humid here. I understand that wood needs to acclimate to the shop. Currently I store most of my wood for projects inside the attached storage shed and bring it out of there when I'm ready to work it. But I have very limited space in there. In yall's expertise would you think it is ok to store it inside the garage, possibly hanging from the ceiling as long as I keep it dry? I have multiple projects that I want to work on and only having that small space to allow wood to acclimate is killing me. Also another reason I ask is because I have had problems with pine panel glue-ups cupping on me. Maybe I let them sit long enough to acclimate to the outside humidity? Maybe I should have added in an extra step of the milling process and letting them sit longer between three or four millings? I know there are a ton of opinions out there on this, but I'm trying to find some that work with my current shop setup.

I do wish I could move and have an enclosed garage and this would solve multiple headaches of lack of space and open to the elements. Any ideas fellow creekers? Also attaching a quick picture of the setup from my back door. To the left of the picture is open to the patio. Straight ahead is the small enclosed storage off of the garage.
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Thanks for any input and suggestions

[Lee Schierer]

You would probably be okay storing your wood in your garage at ceiling level. It is important to keep it stickered so air can get to all sides. When milling lumber, you can minimize cupping by taking equal amounts off each surface of the board and letting it acclimate after milling for several days, again keeping all pieces so air can get to both faces. Do your thicknessing in small steps. Stacking panels on top of each other with no air space is a sure way to get cupping. You might want to invest in a good moisture meter so you know where your moisture levels are as you work with the wood. If you air condition your home you are going to see additional changes due to drying when you move a piece indoors and expect seasonal changes. There are lots of things you can do in design to control wood movement problems. I find that finishing all sides of a project inside and out minimizes seasonal wood movement.

[Robert Engel]

I live in swampy FL so I can relate. Its not just the humidity but the wide swing. Leave milled lumber out in an open shop brings heartbreak in the morning as your nice flat panel has turning into a potato chip.

I've found once the milling begins very important to only mill incrementally no more than 1/16" off each side. Sticker, but also weigh the stack down or use tie down straps. Do not stack on concrete floor. Do not use a fan this results in uneven drying IMO. Allow at least 3 days of acclimation. Keeping the shop closed and using a dehumidifier might help. A moisture meter will help you make decisions.

Once down do final dimension, I keep panels in a plastic bag to help keep them stabilized.

If at all possible, move your furniture parts inside the conditioned house if this is allowable :-)

[John K Jordan]

Michael,

Wood exposed to the outside atmosphere will eventually reach 12-15 % moisture content depending on the location, even if it is kept under shelter. This article has good info and a chart on page 12-4:
http://www.conradlumberco.com/pdfs/ch12_Drying_Control_of_Moisture.pdf

Even if you buy kiln-dried wood it will eventually reach air-dried moisture content if exposed to outside air.

Will your projects eventually be taken inside a conditioned house? If you make something from wood with 15% moisture then take it into a heated/air conditioned space the wood will shrink as the wood dries to, in many houses, around 9% EMC.

My shop has heat and air but I have read you can wrap kiln-dried lumber in plastic to keep it dry while stored until ready to use. I haven't done that but maybe that would work for wood you have to store in the outdoor air.

I agree with getting a moisture meter. I got a Wagner pinless meter a long time ago and use it to check green wood I air dry in my shop.

JKJ

[Bradley Gray]

It gets very humid in the summer here in the woods of Ohio. Any time parts are ripped or surfaced warping is possible.

One thing I do is clamp parts in progress in a stack with stickers. I have a very flat bench that I clamp to.

[John TenEyck]

Why would the MC of wood stored in the shed be any different than in your shop? As long as the wood is at equilibrium with the air in your shop you should not have problems. I imagine folks have been working wood where you live for hundreds of years in unconditioned spaces not as nice as yours and somehow managed to make furniture. Sorry, I didn't intend that to sound negative so please don't take it as such. I think your problems are either that your wood is not at equilibrium with your shop to begin with, or you are laying panels down on a work surface rather than letting air circulate freely around all sides. So, by all means, bring some wood into your shop and store it in the rafters. Then you'll know it's at equilibrium with your shop when you work it. Get a moisture meter and then you'll know what's what. Of course, if the humidity swings a lot day to night and week to week you will never have true equilibrium, and that's why you need to follow the advise given above to try to mill equal amounts off both sides and to let air circulate freely around everything you mill.

John

[Michael Alu]

Why would the MC of wood stored in the shed be any different than in your shop? As long as the wood is at equilibrium with the air in your shop you should not have problems. I imagine folks have been working wood where you live for hundreds of years in unconditioned spaces not as nice as yours and somehow managed to make furniture. Sorry, I didn't intend that to sound negative so please don't take it as such. I think your problems are either that your wood is not at equilibrium with your shop to begin with, or you are laying panels down on a work surface rather than letting air circulate freely around all sides. So, by all means, bring some wood into your shop and store it in the rafters. Then you'll know it's at equilibrium with your shop when you work it. Get a moisture meter and then you'll know what's what. Of course, if the humidity swings a lot day to night and week to week you will never have true equilibrium, and that's why you need to follow the advise given above to try to mill equal amounts off both sides and to let air circulate freely around everything you mill.

John

All have been great suggestions. I didn't even think about using straps to strap down the lumber after milling. And John, there are giant swings in humidity. I don't have the luxury to have a climate controlled shop having no back wall to my garage so it's open air. I believe I will just have to be even more patient in letting kiln dried lumber acclimate to outside air and do my millings in several steps only removing small amounts and letting them sit for days before milling again. The same goes with resawing as well I imagine.

[John TenEyck]

Michael, my point the first time was that people have had to deal with the same wide swings in RH where you live for a long time. Having another wall on your shop isn't going to do much to dampen the humidity swings unless that space were sealed and had a dehumidifier.

You are buying KD wood? That seems like a waste of money to me. Where I live KD means 6-8%. If your RH averages 75% the EMC is 14%. So the MC of your KD wood is only going to go back up and if you try to use it before it gets there you will have problems, just as we do up here if we try to use AD wood that's been stored outdoors in our shops in the winter when the RH is 30%. I would buy AD lumber. It will naturally be close to your EMC content, and then just let it sit in your shop for a few weeks before using it. You will save money and your results are likely to be a lot better.

Strapping down milled lumber to keep it flat is an indicator of non uniform moisture. Solve the non-uniformity and you won't need to.

John

[Cody Armstrong]

Michael, I'm in Ruston, not far from you and deal with the humidity swings. When I first started resawing I made about 25 bookmatch samples and laid them all out on sticks on top of a table to finish. The next morning a walked in the shop and they all looked like pringles potato chips. Of course I freaked out!! I turned them all over and they flattened out on their own. After 3 coats of sealer on both sides and the end grain they've never cupped again and stay in the shop year round.
I've learned to always stand a glued up panel against a wall and never lay flat on a surface. I've even laid a cupped panel outside in the sun to reverse the cup. Sometimes it's good to get your panels made, gang them together in clamps so they'll stay flat. It's good practice to always sticker your pieces for a project in between milling for air flow. As others have said you could strap or weight down with stickers in between the material. I've never done either, my thinking is if it stays flat it will stay flat if it bows then try to use it as a shorter piece in the project. Different species move more or less than others, some are more stable. If your buying from a lumber/retail store then you don't have the luxury of knowing how straight the tree was the boards are coming out of. Pay attention to how flat/cupped/twisted/bowed the individual boards are and how they react when milling. What part of the tree the boards came out of and how they were sawn makes a big difference ex. flat sawn vs. quarter sawn.

[Robert Engel]

Michael,

Robert from swampy FL again.

Before I remodeled my shop it was in an old horse barn and although it had walls on all side, they didn't cover the entirety so air/moisture/dust/leaves, etc blew into the shop at will. For all intents, my shop was outside, just like yours is. I had IMMENSE problems and constant battles with my machines rusting and wood warping all the time to the point I became so frustrated I didn't even want to work with dimensional wood anymore.


I can tell you if you're missing a whole wall, you've got a huge issue there.

The remodel not only included expansion, but also double sided walls (metal on outside/plywood on inside) but no insulation. Doors & windows seal when shut (my windows used to just be openings). The only issue I have now is in the fall/winter if the temps drop as the sun hits the metal roof water condenses and drips - sometimes on my machines or my project. (After a while I learned where the drips happen).

Long winded story made short: I would start by closing in that open wall and making sure your doors and windows seal shut. Keeping the shop closed up keeps that nighttime/early morning 90+% humidity out of your shop. I PROMISE you it will make a huge difference in your ww'ing experience.

I couldn't tell you what the moisture content is of any wood I build with. The wood I have air drying I just figure 1 year/inch of thickness. For my really nice projects I buy kiln dried wood. All I worry about is the wood stable? Once a project is complete when its moved inside I expect some shrinkage so I anticipate that when building drawers and tops.

[Michael Alu]

Robert,

Remodeling right now is just not possible. Trust me, I want a fully enclosed shop with climate control. I just have to learn to deal with the humidity swings and how to work around them. Once I learn this and can still produce quality work then when I do move and invest into a fully enclosed climate controlled shop it will be cake walk.