Lumber storage - Is this a crazy idea?

[Alan Lightstone]

I have a number of hoists in my new workshop that I'm just about finished with. A really bad back has made them necessary.

One problem I'm running into with my shop design is a location for lumber storage. There really is no space in the shop, and I'm trying to get it out of the garage. I had an interesting idea.

What do you all think of building a lumber rack over the doors to the finishing room, and lifting wood on and off of it with an overhead hoist? The doors are 6 feet tall, double French doors, so the rack would be pretty elevated. I have enough horizontal room on that wall (last wall left to do that).

Small boards I could lower with a small basket of sorts. Alternatively, I could take a sheet of 3/4" plywood, and have attachments to the load leveler on each side, but a large distance apart (maybe 6 feet or longer) so that I could easily slide boards on and off the movable shelf easily. When not used, I can just raise up the shelf out of the way. There are 15-1/2' ceilings, so room vertically for lumber and keeping the shelf out of the way are a non-issue. I was thinking with a load leveler, I could take a sheet of plywood, and build a movable platform that I could place the lumber on, then lower it to the ground.

Is this crazy? Unsafe?

I have my large crosscut sled stored hanging over my table saw and it's fantastic lowering it down and getting it out of the way when I need to, without having to lift anything. I was thinking I could use that same concept with boards.

If this is clear as mud, I can draw a picture. Still learning SketchUp, so this might be an excuse to make a drawing.

[Paul F Franklin]

Don't see why it couldn't work...just make everything beefy enough for the load and make sure you are well out of the way when raising or lowering it. Alternatively you could use a piece of iron pipe as an axle at one end and only lower the opposite end.

[glenn bradley]

My success with such a thing would vary with the ease in which I could retrieve the material I was after. I currently store vertically so I don't have to dig very much to get what I am after. I would be more inclined to look into a long lean-to along an outside wall. This is in my plans for my current build. A 14' long, 6' deep structure with a door at each end. The lumber will store in a wall rack on the wall that meets the primary building. I keep my wood rack "arms" at a vertical spread that only allows a few boards per arm. This leads back to my statement about not wanting to have to dig through much to get at what I want. I would rather store less in a usable fashion than have each trip to the stack turn into a mining expedition ;-)

[Frederick Skelly]

I'm not completely following your implementation, but putting your lumber on a properly made and secured hoist doesnt sound crazy to me. The devil's in the details of course.

I store some lumber in my rafters and other lumber up high on the walls. I use a ladder for access, but if you set it up carefully you should be able to rig a hoist to a shelf or bin.

Would enjoy seeing a sketch or picture of your idea.

Fred

[Jim Becker]

Not crazy at all if you can implement it safely. That said, if there's a way to support vertical storage, that might also be more comfortable for you as you could then move most boards around without having to bend over.

[Alan Lightstone]

Here's a copy of drawings. No great Sketchup skills here.
420198420199

The biggest problem I am seeing is having the reach to reach over the caddy to the lumber rack to get a board. It would be quite a reach for boards in the back.

Thinking of vertical storage, but would boards warping be an issue. Also, not sure I have enough space to the right side of the door to do that (it would interfere at the right with my drill press, for example.)

[Steve Jenkins]

I like Paul’s idea of a pipe axle and only lowering one end. That would give the advantage of near vertical for sorting and getting what you need.

[Alan Lightstone]

Not sure I understand the pipe axel plan.

[Jim Becker]

H
Thinking of vertical storage, but would boards warping be an issue.

Vertical storage doesn't inherently promote warping if the material is properly supported. You don't just lean it up against the wall. It still gets "cradled" like it would in a horizontal rack, but rather than level, it's on a very steep slope. Unless you put the boards in willy-nilly, they should be just as flat as they ever were. I'd do vertical lumber storage in a split second if I had the head-room, but unfortunately, an 8' ceiling isn't the best for that. (And I have my racks upstairs where the roof slope at about 45º...)

[Ted Calver]

Vertical was my only option because of a mechanical room interrupting the wall space. Pipe, floor flanges, end caps and some chain and carabiners. Works great. Lets you leaf through your wood to select a piece without having to stack and re-stack. Also lets you store various length pieces together....and comes in handy for storing long non-wood stuff.

420243,420244,420245

[Bernie LeBlanc]

Vertical storage is the best way to store lumber stock! It takes less footprint space of your workshop and is the best way to store your lumber.

The beauty of storing lumber vertically is that you will be allowing your lumber to do what it wants (and in the end) to do naturally. Unless you know what natural tendencies your lumber wants to form or follow, your build will be a crap shoot because in the end, lumber will follow its' natural instinct. Vertical storage will guide you through the 1st steps of milling your lumber. All natural twists and turns will be defined and you will know your best options...

[Paul F Franklin]

Not sure I understand the pipe axel plan.

Imagine a sheet of plywood suspended parallel to the ceiling but a couple of feet below it. One short end of the plywood is attached to a length of pipe. The pipe is longer than the plywood is wide, and the pipe runs into holes in two lengths of vertical lumber, one on each side. Lumber runs up to and is attached to the ceiling framing. Now the other end of the plywood is free to move up and down, pivoting on the pipe, which acts an axle. You attach a rope or chain or whatever to the free side so you can drop the plywood down to access the lumber stacked on it, and then pull it back up to get it out of the way for storage.

Obviously you would need sides or side frames on the plywood, and a single sheet wouldn't be long enough, but you get the idea. You'd need a hoist or block and tackle to handle the weight.

[Alan Lightstone]

Imagine a sheet of plywood suspended parallel to the ceiling but a couple of feet below it. One short end of the plywood is attached to a length of pipe. The pipe is longer than the plywood is wide, and the pipe runs into holes in two lengths of vertical lumber, one on each side. Lumber runs up to and is attached to the ceiling framing. Now the other end of the plywood is free to move up and down, pivoting on the pipe, which acts an axle. You attach a rope or chain or whatever to the free side so you can drop the plywood down to access the lumber stacked on it, and then pull it back up to get it out of the way for storage.

Obviously you would need sides or side frames on the plywood, and a single sheet wouldn't be long enough, but you get the idea. You'd need a hoist or block and tackle to handle the weight.

Sorta getting it. Isn't the lumber sliding down /moving laterally when the one side is lowered an issue (and safety hazard)? I guess the sliding could be handled by a vertical member on the lowering side of the plywood shelf. But how many pieces high could you stack boards? I mean, you couldn't put stickers between boards and then tilt the whole plywood shelf down, could you?

[Alan Lightstone]

Vertical was my only option because of a mechanical room interrupting the wall space. Pipe, floor flanges, end caps and some chain and carabiners. Works great. Lets you leaf through your wood to select a piece without having to stack and re-stack. Also lets you store various length pieces together....and comes in handy for storing long non-wood stuff.

420243,420244,420245

Is there a particular system you use to know where each board species is? I can see this getting pretty confusing in a hurry.

I have a huge amount of vertical space for storage I'd love to use (really tall ceilings), but very limited in horizontal space to use for vertical storage, but I can see it being a simpler option.

[Ted Calver]

Is there a particular system you use to know where each board species is? I can see this getting pretty confusing in a hurry.....

Alan, I don't have a lot of wood and only cherry, maple, walnut and Spanish cedar in any significant quantity. I try and store those species together, so it's really not hard to find what I want. I have a few odds and ends of exotic species mixed in with the rest. Most of those have a pencil label on the end, but I've lost track of what some of the short pieces are. Gotta try and do a better job at keeping them individually labeled, but that's a problem no matter how you store your wood. If there was lots more wood and many more species I would probably just hang a little name tag from the keeper chain in front of each section to let me know what was there.

A few years ago I visited a gentleman near me who had several thousand board feet in vertical storage. IIRC each species was tightly banded in bundles within each section and each section was neatly labeled. It is an amazing collection of native and exotic species that he has been collecting in anticipation of eventually retiring.

[Matt Lau]

I saw something like the OP suggested in a Taunton book.

[andy bessette]

Not crazy at all...

Disagree--it's crazy to make lumber storage as complicated as possible. :)

[Jim Becker]

Disagree--it's crazy to make lumber storage as complicated as possible. :)

It might not be the most efficient or most desirable solution for sure. But there's a whole lot of crazy in the world and this idea at least has brought out some great conversation. "Crazy" is subjective, however, so you could very well be...um...correct... ;)

[Alan Lightstone]

Wow, this post took an ugly turn.

My requirements/constraints are:

1.) Fitting my lumber in my workshop.
2.) Horizontal storage space is virtually non-existent at this point.
3.) My ceilings are 15-1/2' tall, so above door height, storage space is plentiful, especially over the doors to the finishing room.
4.) I have a very bad/painful back and neck, so lifting lumber overhead without mechanical assistance is impossible, and incredibly painful. A total non-starter at this point in my life.

Any suggestions how to accomplish that?

[Alan Lightstone]

I saw something like the OP suggested in a Taunton book.

Matt:

Do you remember which Taunton book it was in?

[Jim Becker]

Wow, this post took an ugly turn.

Smilies = having fun, Alan. Please smile with us. I know I absolutely meant no offense with my most previous post.

-----
Based on the list of four things that you listed, I'd absolutely try to do vertical storage if you can find some place to do that...you have the headroom and I really do believe it will be the easiest for your back/neck situation, both for sorting/selecting and also storing/retrieving. Any lifting can be done without actually bending much, if at all, with vertical lumber storage and you can lever things down to get "a" board horizontal without much bending at all, too.

[ChrisA Edwards]

Ok, so this is totally off the wall, no pun intended.Do you have an open 9'x 16' area? Or an area that size that you could move stuff into and out of?

I had a three car garage, but needed a four car garage for my toys. I had 13' high ceilings, so the wife suggested I buy a 4 post car lift. I bought one that would give me a 6'6" clearance underneath when at full height. I put motorcycles, ATV's and ZTR lawn mowers on it. I expanded the platform size to 8' x16' by using 3/4" 4'x8' sheets of plywood doubled up. If worked on 110v, would raise in about 90 seconds and lower in about 20. I even built a 4'x 23' platform all along the back wall of my garage and used the car lift as an elevator to put a couple of motorcycles up on the rear wall platform.

Here's a little slideshow of pictures showing the whole process.
https://www.mad-ducati.com/SlideShow6.php?mode=Gallery&GalleryId=vUoCLCL7I6nDOAVjUL0Df0Daq1zTafrACR0Df003

This lift would make an ideal place for storage.

I bought this when I lived in NJ, assembled it myself with a duct lift, and moved two more times with it to FL and TN, disassembling and assembling it. Probably not some you are likely to be able to so Alan, but not beyond something that could be done with a couple of friends help.

https://www.mad-ducati.com/Gallery/cedwards/G170/SuburbanInGarage.jpg


https://www.mad-ducati.com/Gallery/cedwards/G170/Picture109m.jpg

https://www.mad-ducati.com/Gallery/cedwards/G170/AccessToDeck.jpg

https://www.mad-ducati.com/Gallery/cedwards/G170/996andDB2Stored.jpg



https://www.mad-ducati.com/Gallery/cedwards/G170/Picture075m.jpg

[Jim Becker]

That's a really kewel idea, Chris!

[Alan Lightstone]

An interesting idea, Chris, but I don't think I want to have to dodge columns in the workshop. The entry door is just to the side of the area I am interested in storing lumber, so you would have to enter the shop under the lift, and dodge the columns. They might also interfere with outfeed from the planer and wide-belt sander. But a very interesting idea...

[Carl Beckett]

I have wood stored on some high horizontal shelves. And also in an overhead loft. Some considerations: Wood is heavy. Make sure it is properly supported including no risk of falling off when sorting through.

For me, the board I usually want is not the top board. So digging through a stack to get the board I want to use, while high up, is a major pain. And sometimes means taking a bunch of boards down, getting the one I want, then putting the rest back.

Make sure the supports are level the full length. This is what is keeping the boards straight over time.

Otherwise, it can make space. One batch of wood I have stored this way I havent touched in a couple years (now you can ask why I hoard all this wood... a different topic).

[Roger Feeley]

Alan, there are no crazy ideas. The beauty of being able to do things for yourself is being able to do them over. Give it a try. If it doesn't work out, try something else.

Because you can!

[Rick Potter]

How about one of those little plastic sheds? They make a lean-to that goes along a wall.

[Richard Wolf]

Store it outside, under a roof of some type. Use a tarp to protect it. Most wood dealers don't store their wood in conditioned space.

[Jim Becker]

Store it outside, under a roof of some type. Use a tarp to protect it. Most wood dealers don't store their wood in conditioned space.

Alan is in SW Florida...not sure that storing outside is a good idea for both moisture and critter reasons and shed roofs and the like get interesting to deal with because of heavy storm challenges. It would also mean that the material is farther from his work flow which, given his stated physical concerns, makes things more difficult.

[Alan Lightstone]

Alan is in SW Florida...not sure that storing outside is a good idea for both moisture and critter reasons and shed roofs and the like get interesting to deal with because of heavy storm challenges. It would also mean that the material is farther from his work flow which, given his stated physical concerns, makes things more difficult.

Plus, SWMBO would kill me if I put up a shed. So inside it is.

Still trying to figure out options. None great yet.

[Jim Becker]

Plus, SWMBO would kill me if I put up a shed. So inside it is.



Nobody can argue with that and win!!

[John Lifer]

I've two horizontal racks that I use for a lot of my wood. These were Rockler or similar tubing type units. Got them on walls high enough that bottom shelf is eye level, rest goes to the ceiling.
Works ok, but not the easiest to sort. with lift next to it, It would be hard to use.

[Alan Lightstone]

Still wrapping my head about what to do here. I clearly need both some sheet storage, but especially board storage. Have lots of space at over door height, but very limited at ground level in shop.

Anyone have a great solution for me. I'll post some pictures of the area, once my contractor gets the exhaust fan done in my finishing room so I can move stuff out of the way.

[Tom Bender]

How about Chris's basic concept but with only two posts, against the wall? It would be like you installed part of a fork truck.

No I don't know where to get such a lift, it may exist only in my head, but that's a start.

[johnny means]

I think the Rube Goldberg approach is both impractical and dangerous. There is always going to be some variable that your initial engineering didn't take into account. From the sounds of it, you are in no condition to deal with sudden awkward situations or dive out the way really quickly. I would look into getting a manual pallet stacker. That would solve the height and lifting issue with a safe proven solution.

[andy bessette]

Here's a copy of drawings...
420198420199...

"Storage space" like this should be reserved for stuff needing very infrequent access, like Christmas ornaments. For that you can drag out a ladder twice a year.

Lumber should be stored where you can easily search through it to select the pieces most appropriate to the particular project.

[Dave Burson]

Would love to hear details of the exhaust fan in your finish room Alan, as well as route for the return air into that! I'm in the middle of shop setup, and that part is on hold until I get a better idea... TIA
Dave

[Mark Daily]

Alan- how about building a platform with sides, perhaps similar to a pallet, that you can load your wood onto. The platform is raised and lowered using an electric winch. You would probably need 4 attachment points, one at each corner to attach a cable that would then be attached to the winch cable.

If you think this might work, I can make some drawings to illustrate what I mean.

422207



(Very simple drawing)

Maybe a hoist like this:
https://www.harborfreight.com/1300-lb-electric-hoist-with-remote-control-62853.html

422209

[ChrisA Edwards]

To Mark's idea, I installed an Attic lift in my old Dallas house. I had a large unfinished attic above my garage.

If you have strong ceiling mount points, a lift similar to this could easily be made.

You load your wood on the platform, raise it for storage and bring it down when you need a piece.

https://u6u5j8x4.stackpathcdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/06/Lifting-Storage-Items-Into-Attic-300x400.png

[Mark Daily]

To Mark's idea, I installed an Attic lift in my old Dallas house. I had a large unfinished attic above my garage.

If you have strong ceiling mount points, a lift similar to this could easily be made.

You load your wood on the platform, raise it for storage and bring it down when you need a piece.

https://u6u5j8x4.stackpathcdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/06/Lifting-Storage-Items-Into-Attic-300x400.png
Exactly what I had in mind but inside the garage, perhaps with a simpler lift system.

[Tom Dixon]

The harbor freight hoist is a great idea. If you used two pair of lumber racks like these https://www.grizzly.com/products/Grizzly-Lumber-Rack-6-Shelf-System/T27630 and mounted them on 2x4s with cross members in the back and used barn door guide tracks https://www.homedepot.com/p/National-Hardware-Galvanized-8-ft-Plain-Box-Rail-5116BC-8-BOX-RA/206653380 with these https://www.homedepot.com/p/National-Hardware-Zinc-Box-Rail-Hangers-5005-BOX-RAIL-H/206653373 connected to the 2x4s you could lower the entire wood rack to the floor put stuff on it and raise it back to the ceiling.