Storing lumber vertically?

[Jared Cuneo]

I'm real limited on horizontal space in my shop and I was wondering if it was detrimental to store 8 footers standing up against a wall. I know its not ideal, but I have a wall full of cabinets on one side, a bunch of shelves for (gasp) garage type stuff on another and really have no space for a lumber rack.

Or should I just stack what I can in one tall pile (I can spare that much)....

Any thoughts?

Thanks!

JC

[David DeCristoforo]

You don't wnt your lumber leaning against the wall, unsupported in the middle. Not unless you want to end up with bowed boards. For a short time, it's OK but not for long term storage.

[Dave Lehnert]

I stand my lumber on end and have not had a problem. Some of it is 10 years old. I do stand it as upright as I can.

[J.R. Rutter]

I have some nice cantilever rack in my shop, but also have a couple hundred feet up against the wall at any given time. I don't see a problem with it if you stand it as upright as possible without toppling over. You could always attach a stringer to the wall to support the middle if bowing is an issue...

[Jeffrey Makiel]

I agree with David D. and learned this the hard way. As David stated, if you can't have a horizontal rack, then support the middle of a leaning board. Also, don't stack other shorter boards against a leaning board unless it's fully supported.

Keeping the boards vertical with some type of lashing to keep the boards from falling over would probably work too.

-Jeff :)

[joe greiner]

As said, standing up is OK for short term storage. To convert short term to long term, leave a gap at the end of the run, and flip each board in sequence to reverse bowing, so that the gap progresses to the other end of the run. Monthly probably OK, maybe weekly for questionable species.

Joe

[Bob Moyer]

FWIW: The Allentown PA woodcraft store; stores their lumber veritcally.

[Mike Parzych]

I've got vertical storage in my shop. Consists of a 2 x 8 bolted to the studs. Attached from the back of it are 14" long 2 x 8 pieces sticking out to form pockets for different species. I drilled 1" holes in the outer ends of these to allow a dowel to slip through and keep lumber from falling out. This allows me to store the lumber perpindicular to the wall so they don't lean against each other and bow. And it allows me to take out individual boards without moving a whole pile. If you keep the "pockets" full the lumber doesn't bow - stands upright and straight.

[Robert Trotter]

I live in Japan and 95% of the wood that I have seen is stored vertically. (Not that I have seen mountains of wood:) ) But that does mean "vertically", not "leaning" against a wall on an angle. I will have to store mine vertically also as my "shop" is small. The idea of making little "pockets" sounds like a great idea. Would allow you to keep things vertical and as stated and give easy access and "looking through" space. I think I will go this way myself. I suppose my old storage space was just this. It just happened to be pipes rather than purpose made supports.

Go for it. If you are worried just check every now and again and flip the boards. Just remember to allow some air flow.

Rob

[Jim Becker]

It doesn't matter what the orientation of the lumber is for storage as long as it's supported properly. An almost vertical rack would be my choice in a second if I had the head-room...there would just be horizontal support strapping every two feet or so to insure that the boards could not bend over time.

[Dave Dionne]

I remember seeing a picute and correct me if I am wrong but I believe that Sam Moloof keeps his 100,000 + brd ft of lumber vertical.

I need to do the same I have a few hundred brd feet stickered and taking up floor space.

[Jeff Raymond]

I keep my lumber flat on the floor (horizontally) with stacks no higher than about 3 feet. Piles are stacked by species with the thicker materials, for the most part, on the bottom.

It is much easier to sort wood by looking down on it and moving it around. In addition, most of the wood I have originally comes in 14 foot lengths which would require a much taller wood storage area.

When you have your lumber on the deck, i can visualize it much better. You can also place shorter pieces end to end for later use without taking up as much space as in a vertical mode.

Finally (at last), I can take a quick look at a pile and know when I need to get more inventory. Like to have many pieces to choose from for a specific need. Easier to do that on the deck.

[Hunter Wallace]

Don't trees GROW vertically???:p ???

[Bob Feeser]

Don't trees grow vertically. I got a good chuckle out of that one, way to go. :)
My wood is stacked horizontally in my shop. Since it is all pretty much the same size boards, like 2x12's, it keeps each piece from getting too much exposure on one side, and none on the other. It also is in a cool basement, even in the summer time.
It is interesting to note that Norm at NYW mentioned that he stored wood on a rack in his heated shop, but he wasted too much wood to warpage that way, so they built an outside storage shed for it.
David Marks from WoodWorks TV show has an outside shed for storage as well, and he goes out to pick up a piece of wood, that is standing vertically. At least that is what I recall.
Wood is kiln dried laying horizontally, with spacers in between.
Some wood moves no matter how you stack it, especially if it has a big ugly knot in the middle of it, or most especially along one edge.
I have about 600 board feet of wood that is about 2 years stacked, and all but the smaller pieces have not moved.
The 2 saw mills I visit, both stack their wood horizontally.
If you must stack it vertically, the real problem as far as I am concerned is that the boards can wind up with a varying degree of exposure, resulting in uneven moisture venting, while not enjoying any support from the weight of the other pieces, and that results in a greater degree of warpage no matter how you look at it.
I think we need to consider the width of the stock here too. I remember the Woodworks outside storage had some 3 and 4 inch stock vertically standing.
If you had thinner stock, and was forced to stand it vertically, would it be beneficial to wrap similar size pieces with shipping film, like they use at Home Depot when they are wrapping something? That would at least allay the moisture exposure problem. (With the understanding that you are not storing wood with higher moisture content, that would benefit from aging.)
That's all I can think of at the moment.

[Jeff Raymond]

Here's the Big Deal statement: All wood moves all the time with temperature change and humidity. That is, except for some species about 50 years after the initial drying, then it slows down.

Actually trees grow both in height and in width. Lumber expands and contracts across the grain much more that with the grain.

Bad news: Trees don't grow vertically...only.

Next thing you want me to say is there is no such thing as a straight cut?

Hint: Nope.

[John Bush]

I had limited space for wood storage in my old shop so I hung a rack made of scrap 2x4s from the rafters and was able to store several hundred feet of treasures overhead. Access was easy and I didn't mind the reduced ceiling eight.

[Ray Knight]

God stores it vertically in the manufacturing process. Ray

[Eddie Darby]

...and just to be safe I also put all my furniture horizontal so it won't bend..... not.

If the wood is dried to around 8 - 10 % moisture content, and your shop isn't extremely humid, then you can do whatever you like with it. Stable is stable.

[David Giles]

Due to limited shop space, my wood swings both ways, horizontal and vertical storage. A couple of tips for vertical storage. First, as someone else pointed out, leaning is not vertical. If you don't need straps and tiedowns, it's not vertical. Second, put hardiplank, styrofoam or something on the concrete floor to prevent moisture transfer to the end grain. Third, square cut one end of the board so that it stands vertical.

Vertical storage beats climbing a step ladder to take down a 12ft long board from a pile stored on the bottom of the pile located over the garage door tracks.

[Ryan Bess]

I store almost everything vertically. My storage room is only 12' x 12', and I like to be able to easily "leaf" through my supply to get a good view of each board.

[Darrin Davis]

In my shop class we have stored almost all lumber vertically for years and have had no problem with it. To me it's much easier to search through the boards while their vertical. I hate pulling the top ones off to look through a pile stored horizontally.

[Bill Keehn]

I used to store my lumber vertically and the only trouble I had was with 3/4 lumber. However, it wasn't a very efficient use of space in my shop, and it was not a good solution for my sheet goods. Also I was always afraid someone was going to bump into it and hurt themselves while bringing in groceries.

Now I have a pair of 5 shelf units rated for heavy duty from Home Depot. Each shelf is rated for 1/2 ton. They were about $70 each. The units are 6' tall, 4' wide, 2' deep I stand them side by side for a total length of 8'.
I now file my lumber horizontally on its edge, sorted by species and width. Since the wood is not stacked, I can easily slide boards out and put boards back as I search for the piece I want. Being able to see the ends makes it alot easier to find my quartersawn lumber too. The units stand about 12" away from the wall and this is where I store my sheet goods on the long edge.

I'm pretty happy with the solution. The only downside was that the shelving itself was 1/2" particle board and after inserting it into the steel shelf frame, it left a 1/4" steel lip exposed. Since I prefer to hold the steel in my hand when scraping my wood, I thought I better fix that. I put 1/4" MDF sheets on top the particle board and that worked fine.

[julie Graf]

mike, do you have a picture of your system?

[Bill Keehn]

Here are a few pics (per request). The astute might note that I actually am storing my ambrosia maple flat. The boards dont really have much in the way of flat edges and seemed more stable this way.

[julie Graf]

thanks bill!

that looks like a great system.
i like how you have space for sheet goods behind the racks.

cheers,
julie

[Mick Zelaska]

You don't wnt your lumber leaning against the wall, unsupported in the middle. Not unless you want to end up with bowed boards. For a short time, it's OK but not for long term storage.

That explains why it takes so long to go through the vertical lumber racks at Home Depot and Lowes to find a straight board!!