Wood Storage Outside?

[Mike Cutler]

This past week I spent rearranging the garage, and shop, as both have become a total, well,disaster to put it mildly.
I have a lot of wood. Some I hadn't seen for a decade or more, and actually kind of forgot I had. I want to consolidate it and get it out of my way, both in the shop and garage. I am continually moving wood about to make room.
I keep thinking that I'd like to store it in the rafters above the garage boat overhang, or in the rafters above the garage. It would be protected from rain and snow, but the temps and humidity can get a bit high at certain times of the year. I also have one of those Shelter Logic, "quonset hut" style buildings. It's 10'x10x20'. Again, it gets pretty hot and humid in there also. I do have two flitched, walnut trunks air drying in there already, so it would make sense if I could put most of it in there.

It kinda of sucked to move it all about this weekend, but I found some really nice stuff I had sort of forgotten I had.It would be nice to sort it so I could keep better track of what is there.

Am I headed for disaster storing kiln dried wood in any of these locations? I can build racks to support it properly. Most of it is tropical hardwoods, with some domestic stuff.

[Steve Peterson]

It may be an obvious question, but are you sure your rafters can handle the extra weight? You said you have a LOT of wood. The rafters might have been designed to handle a load equivalent to the weight of a layer of sheetrock. Piling up lots of wood might overload them.

As far as your original question, I would not worry too much about storing wood anywhere as long as it stays dry. Does it get really damp during the winter months if there is a heavy fog? Kiln dried wood that has been in storage for 10 years should have reached a new moisture content anyway.

[Mike Cutler]

Steve

I should have been more clear. I changed my post to reflect the loft.
Only one section of the garage could support wood. There is loft built on one end that has 2x10's spanning 9' on 16" centers. One end is tied to the exterior load bearing wall, the other is on an interior load bearing wall. The decking of this area is true 1x8's. It's probably the "best" place to put the wood, but due to the access to it, a folding stairway, it's the most inconvenient. I have some walnut slabs up there right now, 9'x20"x2" and they were a bear to get up the stairs.
Right now, I'm leaning more toward the Shelter Logic building. I can make a 2x4 framework to hold the wood out there. I'd probably have to put in a gable fan kit in the Shelter Logic building. It gets really humid in there.

[John K Jordan]

Am I headed for disaster storing kiln dried wood in any of these locations? I can build racks to support it properly. Most of it is tropical hardwoods, with some domestic stuff.

Wood stored outside will eventually reach the equilibrium moisture content for the area, from one table about 11-13% in Bridgeport CT. Hard fine-grained exotics might take longer than porous species to reach EMC.

You can search google for something like equilibrium moisture content for regions in the us for charts and info.

JKJ

[Mike Cutler]

John
My shop is not climate controlled at all, other than having a roof, doors and walls. When I do projects for the house, I have to bring the lumber in the house and let it set for a few weeks first. I had a couple hundred bd/ft of cherry in the basement one winter. The wood stove and the dehumidifier keep the basement pretty dry.
Luckily, I have a very understanding wife.
Looks like I'm good storing it out of the shop and garage.
I do have a small two stall barn on the property, but it's kind of far away, 75-80 yards from the shop, and sits right at river level. It has gotten water in it in the past, so I kind of just passed on that option. Maybe I should rethink it.

[John K Jordan]

I do have a small two stall barn on the property, but it's kind of far away, 75-80 yards from the shop, and sits right at river level. It has gotten water in it in the past, so I kind of just passed on that option. Maybe I should rethink it.

You sound like me, too much wood to store in one place. I have wood stored in my shop and six other places around the farm, most of it turning wood but a bunch of rough-cut lumber from my sawmill in the barn loft. One storage place is about 1/4 mile from the shop but my little 4wd truck makes it closer. It's an 8x16' trailer in full sun so it seems to work almost like a kiln for drying turning blanks after a year or so of more gentle drying in the conditioned shop.

Another thing that works well for storage if you have the space - a shipping container or semi-trailer. I use an enclosed semi trailer (with the wheels removed) but better is an aluminum 8x8x40' shipping container modified with low side vents and roof vents for air circulation. I set it up to store hay but it works well for wood too. The trailer is better for boards and plywood since it has 9' of vertical space.

For your low-lying barn, I wonder if it would be more useful with a well-sealed floor installed just above where the water has reached in the past, perhaps in just one walled section as a storage room, vents as needed.

JKJ

[Mark Gibney]

I would avoid storing your lumber above the rafters in your garage - provided you have a good alternative. If it's difficult to access your lumber you will soon forget what you have, and you'll do less woodworking. Most of the lumber will lie up there sleeping, undisturbed for years.

[Jim Becker]

There are no terrible issues with the idea of storing lumber "outdoors"...consider that most suppliers are already doing that. What you do need to attend to is insuring it's protected from the elements and direct sunlight, elevated in a way that reduces risk from liquid moisture and insects, has reasonable air flow so that moisture changes can wick off and....as many folks have already mentioned...is accessible so you can select lumber for projects without killing yourself in the process. And I'll also stress that "on the rafters" can seriously limit both physical access and maintaining quantity because of weight. A situation where you can maintain organization and access in each of one or more locations is something to work out. Building racks can be a pain and adds cost, but it supports both organization and access. You know that if you just pile things up high, that board you actually need is going to be smack-dab in the middle on the bottom of the stack.

[Mike Cutler]

Jim
It looks like building a rack in the shelter logic building is my best alternative. If I didn't need to park the truck under the boat port, I'd just build the rack in there.

John
I have many times through the years thought about moving that barn up where I can use it. I don't have enough acreage to keep anything other than chickens and quail in that barn. Last time it flooded I had 250 quail in there. Luckily they were old enough to fly, so I opened the windows so they could get on the roof and fly off, instead of drown. They drove my two Vizsla's nuts for months running around the backyard. They were everywhere.

Mark
I'm already at the point of forgetting exactly what I have. It's kind of a mess, and working around it really kind of, well, sucks. I know in the back of my mind that I have it, but it's a mess to find it.
The odd thing is that I never made a conscious decision to have this much wood.

[Jim Becker]

Mike, based on your last comment, this will be a great opportunity for you to not just move the material, but also to catalog it at least in a simple way so you know what you have and get like-species together. That alone covers the effort, IMHO. When I moved my rack upstair in my shop building, it was very educational and I found some interesting things I had completely forgotten about!

[Corey Pelton]

I opted to hang some Wood outdoors, as I had run out of space in the garage. It’s only been a couple months, but it seems to be just fine. I’m in Southern California, so other than direct sun, not much to worry about.