i am building a climbing frame for a school and will be using 6x 300mm diameter, 4m long Douglas Fir posts for the load bearing legs.
The lumber yard I am buying from is a long way from where I will be installing the climbing frame and there is a massive humidity swing between the 2 locations. Currently they are finished/turned and stored inside in a 30% humidity environment. My shop is 90% humidity (I know - terrible, but its a 15,000sqft shop and at the moment I can't afford to climate control the whole thing).
Can I fight it? I will have the logs in my shop for 1 month for construction/assembly but I am worried that this will be enough time for cracking to appear before I can get the installation erected on site. Cracks appearing after install I can argue - getting sign off on cracked posts on install day is another story. The posts will have to settle to their new environment over time I know but I need a way to slow the process down as much as possible.
If I were to douse them in a sealer the moment they arrive in my shop can I arrest the moisture absorption sufficiently to prevent cracking? I could ask the lumber yard to seal them before they leave but that would be an additional cost I could do without.
Any tips/advice would be gratefully received.