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.
Lumber Rack 1.jpgLumber Rack 2.jpg

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.

IMG_1259.jpg,IMG_1250.jpg,IMG_1265.jpg

[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.

IMG_1259.jpg,IMG_1250.jpg,IMG_1265.jpg

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.