I have my shop in an unfinished basement and I recently put up walls dividing it the basement into two rooms. One will be my shop and the other half will remain as storage. There's a basic layout attached and I won't bore anyone by going into the reasons behind why it is the way it is or even give much detail unless someone particularly cares. My issue is this: after getting a feel for the space after finishing it, I'm trying to find a good place to store lumber. I don't typically have a lot as I buy it as needed and rarely stock up on wood without an immediate use. I'd like to get it out of the shop section merely to better utilize space. What I'd like to do is store it in the on the wall opposite the furnace and hot water heater, which is on the other side of the shop wall. But it seems like storing it that close (about 36-40 inches) from the gas furnace (and gas hot water heater) may not be ideal. The furnace doesn't seem to put out a lot of heat there but though I haven't measured it, I suspect it's warmer there than the rest of the shop. So this seems like it might not be the best place to store the lumber, at least for the wood. Any thoughts?
Wall layout.jpg