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Longer term wood storage question

AndyF

Stainless
Joined
Nov 3, 2003
Location
Phelps, NY, USA
Are there any issues or concerns that I should be aware of with longer term storage of kiln dried hardwood in a dry unconditioned barn?

The reason for the question is that I've purchased some nice wood from a sawyer who is downsizing and getting ready for retirement and has very fair prices. I've purchased what I need for interior trim and cabinets in the house I'm renovating and am debating purchasing more to hold for projects that are on my Grandpa and fun projects list.

I have plenty of space in the barn and can sticker the wood
 
I think the answer to your question is about bugs. If you can keep the wood dry and bug free it will last a long long time.
 
Bugs is really the question. If it has been kiln dried at high temperature the bugs already in the wood will be killed. If done at low temp they may survive and then chew up your wood. Once kiln dried it should be fine in the barn stickered and stacked with some air around.
Periodically inspect the wood piles to see if there are any little piles of sawdust (chew dust) that you can see as this will be evidence of bugs. Usually they are in the sapwood/bark area and if the bark is left on then that can be a problem.
Good luck.
 
Barns are usually not really dry relative humidity.
As others noted, bugs/worms are the enemy.
The only wood i've ever had from, or stored longish term in a barn that remained pest free was some white oak, and walnut heartwood. The ones that will go really bad really fast are hard maple & holly, as well as many other soft-ish hardwoods.

BTW, once the wood is infested, i don't think anything but heat or longish term fumigation chamber (there are gov't guidelines) will rid them. OTOH, the necessary heat is not high, but needs to be complete to the core. So essentially re-kiln drying.
 
Andy, a couple of questions for you:
What quantity are we talking about?
How recently was the lumber kin dried?
When you bought the wood, was there any sign of bug infestation- dust, holes?

I live in the same area as the OP, have slowly air dried wood in barns, and have not had bug problems. Did buy some very old walnut that came out of PA that showed bug signs after a year. Cut off the sapwood and burned it, never saw anything again. I have certainly seen piles of wood in barns (I used to always be looking for wood) that were seriously infested, made me want to take a hot shower before going back into my shop.

I be concerned with the stock picking up moisture from the unheated environment. Wood tends to equilibrate at about 12% around here. I bought some maple that had spent 25 years in a loft of a carriage house, was at 10 - 12%, had to run it thru my dehumidification kiln.

If we're not talking about large quantities, I'd be tempted to wrap it up in plastic sheeting, taped up. No need to be on sticks if it's already dry.
 
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As an addenda to Richard's post - if you have a moisture meter and have kept track of the MC of the wooden structure in your storage barn, i have some sense that if the MC stays at 12% & under, the wood does fine. But if there are extended periods in spring and fall when it gets up to 15 or 18% there can be problems. Around 12% is the level that free water is gone (from between cell walls) and the remainder is bound water, part of the cell walls.

Also, if the wood is in an area of the barn that can reach temperatures over 135+ for extended periods, it can cook out the bugs. But this means the wood has to stay at or above that temperature for a couple days or so, not drop at night.

Also, i would never sticker KD wood, and would prefer to seal up, but that is not really possible long term.

smt
 
The problems discussed above bring up another consideration. That is the value and cost of wood in your storage and use conditions.

I have walnut cut in 1983 that has been stored in varying conditions over the years. Not all good. After a couple decades some sapwood showed a few bug holes and I ripped it off. The heartwood is still fine.

I also have various hardwoods from the last 10-15 years that has been stored in conditioned space, enclosed unconditioned space and outdoors under cover. The later, to no surprise, shows more degradation. But there is still plenty of good wood in the stacks.

The point that seems most important to me is that none of it cost me anything other than the labor of sawing and transport along with the bother of it hanging around. Long story short, I would not pay much for wood that I could not store reasonably well and without much effort or cost. Then any degrade is not too bothersome or costly. Its just firewood.
 
Andy, I'm a kiln and sawmill operator. If it were me, I'd sprinkle some boric acid based powder around the perimeter of your stack and shrink wrap it. My preferred product is Timbor; you can buy it off of e-bay. It is very non-toxic to people and pets.

Lyctid powder post beetles and dry wood termites are the primary concerns for dry lumber. Fortunately they are not as much of a problem in your area as they are in other parts of the US. Almost all kiln dried lumber is sterilized at the end of the kiln cycle so any pests, eggs, larvae, etc should be dead. What you want to do is keep the pests out and minimize the wood's ability to regain moisture.

You do NOT want to sticker kiln dried lumber - that will only allow all of the boards to regain moisture. Flat stacked is best. Likewise, there is no need to end seal already dry lumber. End sealing is only appropriate for green lumber / logs, and it is only effective if applied within 3 days of having a fresh cut on the end of the green logs.

Are you able to fork the stacks in place within your storage barn, or will you have to stack the lumber board by board?

Kind regards,

Scott
 
Andy, a couple of questions for you:
What quantity are we talking about?
How recently was the lumber kin dried?
When you bought the wood, was there any sign of bug infestation- dust, holes?

I live in the same area as the OP, have slowly air dried wood in barns, and have not had bug problems. Did buy some very old walnut that came out of PA that showed bug signs after a year. Cut off the sapwood and burned it, never saw anything again. I have certainly seen piles of wood in barns (I used to always be looking for wood) that were seriously infested, made me want to take a hot shower before going back into my shop.

I be concerned with the stock picking up moisture from the unheated environment. Wood tends to equilibrate at about 12% around here. I bought some maple that had spent 25 years in a loft of a carriage house, was at 10 - 12%, had to run it thru my dehumidification kiln.

If we're not talking about large quantities, I'd be tempted to wrap it up in plastic sheeting, taped up. No need to be on sticks if it's already dry.
I’ll try to answer your questions. The wood will be run thru his kiln before delivery to kill any insects.

The wood I have already received from him - primarily Ash and White Pine with a little Red Oak didn’t have any signs of insect damage. He will be delivering a mix of plain, rift and quarter sawn white oak in December after it goes they the kiln. Before he put it into storage (open air) in a three sided shed it was kiln dried and stacked w/o stickers.

In terms of quantity, he has several thousand board feet of a variety of species available. I don’t know how much I would buy, other than it would be several hundred board feet.

Between the Ash, Pine and White Oak I am already getting more than 1,000 bf. for trim, cabinets and a stairway in the house.
 
Andy, I'm a kiln and sawmill operator. If it were me, I'd sprinkle some boric acid based powder around the perimeter of your stack and shrink wrap it. My preferred product is Timbor; you can buy it off of e-bay. It is very non-toxic to people and pets.

Lyctid powder post beetles and dry wood termites are the primary concerns for dry lumber. Fortunately they are not as much of a problem in your area as they are in other parts of the US. Almost all kiln dried lumber is sterilized at the end of the kiln cycle so any pests, eggs, larvae, etc should be dead. What you want to do is keep the pests out and minimize the wood's ability to regain moisture.

You do NOT want to sticker kiln dried lumber - that will only allow all of the boards to regain moisture. Flat stacked is best. Likewise, there is no need to end seal already dry lumber. End sealing is only appropriate for green lumber / logs, and it is only effective if applied within 3 days of having a fresh cut on the end of the green logs.

Are you able to fork the stacks in place within your storage barn, or will you have to stack the lumber board by board?

Kind regards,

Scott
Thanks for the thoughtful reply. The wood is going into a loft in the barn. I fork it to the loft, but have to hand stack in the loft. I’ll try to boric acid around the perimeter and will not sticker the wood.
 
Thanks for the thoughtful reply. The wood is going into a loft in the barn. I fork it to the loft, but have to hand stack in the loft. I’ll try to boric acid around the perimeter and will not sticker the wood.

I would think laying out a sheet of thick polythene, then stacking the boards on top, the pulling the polythene over the stack and sealing with duct tape, then pulling the air out with a shop vac/household vac, then final sealing would be the ticket. Wouldn't be hard to do.
 








 
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