Storing Lumber

[astrohip]

I've searched this forum, but my google-fu is failing me...

I would like to build something to store lumber. To give you an idea of my storage needs, I like to keep 4-6 sheets of plywood, and a bunch of dimensional lumber, probably 30-40 sticks (total) of various sizes (2x4, 4x4, 2x10, 1x4, yada yada). Eight to ten feet of depth is plenty.

I've got this semi-dead space between my workshop and the side of my barn. It's just shy of 7' wide, with plenty of depth (20'+). I've got steel columns and purlins on two sides, and the shop on the third side. Shop is simple 2x4 stick frame. I was thinking something that spans that space would be uber-handy. I could raise it off the ground, so it's easy to access (bending down is a PITA), plus I could store misc items underneath. May need to reinforce the shop side, not sure how much weight a 2x4 (std 16" centers) wall can carry? For that matter, not sure how much weight the purlins can hold?

Ideas?

 

[tjdux]

Have you googled lumber rack images? Also check out Pinterest. There's tons of great examples out there.

Do you want mobility with castor wheels?

You said deminsional lumber but do you also ever work with hard woods and save small drops?

A lot of guys make lumber racks out of shirt pipe ******* that mount in holes drilled into a 2x4 ran vertically up the wall.

I feel spanning a shelf 20ft deep all 7 ft of width will make an inaccessible black hole. You definitely want something on only 1 wall or both as long as theres a walk space.

Ned Norton on here has a beautiful vertical plywood storage cart on castors that may be good inspiration for your organizing needs. It's designed to hold aboit 6 full sheets and then several different smaller peices as well.

That general area also looks like a prime spot for dust collection and air compressor. It would be very easy to make a noise reducing closet area back there

Sent from my SM-G900V using Tapatalk

 

[Dr Stan]

I would build the storage rack to be self supporting only using the purlins as a means to keep it stable & in place. Storing the 2 X's would then be a simple matter. It could also be utilized for pipe, 1" and less solid stock, tubing, smaller structural, etc.

Sheet goods are a different story. There's a very good reason HD, Lowes, etc store/display all sheet goods flat. Stood on end they bend, especially dry wall. I do have some sheet goods stored vertically, but only have one full sheet of OSB with the remainder consisting of drop offs. The only material I store flat is dry wall as even a half sheet will bend stored vertically. I can access our attic from the garage and have a drywall lift making it possible to use the space for dry wall storage.

I failed to follow this procedure with some sheets of MDF and had to deal with it bending. Fortunately I was using if for interior wall covering and it was not difficult to straighten by attaching it to the studs.

On edit:tjdux made very good points.

 

[jimreed2160]

A quick solution would be to purchase some 4 ft open industrial shelving and stack the units together. That would create cubbies for different types of wood. The rear space would be great for vertical storage of random length hardwoods. As for the sheet goods, good luck. Anything I have over 3 ft long seems to bend over time. Of course, you could always use the bottom group of shelves and store the sheets flat.

Good luck with your project. That nice space you have is a great place to start.

 

[readhead]

The girts are not designed to hold anything but the siding. You would be better off using the framed wall.

 

[Warrenator]

Agree with JimReed2160 above, go on craigslist and buy some used industrial shelving, sometimes listed as warehouse shelving. It is modular and goes together in a bunch of with a hammer. Build the rack of your dreams, free standing.

I got lucky and bought 32 units for $500 of a light industrial shelving, took me two trailers full to get it all home. Guy had bought a business and needed to clean out the warehouse NOW.

 

[Super Sport]

Ned Norton on here has a beautiful vertical plywood storage cart on castors that may be good inspiration for your organizing needs. It's designed to hold aboit 6 full sheets and then several different smaller peices as well.

Here is a link to Ned's thread with pictures of his storage rack in post #20: http://www.garagejournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=296080.

 

[bczygan]

I wouldn't waste precious inside space for dimensional lumber.

Covered outside with sheet goods on edge and 2x material sorted so you can pull out from the end. Think of traditional lumber yards.

Bill

 

[ddawg16]

I wouldn't waste precious inside space for dimensional lumber.

Covered outside with sheet goods on edge and 2x material sorted so you can pull out from the end. Think of traditional lumber yards.

Bill

In Texas? Good way to ruin it in no time.

 

[ddawg16]

I would go for the free standing rack was well....nothing on the ground so you reduce the chances of 'critters' using it as a home.

I would do like a double sided A frame....bottom to hold 4x8 sheets of what ever stored on edge....then the first rack would be about 52" from the floor.

Nice thing about an A frame....the racks are an integral part of the frame and don't take extra bracing....

 

[dun]

Here's something to think about which I never see in any shop articles, magazine or web, on storing hardwood...

Any warehouse store or lumberyard will have hardwood stored standing on end leaning on the wall with just post dividers between types. Every cabinet shop I've worked in has done the same as soon as the banding is cut. It's just far easier to get to, and if you don't have other lumber, a pallet, or solid shelf under it, the boards will take the shape of the supports it's laid on. Plus it's easier to choose the boards you want.

Just a thought that came to me when I saw how much vertical space you have.

 

[ddawg16]

Here's something to think about which I never see in any shop articles, magazine or web, on storing hardwood...

Any warehouse store or lumberyard will have hardwood stored standing on end leaning on the wall with just post dividers between types. Every cabinet shop I've worked in has done the same as soon as the banding is cut. It's just far easier to get to, and if you don't have other lumber, a pallet, or solid shelf under it, the boards will take the shape of the supports it's laid on. Plus it's easier to choose the boards you want.

Just a thought that came to me when I saw how much vertical space you have.

^^ Good point....

 

[johnnyradiant]

I had to store my dimensional stuff horizontally due to space and ceiling height issues. My shorter stuff gets stored upright. I have a raised closet in a corner that has some more ceiling height that my sheet goods are stored up right in. Do not store your lumber outside unless your finished product is going outside, and/or you have Sanford & Son leanings, or (very unlikely) the outside of your shop is a closer relative humidity to the inside of where it is going that the inside of your shop is (different way of saying my first reason).

Vertically storing in the 'lumber yard' bins is a great, easy way to see what you have and generally not have to worry about stickering your material for air exposure, and not having to move it all to get to the bottom piece.

Even todays half real hardwood flooring packages come with instructions to place the material in the area it will be laid in for a period of time to acclimatize before working with it.

My few pieces of sheathing I have on hand get stored outside undercover along with most of my 'outside' dimensional stuff but that is because that is not woodworking wood.

 

[bczygan]

 

[astrohip]

Thanks for the ideas and feedback. Some random comments:

* The A-frame is an interesting idea. Plywood/sheet goods on one side, dimensional on the other, with dividers. I have no need to move it, but casters are easy in any case.

* This is an non-conditioned, but fully enclosed barn, 50x50. Plenty of space, no need to keep anything outside.

* I actually have some industrial pallet racks in this barn, 4'x9'x12' high. I've stored wood on them in the past, but it's not very convenient getting it off & on.

* Girts, not purlins. I'm always confusing the two. Thanks for the reminder readhead.

As far as the A-frame, I like to keep plywood stored flat, to avoid the warping several of you mentioned. But I'm thinking an A-frame may have enough tilt to avoid that problem.

 

[Marctrees]

I would stand to store the sheets plumb (or within a few degrees)

I stored about a dozen sheets of various sizes that way, using up old and putting in some new for years, BUT - like gently strapped to a wall.

In TX humidity, they kept straight held like that.

Stacked horizontally - Murphy's Law sez the sheet you will want will always be the bottom one.

And, it takes up the floor space, unless you fight the horizontal stack from a 6' step, which would be ridiculous.

There is noo problem vertical, as long as they are kept flat while stored.

Under the "shelves" described below.

So ya, NO "stacking" laying down, totally unneeded.

Just somehow restrain so they don't "belly" out.

The thickest sheets farthest from the wall.

Lauan, 1/4" etc, closest to wall.


And then a shelf the width of your space, 8' deep.

At the dead end.

Ideally just over head banging height.

Ply vertically stacked under it , against one of the walls.

You have electric outlets, so stack to office wall.

The "cubby" idea, but no need to separate or divide.

Just one, or two horizontal shelves.

Actually Definitely Definitely two, you have the vertical space.

The high one for rarely needed stuff.

The width you have will EASILY hold your various 30 -40 sticks on one level.

So when you walk down that tunnel, you are looking at the ends of the sticks.

And you could even Sharpie mark on ends the shortys lengths, if any.

ALL floor space is still retained, ceptin the plywood footprint.

As others sed - Do NOT support much off the girts, but secure to them as bracing.

Bear the weight with like 6 4x4 posts to the slab, 2x6 joists left to right between them.

For future heavier than "30-40" loading, maybe doubled 2x6 - OR SINGLE 2x8, BUT - Remember maintain head bang height, but the lower the "shelf" height the better otherwise.

Make sure the legs are tied in a number of places to girts and office wall.

Will be solid as Gold if you do that.

And so the Ply would be under this shelf unit, against the office wall.

Again - Somehow restrained against wall to keep flat.

And the shelves for sticks - May not even need decking, could just be your left to right "joists" at one front, one middle, one near back - like 4' oc .

But decked would be nice.

If you deck, 7/16 - 1/2" nominal would be fine even at 4' jooists, cause weight will still be on the joists, the deck is just so you can slide them in and out easier w/o "catching" on the joists.

If it was furniture grade hardwood, I would deck w 3/4 to provide more even support.

Or joist closer together, (4' OC kinda bigg span for long term hi grade wood) but its general lumber in this case.

Do you feel me? Marc

 

[landlord30]

How far are you from a source that sells lumber? The wood sold today is so ****** I wouldnt want to keep it any longer than I needed to. By the time you go to use it, it will be warped and twisted.

 

[Marctrees]

How far are you from a source that sells lumber? The wood sold today is so ****** I wouldnt want to keep it any longer than I needed to. By the time you go to use it, it will be warped and twisted.

I don't know about "will", all depends on water % of wood when buying, and when storing.

I, myself, don't see that as a problem.

Besides - It's not like he's gonna go out and buy stock like some guys fill out stock fastener bins.

He'll probably just have stuff leftover from projects. Marc

 

[cpttuna]

metal rack on 6" casters so you can move it

 

[astrohip]

@marctrees--what a reply! Thanks, I'm still processing all of it.

How far are you from a source that sells lumber? The wood sold today is so ****** I wouldnt want to keep it any longer than I needed to. By the time you go to use it, it will be warped and twisted.

I live in the country. I'm about 25-30 minutes from a Home Depot.

Besides - It's not like he's gonna go out and buy stock like some guys fill out stock fastener bins.

He'll probably just have stuff leftover from projects. Marc

A mix of leftovers and stock. But not deep stock, more like a couple of this, a couple of that. Living on a ranch, one is always cobbling together stuff. And it's a PITA to have to run to HD just to get a piece of plywood, or a 2x6. So I like to keep a random collection of wood, with the odds being I can find something that will work for whatever crazy project I'm working on.

 

[Marctrees]

Make sure those outlets remain accessible for future access.

For troubleshooting if nothing else, and to comply to the Code, which is very logical. Marc

 

[matt_i]

I have the cantilever rack in my basement, similar to outdoor storage that Bill pictured above, but 1 side only. I modified it to have 3/4" ply shelves with 2x4 "ribs" to stiffen it.

The cantilever rack by itself is great for the full length pieces but becomes problematic when offcuts are introduced. That's why I introduced the shelves.

I have a vast array of plywood offcuts, still trying to get the best way but they are stored on-edge for now.

 

[Marctrees]

NO need to access the sticks from the side.

None, no need.

I see NO advantage.

Ends access is best, and clearly mark shortys, and set them on top of full length sticks.

Maybe I just think I'm smart, but I'm pretty sure that's the solution - At least from the info I have on your situation.

Gonna follow this thread, cause I'm ready soon to do the similar thing in my new shop, as I did in an old previous life shop. Marc

 

[Marctrees]

astrohip - Ya, read, and re read, and think about my long post, see what you think. Marc

 

[ford33]

I would not store construction or dimensional lumber in my shop. Why take up valuable shop space for something that is readily available from many nearby stores.

Storing furniture quality hardwoods in unfinished state makes some sense since you decided upon which boards are of high quality and worth keeping.

 

[astrohip]

marc--I'm leaning towards your idea. However, I'm still concerned about the "black hole" problem that tjdux mentioned. A full width shelf 8' deep and 7' wide *will* create a tunnel.

You mentioned putting the shelf "just over head banging height". Are you saying high enough to walk under, or just high enough to scrabble under? I'm thinking if I made it just high enough to clear plywood (4'+), then I could visually see all the dimensionals, even the shorties, laying on the shelf without marking the ends.

The higher I make the shelf, the less "tunnel-ish". The lower, the more useful.

I would not store construction or dimensional lumber in my shop. Why take up valuable shop space for something that is readily available from many nearby stores.

My answer(s) from earlier in this thread...

I live in the country. I'm about 25-30 minutes from a Home Depot. Living on a ranch, one is always cobbling together stuff. And it's a PITA to have to run to HD just to get a piece of plywood, or a 2x6. So I like to keep a random collection of wood, with the odds being I can find something that will work for whatever crazy project I'm working on.

* This is an non-conditioned, but fully enclosed barn, 50x50. Plenty of space, no need to keep anything outside.

To add: Not only do I have plenty of space in my barn, that corner in the picture is sorta dead. Not used for anything. In fact, as you can see from the pic, I'm already "storing lumber" there, just laying on the ground. I'd like to clean it up and build something useful. Plus, a Home Depot run costs a couple hours by the time you factor the drive there, the drive back, and the insane amount of time wandering the store, looking at all the junk I think I "need".

 

[Marctrees]

By head bang height, I meant like 6'0" minimum to underside of framing so one can walk under it to store rarely used stuff.

Pad the low edge w a piece of split poly pipe insulation, and neatly spray it safety orange.

The whole advantage of this height IS that you CAN go under there without crawling.

That, would create a total black hole.

tjdux sed - "I feel spanning a shelf 20ft deep all 7 ft of width will make an inaccessible black hole. You definitely want something on only 1 wall or both as long as theres a walk space."

What 20' ?

I'm talking 8' deep- At the dead end of the exist tunnel.

Now, the "against one wall" idea is great, IF you had more than 7'.

At only 7' wide, by the time you build a rack against one wall, you only have 4' remaining, plenty to walk, but no extra floor space to store much of anything... So what do you gain by on one wall?

Just my opinions, but I think logical.

But I'm sure not the only solution.

There must have been some reason why that office was not all the way in corner, but I don't know what - Nevertheless, that's what you have. Marc

 

[DIC]

 

[Stuart in MN]

A cart like in the previous post would be nice, but it may be hard to find. I'd still consider building a rack with casters on it, so you can pull it in and out of that space by your office for easy loading, access, cleaning, etc.

I went the simple route and store my lumber on a couple of those cheap furniture dollies from Harbor Freight (that's just straight lumber, plywood and sheet goods are still an issue as they're just leaned up against the wall for now.

 

[Skiff Builder]

I have used these for 30 years for everything materials wise. 1000 lb capacity.6" casters are best,2 fixed and 2 swiveling allows one man to move heavily loaded cart accurately.Plywood up on edge lightly strapped together.

Just search for "Panel Cart"

 

[CN Spots]

I like the cart idea. Especially if you're only talking about a few emergency pieces of lumber and you have the room for a cart. Plus you can roll it out to your truck and load the material directly onto the rack. Lots of designs to choose from too...

http://www.globalindustrial.com/c/m...mpaignId=T9A&gclid=CP3l9oujmNQCFQkLaQod9TIDjA

 

[Radix2]

I had an odd narrow space for lumber storage that worked well.

For sheet goods, a 4foot tall and 1foot wide 8 foot deep spot holds plenty of sheets. I placed rollers at the bottom with many segments (upside down refrigerator rollers) - it is easy to pull out any sheet you want, the sheets stay straight since they are held nearly vertical.

For boards, the same 1foot wide and 4 foot high space but 12' deep and divided with shelves allows board marked on the ends to be stored and pulled easily.

No side access required. Use that for shorts.

The sheet goods can be stored as above behind general purpose shelves if end access is available.

 

[James-W]

How far are you from a source that sells lumber? The wood sold today is so ****** I wouldn't want to keep it any longer than I needed to. By the time you go to use it, it will be warped and twisted.

I agree, some of the lumber you get these days is pretty bad and if you try to keep it for any length of time it will be useless. I am not kidding when I say I have seen 2X4's so green that I am pretty sure if you planted them they would grow.

 

[My Old Tools]

I built one similar to this in my metal building. It was double 2x6 uprights with 2x4 arms. It attached with metal L brackets at the top, purlin and bottom of the wall. When I emptied it the other day (moving out) I had a full 16' trailer load of hardwood about 24" deep that came off of it. That load was up there for over 10 years without problems.

Several things to think about. The arms must be level to each other or you'll warp the wood. Make sure you think about how you are going to get a full sheet of whatever out of the bin by yourself. I would store plywood upright in the future.

https://www.woodcraft.com/products/woodworking-project-paper-plan-to-build-lumber-storage-rack

Uprights were like these...
http://lumberjocks.com/projects/55373

 

[astrohip]

*thread bump & update*

I finally got around to building my lumber rack this week. Now that I've been in my shop/barn for a few months, I have a better feel for the way I work in it. I've read and reread all your replies a dozen times, changing my thoughts every few weeks. Finally, I decided on... see attached pic.

I realized I didn't need to keep as much as I originally thought, maybe 6-8 each of 2x4 and 2x6 in a couple different lengths, a few sticks of pressure treated, and a few posts. Some 1x, and a few other misc pieces. Plus lots of scraps & cuts, which I am always using.

I decided not to create plywood storage here. I finally put up my pallet racks, and I ended up laying my flat pieces on one of the shelves. Not super convenient, but I don't need to get to them often.

So I built what is basically a super-heavy duty shelf unit, 8' long, 3' deep, 8' tall. It can support far more weight than I'll ever subject it to.

One realization I came to is any large project is going to send me to Home Depot, so why try to keep enough lumber for that. Just keep enough for those "pop-up ideas". Plus today's lumber is ****, and warps at a sneeze. So buy it when you need it.

Thanks again for everyone's feedback!

 

[jimreed2160]

Thanks for the update. That is a great solution.

 

[Jon_E]

Nice job.

An idea for those of you that keep a bit of "project lumber" around, this is what I do. Anytime I need a bunch of lumber, whether it's dimensional stuff or PT from Home Depot, or rough-sawn from the local mill (I use this the most), I buy two or three extra pieces, and then when I'm building my project I take the best piece or two and set them aside. Not to be used for the project. That way I slowly build an inventory of really nice, straight, relatively knot-free lumber, and if I am needing a piece or two for something small, I have it on hand.

 

[6768rogues]

I like your current system, looks great.