Timber Storage

[Bloubull]

I require some clarification on a matter that I read in two different articles. The author states that "timber should be stored for about a week in the same room as where the finshed product will be". Now I have two problems with that. 1. My wife will not be happy keeping timber in our bedroom. 2. Does the % of moisture in the air really affect wood that much. (untreated and treated wood).

How would i make sure my woorkshop does not have borers and other wood nasties in it.

Regards

Bloubull

[Alastair]

BB

It is not so much the moisture content itself that is the problem, as changes in that. Durban is humid, but the summer/winter change is not that big. I never had problems while I was there regarding abnormal movement. When I moved to Sydney, gas heated and in winter, with much lower humidity, I lost some turnings to movement. Most furniture etc had been made with the correct technique and survived fine, and has settled down in new environment.

However, need to consider if your house is air conditioned. Coming into summer, outside will vary from 85% -95% RH, while A/C would be closer to 40%. This could cause a problem.

As it is not just a case of keeping the timber inside for a week, and then returning to workshop, (you would have to keep returning the WIP to the room throughout build until complete) I believe that you would be better off making sure you follow trusted design principles to allow for expansion, and finish properly, (both sides of timber) to slow moisture migration.

You will never stop changes in m/c, no matter what finish you use

regards

[Ianab]

How big the problem is depends on your local climate and house construction.

It's more of a problem in the States where their houses are centrally heated and air-conditioned. So they are generally much drier inside than average outside conditions. Big difference between outside and inside conditions.

Here in NZ there is little difference between inside/outside temp/humidity, so it's not a big problem. Not sure what your local conditions are like, but if it's generally humid and you dont have serious heating / cooling machinery, then you probably dont need to worry about acclimitising inside.

Cheers

Ian

[Bloubull]

Thanks for the info guys

[BobL]

I agree with the other answers so will just add a few comments.



1. My wife will not be happy keeping timber in our bedroom.
If it is really necessary you can keep it in an adjoining room with similar temperature and humidity.



2. Does the % of moisture in the air really affect wood that much. (untreated and treated wood).
We had an upstairs bedroom above our kitchen in our house that got very hot (and dry) in the summer and in the winter got humid from cooking. The hardwood floor boards were laid in spring and by the end of summer you could slip a piece of paper between the tongue of one board and the start of another ie you could see through the crack! The builder replaced the floor and then in winter the boards started crushing up against each other and lifting at the edges from the humdity underneath so we installed a protective ceiling in the kitchen below and also improved the ventilation. Seems to have worked OK.


How would i make sure my woorkshop does not have borers and other wood nasties in it.
Leave a couple of beers out and if they disappear you know you have nasties around :D

[thumbsucker]

Wood is extremely affected by humidity, I say this because I had recently built a bench top from recycled hardwoods. This wood was very wet from rain rather then green when we got it however after we let it dry for over two months and then we thicknessed it up.

After assembling the top all was good, however this was done at the height of winter. As summer approached the top started to tear itself apart. What started with one board separating at the end, has now spread to 10 splits in the top. This was sole caused by the timber drying out and is it does breaking the epoxy glue bond. I am expecting now to resaw most of the top into individual boards and placing it into storage for a year to allow it to settle and dry fully.