Lumber stored in unheated garage

[SHADOWFOX]

I have an attached garage that serves as my workshop. The walls and ceiling are insulated but the garage door is not. In the winter it still gets pretty cold in the garage and I have to wear three layers of clothing to be able to work comfortably.. Anyway, I have about a hundred of bf stored in the garage, they are in a lumber rack. Can I safely leave these hardwoods in the garage or should I take them inside the house and store them in the basement during the winter?

The lumber are a mixture of Cherry, Maple and Curly maple each at about 2 inch thick and around 6' to 8' long.

[LCHIEN]

It seems to me that the cold & hot is not affecting the wood too much except that heat will accelerate the drying or green wood whereas cold may retard the drying of green wood.

But, if the wood is already at a low moisture content (e.g. fully dried), then cold and hot within reason should not adversely affect it either way... won't cause significant loss or gain of moisture which in turn may affect warping, twisting, checking, splitting etc.

Anyway that's my reasoning, it's just a conjecture, I'm curious as to what other's think.

[Ken Massingale]

All my stock is stored outside the shop except what I plan to use within a few weeks. I have 2 HF tarp shelters with several hundred board feet and also 3 stickered stacks completey outside with metal covering the stacks. Compared to my storage, your lumber is in heaven.
All the lumberyards around here store their lumber outside.
I don't think you have any worries, Chris.
Ken

[Hellrazor]

Loring, I am not sure if the cold helps or hinders drying. Here in PA the cold winter air is dry while warm summer air is humid. For example: a birdbath will evaporate a lot faster in dry cold air in the winter.

[jziegler]

I wouldn't worry about it. I got a hundred or so BF of cedar from my father in law that had been in his unheated garage for about 15 years. It was just fine.

And, think about it, what is the unheated garage made of?

Jim

[Ken Weaver]

I've got about 300 bdft in an unheated garage - more at Massingale's. No problems.

[SHADOWFOX]

Thank you, guys!! Boy am I glad I do not have to worry about moving them inside the house because the only place I can store them inside the house would be the basement and with two flight of stairs to the basement it would not have been fun.

[JTimmons]

Not that this will do anything for the lumber, but it may help you so that you don't have to wear three layers in the winter.
Not sure what type of garage door you have, but I had a metal one when we lived in Oklahoma. I took 1 inch foam sheeting I picked up at Lowes and cut it down to fit the rectangles on the inside of the door and taped it in using the aluminum duct tape. The garage held it's temperature pretty good and on really cold days all it took was a little electric heater to warm it up in about 45 minutes provided you didn't open the door. When it was 20 degrees outside I was wearing jeans and a t-shirt in the garage and working comfortably.

[Imadunatic]

well, i have heard from several sources, that unless you control the humidity in your heated storage, it will cook the wood and increase the chance of it overdrying and checking, and that a seperate unheated space is best for storage,

Dont know if its true or not, as it turns out, its expensive to heat the house all the time, let alone the shop.....
and we are nearing the end of the "free heat season" here in michigan,
finally had our first snow this past weekend, I can imagine a good portion of the country is staring down the barrell of winter.....

Kevin

[Wood_workur]

I have tons of lumber I store like that, no problems.