Shed Project: Wood Storage Racks

[jteneyck]

Here's a link to the last segment:  Siding and Gutters       


The wood for the doors was 16 - 18% MC, which is too wet to use even for exterior work, so I hauled it down into my shop and put it in the drier.  While it was drying I moved on to building wood racks in the shed and moving the wood out of my shop.  The racks are simply 2x4's with 1-1/4" holes drilled 3-1/2" OC.  They are held screwed to a sleeper on the floor and connected to the bottom span of the trusses at the top.  The holes will accommodate both 3/4" black iron pipe and 1" EMT.  1" EMT is a lot cheaper and seems to work fine with the 24" wide racks.  

The pipes/EMT have a 1/4" hole drilled near one end and a screw secures it to the vertical so it can't slip out.  




These racks hold boards up to 7' long.  



And these will hold boards up to 11 - 12', but ideally 8 - 10'. 



Those racks are loaded through the front door, or where they will be:



I'm sure you noticed that the boards are racked on edge.  I do that so that I can pull out any board of interest without having to offload a bunch of boards to get to what is always the one on the bottom.  One of my friends makes the argument that vertical storage is better, others that flat racking is superior.  To each their own; I prefer this.  



Here's why I needed the shed, and this is after one of the rolling racks with several hundred BF was already removed and the other mostly unloaded.  Today, two good friends came over and we moved the wood off yet another rolling cart, several stacks off the floor, and most of the wood off the rack above the drier.   



My shop is still a mess, but now I can at least see from one end to the other, and I have a plan for how it's going to look once the drier and hanging rack are removed.  

Thanks for following along.  Doors at some point, but probably a couple of months out due to some other things coming up.  

John

[Tapper]

Here's a link to the last segment:  Siding and Gutters       


The wood for the doors was 16 - 18% MC, which is too wet to use even for exterior work, so I hauled it down into my shop and put it in the drier.  While it was drying I moved on to building wood racks in the shed and moving the wood out of my shop.  The racks are simply 2x4's with 1-1/4" holes drilled 3-1/2" OC.  They are held screwed to a sleeper on the floor and connected to the bottom span of the trusses at the top.  The holes will accommodate both 3/4" black iron pipe and 1" EMT.  1" EMT is a lot cheaper and seems to work fine with the 24" wide racks.  

The pipes/EMT have a 1/4" hole drilled near one end and a screw secures it to the vertical so it can't slip out.  




These racks hold boards up to 7' long.  



And these will hold boards up to 11 - 12', but ideally 8 - 10'. 



Those racks are loaded through the front door, or where they will be:



I'm sure you noticed that the boards are racked on edge.  I do that so that I can pull out any board of interest without having to offload a bunch of boards to get to what is always the one on the bottom.  One of my friends makes the argument that vertical storage is better, others that flat racking is superior.  To each their own; I prefer this.  



Here's why I needed the shed, and this is after one of the rolling racks with several hundred BF was already removed and the other mostly unloaded.  Today, two good friends came over and we moved the wood off yet another rolling cart, several stacks off the floor, and most of the wood off the rack above the drier.   



My shop is still a mess, but now I can at least see from one end to the other, and I have a plan for how it's going to look once the drier and hanging rack are removed.  

Thanks for following along.  Doors at some point, but probably a couple of months out due to some other things coming up.  

John

I like the system, John. Putting the boards on edge does give you much more flexibility. Looking forward to seeing those doors! 


Doug

[stav]

Nice racks.  I use a similar setup except there I only have the 2x4 on one side with the conduit slightly angled. I also don't have near the quantity of wood to store. 

I hope you can fit it all in that shed. Based on the pics you posted, it looks like it will be tight.

[jteneyck]

Nice racks.  I use a similar setup except there I only have the 2x4 on one side with the conduit slightly angled. I also don't have near the quantity of wood to store. 

I hope you can fit it all in that shed. Based on the pics you posted, it looks like it will be tight.

I'm pretty sure I'll be able to store everything I have and more in the shed.  There is room for another rack on each side of the ones I showed, even a third one if I don't care about egress through that door.  There also will be room to store really long lumber above the drier which will go on the back wall.  Of course, if I start milling a lot of logs I'll get in trouble, but I'm hopefully getting more picky about what logs I mill these days.  

The downside of storing lumber in the shed is that the MC will go back up and no longer be equivalent with my shop.  Lumber in my shop never goes above 8 - 9%.  That means I'll have to bring it into my shop well ahead of when I want to use it.  But it finally dawned on me this morning that I can load whatever lumber I need back into the drier and bring it down to the EMC of my shop in well less than a week.  

John

[rwe2156]

John,

Great idea I like that system kind of like a "horizontal vertical". Much easier to sort through lumber and adjustable.

I did some by lagged screwed the 2x4 on edge to the studs.

A 3/4 galvanized pipe goes into 3 1/2" deep hole then 1" pvc as a cover.

Worked quite well, easy to get lumber on and off racks.

But its like any horizontally stacked lumber - a PITA to sort through boards.

I did away with it, built a lumber room an store everything vertically now.