Your lumber storage/sorting method?

I’d be interested to see what sort of building material storage (specifically for dimensional lumber and for light timbers) people here have come up with. I've been using it for years now. But I'm always interested in how people working with limited roofed (or other) spaces make efficient use of space.

The picture shows what I’ve built and been using for everything smaller than an 8x8 timber. It’s open-air, but sheltered sheltered from precipitation within a shed that holds my table saw, chainsaw, weedwhacker, and our firewood, and serves a few other functions as needed.

If you’ve been working on your homestead and building things for a while, and have accommodated your lumber/timbers in something that has proven practical, can you describe it? (Better, maybe include a pic too?)

Mine:

Height at top level (highest horizontal framing members) 72”
(uprights extend another 2 feet, approx)

Width of horizontals 48”

Length of rack framing 130”


Four levels of lumber-holding capacity

Longest boards or timbers (up to 6x6) I’ve stored in it about 200” (16’ 8”)

Wow, beautiful! I have been so lax with wood storage, I've lost a lot to rot. I really need to get on the ball more with material storage.

Woodgears.ca has a version of what I have seen a lot of people use over at Lumberjocks. Matthias at Woodgears is a true genius and has tons of projects and videos available. He also sells plans for some of the more complicated builds. Few people can look at all of his stuff and not learn a lot from it.

The projects section at Lumberjocks is also very good for inspiration. They have people from construction workers to cabinet makers to fine artists and everything in between. Some of the lumber racks I linked to make it very easy to grab a board in the middle and pull it out as opposed to needing to slide it out. It really depends on the storage area and how much space you have in each direction. Having more shelving tiers will help avoid stacking things too high so you can get at the piece you want without a lot of effort or damage to the lumber.

Daniel Schmidt wrote:Woodgears.ca has a version of what I have seen a lot of people use over at Lumberjocks. Matthias at Woodgears is a true genius and has tons of projects and videos available. He also sells plans for some of the more complicated builds. Few people can look at all of his stuff and not learn a lot from it.

Thanks, Daniel. I agree, there are some interesting designs on the pages you gave links for.

Daniel Schmidt wrote:The projects section at Lumberjocks is also very good for inspiration. They have people from construction workers to cabinet makers to fine artists and everything in between. Some of the lumber racks I linked to make it very easy to grab a board in the middle and pull it out as opposed to needing to slide it out. It really depends on the storage area and how much space you have in each direction. Having more shelving tiers will help avoid stacking things too high so you can get at the piece you want without a lot of effort or damage to the lumber.

True, some of the designs would make for convenience, but if someone were needing to store largish amounts of building lumber or timbers you'd need a lot of space (or total wall length) - so might be impractical for that. I used to think I was going to have the time and talent for fine woodworking as part of my non-urban lifestyle. True, I did get better at carpentry and practical woodworking, but never got into the "fine" end. So really it's turned out I've needed space to hold materials for a shed, a deck, raspberry supports, etc.

As Permies here are not yet mentioning their own systems or showing pics, I might assume many of the members here are at an earlier stage in developing their homesteads - may still be piling lumber on the ground and covering it with tarps, etc. But we'll see.

I have a very well drained, gravelly patch, on the edge of a hill. The perfect spot for a tarped pile. Sometimes wood stands on end under a wide overhang.

Well I am following this thread to see what other people have done for wood storage. I have a large shed that I am planning on setting up a good spot to store construction wood in. The hard part is how to store it effectively, neatly, organized and out of the way.

My wife has suggested getting an old wood ladder and attaching it horizontally to the wall and then putting the wood in the openings of the ladder. (my shed is 16+ feet tall so no issues on the height side of storing wood).

Since I have the height advantage I am really expecting I will need to make something to stand the lumber on end against the wall. Now I just have to make something to keep piles separated and organized.

Check out my scaffold tent method.

https://permies.com/t/53296/natural-building/Scaffold-tent-material-storage-shelter

Due to space constraints I store my dimensional lumber upright using heavy duty bike rack hooks, some chain and rubber tie downs I bought at Harbor Freight. I use 3 hooks in a column so it would take a total of 6 for each section. Right now I use 9 to make 3 sections to store, 2x4s, 2x2s and some molding.

I screw the bottom hooks about 1-1 1/2 feet from the floor, the middle hooks about 3 foot up and the top hooks at 5 feet up but they can be adjusted for your own height. The bottom row of hooks I use the chain and I don't unhook that when I take lumber out. The middle and top hooks I use the rubber straps.

When I want to pull out some lumber I unhook the top, pull how many pieces I want out towards me and rehook the rubber strap behind the ones I pulled out. Then I unhook the middle and rehook behind the ones I had pulled forward. The bottom chain is just high enough to hold the lumber without it all falling out at me.

brilliant thread, thank you for starting it!

I'll try to chime in with pics/more after dry daylight, my shortest commodity.

Robbie Asay, my space is crazy small constrained too and I store some vertical. Could you post pic of yours?

When life gives you lemons...I wish I could post a pic for you but today I had to take them down because there was a wee bit of rustling and squeaking in the wall behind them. I will try to whip up something in a drawing for you.

This thread has gone dormant for a while.  I just came across this interesting 'rolling lumber rack' design, and thought could be practical.  Couldn't replace my main lumber storage, shown in my opening post - but could be good to hold and move lumber pieces and sheet stock (plywood, MDF, etc) around - on a firm surface.  An easy day's work to build it, I'd say.

I found this one on Pinterest, and it's pretty nice - for a limited amount of lumber and plywood.  Wow, those cantilevered wooden brackets would have to be strong, though!