Kiln Chamber - the chicken or the egg?

[OneWithWood]

This week I will begin falling aspen trees to mill for the dimension lumber for my kiln and saw barn.  I would like to kiln dry all the lumber to gain the strength advantage of kiln dried lumber and at the same time reduce the weight.  So naturally the kiln section of the building will go up first.  So therein lies the dilemma.  

If I build the kiln chamber using air dried lumber will I have problems keeping it air tight when I fire up the kiln?

Would it pay me to send my lumber to a kiln to be dried?  The lumber for the kiln totals just under 1,000 bdf.

Maybe I should just bite the bullet and buy the lumber for the kiln from a lumber yard?    Nahhhh!  Where's the fun in that? :D

What have you all done?  

[Plowboy]

We cut our aspen late in the fall and then early last spring we started construction of the kiln.  We cut green lumber and stacked in a tobaco shed and let air dry over late fall and winter.  The kiln has been in operation since mid-June and have not any problems.  I don't know what the moisture was, but some pieces were wetter than others.  I have heard on that other forum that construction lumber can be dried to 20% and be used.  I don't know if that is true or not.  Plowboy

[Fla._Deadheader]

I contacted the SYP official rep Co. and was told that SYP construction lumber is acceptable from 19% on down. The big box stores are the only ones that stack construction lumber inside down here. ???

[OneWithWood]

Thanks for the replies.  I hope to be dropping the aspens later this week and start milling the following week.  I will sticker the boards on the slab for the kiln and measure periodically with an M meter.  I will be curious to see how quickly the stuff air dries.  When all this snow and ice melt I will take some pics of the set up and post them on the 'wannabe' thread in the sawmilling section.