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Drying shed

Started by Crusarius, August 14, 2018, 08:33:42 AM

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Crusarius

Now that my mill is mostly finished I have a large pile of logs that need milling. I never thought I would end up with such a pile but it happened. I really have no place to stack the cut lumber so I am putting off milling the logs till I do.

I live in Upstate NY. Snow area. I started thinking best bang for the buck for a drying shed would be one of those steel carports you see all over the place. Looks like an 18x21x6 can be had delivered and setup for around $1300.

Anybody have any experience with these structures? Since it will end up being placed in an area I need to clear a bunch of pines from I am curious how it will handle snow and the occasional tree branch bouncing off of it.

I also wonder if I should go with the roof steel horizontal of vertical. I know vertical is better but that does add cost.

I also wonder about getting a larger one, spray foaming the inside and calling it a shop area until I can build the real shop. Then this would become cold storage.

Any help be greatly appreciated.

WV Sawmiller

   I'm a firm believer in using what I have before buying something new so I built my shed from my practice wood. I used locust poles off my property for uprights and just squared the nailing surfaces on my mill. I found an old barn in an adjacent county being torn down and bought used tin off it. Results - a 14'X62' barn for about $500. Of course they are never big enough so I added shelves and went vertical as much as possible.


 This shot is before the shelves were added. Each bay now has a shelf about 6' above ground. Each bay is a little over 12' wide X 18' long and 12'-16' tall from rear to front.

  JMHO on build or buy. Good luck.
Howard Green
WM LT35HDG25(2015) , 2011 4WD F150 Ford Lariat PU, Kawasaki 650 ATV, Stihl 440 Chainsaw, homemade logging arch (w/custom built rear log dolly), JD 750 w/4' wide Bushhog brand FEL

Dad always said "You can shear a sheep a bunch of times but you can only skin him once

Crusarius

Thanks WV that is a really nice looking shed. Unfortunately the majority of stuff I have is Black walnut. Prefer not to use that to build a shed :)

I also have red oak and hickory in the pile. Think all of those woods are to nice to use for the shed. 

One of the big benefits I just thought of for the steel carport is ability to relocate it when my complex starts to take shape.

WV Sawmiller

   Good points. I agree I would not use my walnut for a shed. I don't know how much sawing you have done but I recommend new sawyers practice on cheap logs first before cutting their high value stuff but somewhere along the way you just have to take the plunge. In my case if I want to make a new type cut I often go cut a buckeye and use if for practice since they are of the least value to me and readily available.

    Since you have other uses for the metal building afterwards in your case it may work fine. When done you can convert it to a super fancy project like the one David Poston has been posting for his mantel and slab storage. Good luck.
Howard Green
WM LT35HDG25(2015) , 2011 4WD F150 Ford Lariat PU, Kawasaki 650 ATV, Stihl 440 Chainsaw, homemade logging arch (w/custom built rear log dolly), JD 750 w/4' wide Bushhog brand FEL

Dad always said "You can shear a sheep a bunch of times but you can only skin him once

Crusarius

I have already cut a bunch of pine aspen and cherry was the nicest. So I think I may be ready to tackle the big high dollar ones. But we will see the first time I put one of those monsters on the mill.

WV Sawmiller

   I am sure you will do great but I still bet you feel the butterflies the first time you put the blade in the wood. The bad (Good?) thing is I think we all still feel that every time we go to saw a special log. Its even worse when you are sawing for someone else and you really don't want to mess up the cut on their log. 
Howard Green
WM LT35HDG25(2015) , 2011 4WD F150 Ford Lariat PU, Kawasaki 650 ATV, Stihl 440 Chainsaw, homemade logging arch (w/custom built rear log dolly), JD 750 w/4' wide Bushhog brand FEL

Dad always said "You can shear a sheep a bunch of times but you can only skin him once

Crusarius

I think I am more nervous about the hickory cause I love it so much and know I don't have enough for what I want to do. And the horror stories on this forum scare me.

moodnacreek

Quote from: Crusarius on August 14, 2018, 12:42:47 PM
I think I am more nervous about the hickory cause I love it so much and know I don't have enough for what I want to do. And the horror stories on this forum scare me.
You like hickory? Good luck with that stuff. It is worse than hard maple and even more attractive to powder post beadles . A kiln and an education in addition to a drying shed for hickory. Whatever you build, make it high. I use portable roof panels set with a fork lift but a big shed is much better.

Glenn1

I would agree with moodnacreek about the added height.  I have a metal carport used just for the purpose that you mentioned.  It is 24' x 30' and it is 12' tall.  
I can get two stacks wide and 3 stacks from front to pack.  Each stack holds approximately 2300bf.  Now I wish I had room for one more of them.

Vacutherm IDry, Nyle 53 Kiln, New Holland Skid Steer, Kaufman Gooseneck Trailer, Whitney 32A Planer

btulloh

It adds very little expense to make those taller unless you're putting metal on the sides.  I nevere heard anybody wish their shed was lower.  Or smaller .
HM126

YellowHammer

I have a metal prefab carport style drying shed, about 20 feet wide, 32 feet long, 12 feet tall.  Open all side, horizontal metal roofing, and I love it.  Zero maintannce, zero effort.  
I pointed to where I wanted it on the concrete, the guys came in the morning and were done and gone when I came home from work that afternoon.

I'm doing 2 stacks wide, 5 stacks deep.  It holds a pretty decent amount of wood. 

WV, your place look great.

YellowHammerisms:

Take steps to save steps.

If it won't roll, its not a log; it's still a tree.  Sawmills cut logs, not trees.

Kiln drying wood: When the cookies are burned, they're burned, and you can't fix them.

Sawing is fun for the first couple million boards.

Be smarter than the sawdust

thecfarm

One of my friends has a carport,with the steel roofing going the wrong way. ;D  He just cleans the snow off with a roof rake. He has had it for years.
Model 6020-20hp Manual Thomas bandsaw,TC40A 4wd 40 hp New Holland tractor, 450 Norse Winch, Heatmor 400 OWB,YCC 1978-79

YellowHammer

Good point. :D
No snow here in the sunny south. ;D
YellowHammerisms:

Take steps to save steps.

If it won't roll, its not a log; it's still a tree.  Sawmills cut logs, not trees.

Kiln drying wood: When the cookies are burned, they're burned, and you can't fix them.

Sawing is fun for the first couple million boards.

Be smarter than the sawdust

Crusarius

I was thinking about putting a slight slope towards the back to offset the horizontal ribs. As long as it got warm enough during the day or enough sun it would drain off the back side. So I would hope snow buildup wouldn't be a problem. but since i have to clean the roof off all the time whats more more roof to clean?

alan gage

I had one put up for the same purpose this spring. Originally wanted to build with my own lumber but it's pretty much all hardwood around here. Priced buying framing lumber and the cost difference just didn't work out, especially when you factor in the time it would take me to get it put up as opposed to having a crew put up the carport in half a day.

I think my total cost was about $6000 for a 24x40 with 12' walls. I went with a vertical roof as we get plenty of snow here. Also upgraded to 12 gauge steel framing, longer braces, and extra column supports, all of which added money. Jumping from 20' to 24' wide was a pretty big price increase as well but I figured at 24' wide I can put a 12' pack next to an 8' pack whereas with only 20' wide I'd be more limited.

The 12' height means I can stack vertically for more capacity as well as easily drive the tractor in the building. 12' walls also gave me enough height to frame a 12' wide shed roof off one side (will do the other side at a later date) and still have plenty of height at the eave to drive the skid loader under.

Like you I also like the idea of being able to move it later if I decide I want it located somewhere else.

I can tell you that it's filling up fast and I've hardly begun sawing yet!

Alan
Timberking B-16, a few chainsaws from small to large, and a Bobcat 873 Skidloader.

Crusarius

Alan is your building just a roof or did you opt for walls to? I keep thinking about just roof or roof and side walls. then the air flow would have to go lengthwise through the building making the air flow across the packs instead of hitting the end grain.

I don't know why I always make things more challenging than they need to be. Sometimes I overthink a lot of things but at the end of the day I am rarely disappointed in the purchase.

alan gage

I went with no walls at all. I'd be afraid that with side walls there would be too many times you'd get no airflow at all due to wind direction.

I completely understand overthinking things. I do it all the time and it's frustrating to see other people just make a decision seemingly off the cuff that might take me months of agonizing and planning. Even this carport took me a long time to decide if I was going to build or buy. I was originally going to do a shorter, narrower, and lower carport but the more I thought about it the bigger it got.

I got my building from tri-state carports. No complaints so far. They have price sheets online to help with planning.

Alan
Timberking B-16, a few chainsaws from small to large, and a Bobcat 873 Skidloader.

Crusarius

bummer the blue zone does not reach to NY. oh well. thanks for the info. I was wondering if the 8' side walls was going to lend itself to being a problem. I figured I will use tractor forks to load and unload it so I shouldn't need much height as long as I can get the tractor in and out.

Not sure I would want to be stacking more than 8' tall anyhow.

GeneWengert-WoodDoc

It is suggested that the roof have at least a 4' overhang from the edge of the lumber...more overhang for higher roofs...to reduce rain wetting and sun damage to the lumber.  Rain gutters and downspouts are suggested as well.  The individual stacks should be separated about 24" edge to edge from each other; maybe 3 to 5 stacks wide.

End walls are not needed, except that they can provide excellent resistance to end racking of the building, especially when it's a large building.  Metal wire cables can be used instead.

About half the sheds have posts or poles in the four corners and across the face as needed.  They are called pole sheds.  The other half use posts in the center with roof joists sticking out, front and back.  These supports look something like the letter "T" and so these sheds are called T-sheds.

WHEN SHED DRYING OAK, it is possible that there may be too much air flow, so plastic mesh curtains are used- - Shade-Dri. They are hung like a shower curtain and are pulled shut when the RH is under 60% RH, AND OR it is windy when the wood is at higher MCs, and also when raining.  They are tied open when lower MCs are reached.

For wood species that can be dried quickly without quality loss, the shed can have fans.  Sometimes a row of fans runs down the center, but more often, one of the long walls has all the fans.  In this latter case, the fans suck air through the piles.  Are flow is quite high...higher than most kilns.  Fans are run under 90% RH.  The lumber should be about 5' or more from the fans in order to achieve fairly uniform flow.  See more details in DRYING HARDWOOD LUMBER.
Gene - Author of articles in Sawmill & Woodlot and books: Drying Hardwood Lumber; VA Tech Solar Kiln; Sawing Edging & Trimming Hardwood Lumber. And more

Crusarius

Thanks Gene. that will definitely help influence my decision. Right now my primary species I have is Black walnut, Hickory, and red oak. I really keep thinking a shed with gable ends open and perpendicular stacks is going to be the optimum setup. I do not get much breeze where I live because of the trees but the breeze I get is usually steady and from the same direction.

By having the sides closed that will take care of the need for the 4' overhang and gutters.

alan gage

Quote from: Crusarius on August 16, 2018, 10:08:37 AM
bummer the blue zone does not reach to NY. oh well. thanks for the info. I was wondering if the 8' side walls was going to lend itself to being a problem. I figured I will use tractor forks to load and unload it so I shouldn't need much height as long as I can get the tractor in and out.

Not sure I would want to be stacking more than 8' tall anyhow.
This place gives prices online as well and lets you pick and choose lots of options. It was pretty close to what I ended up getting. Carports Metal Carport Kits Garage Kits Metal Building RV Car Ports
My worry about an 8' wall would be future uses. Maybe you decide you do want to stack higher than 8'. Maybe you get a bigger tractor that will no longer fit. Maybe you quit milling wood and want to use the building for some other purpose. I also like that extra height gives you the option of adding a wide shed roof to the sides. If I recall building higher didn't cost much extra...well....maybe it did. Going to 12' is what prompted me to upgrade to 12 gauge steel and extra braces.
Alan
Timberking B-16, a few chainsaws from small to large, and a Bobcat 873 Skidloader.

Crusarius

can always set it on a stem wall if I need more height. But I like the leanto idea.

GeneWengert-WoodDoc

The closed ends do not need gutters and overhang, but the two open sides still do.
Gene - Author of articles in Sawmill & Woodlot and books: Drying Hardwood Lumber; VA Tech Solar Kiln; Sawing Edging & Trimming Hardwood Lumber. And more

GeneWengert-WoodDoc

Only the end walls can be closed in.  The long sides are left open, but may have mesh curtains that can be pulled closed at high MCs to prevent too rapid drying.
Gene - Author of articles in Sawmill & Woodlot and books: Drying Hardwood Lumber; VA Tech Solar Kiln; Sawing Edging & Trimming Hardwood Lumber. And more

alan gage

Took a couple pictures of my carport/drying shed:









It's 40x24x12' high. The lean-to is 12' wide plus 3' of overhang. I framed the lean-to so there are three openings on the side. One opening is 14' and the other two are 12'. This will make it easy to put more stacks of lumber in there if I ever want. Or vehicles or other equipment. For now the plan is to use it as a place to keep the mill out of the weather when not in use. I closed off the north side of the lean-to to block the wind and give me a place where I can build a small closet to keep some tools locked up and out of the weather.

Alan


Timberking B-16, a few chainsaws from small to large, and a Bobcat 873 Skidloader.

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