Using green wood

[Kingcha]

I wish I had gotten a mill much sooner.   Everyday I seem to learn something new about cutting.   I finely got a good drying area set up but I looks like I have to make it bigger if I want to keep cutting.  I have been using my smaller red pines to make 4x4's and 4x6's for creating a level drying area.

There sure seems a lot of time is spent not on milling, but on cutting the tree and stacking the lumber.

My main question today is; I have a couple of projects i want to build this summer.  Both are structures that will not be heated, one will be an open lean to to house my log spliter.   I will be using 2x4 and some 1x's.   Will I have any problems using the wood before its dry.  Its all Red pine.

Thanks Matt

[barbender]

If it is left open, i.e. not being sheathed over both sides so it can dry in place, it will be fine. There are days when I might need a few boards for a shed or whatever outbuilding, I'll throw a log on the mill and saw them, and then nail them right up.

[thecfarm]

I have done that a couple times. I use mostly hemlock. With that wood I can almost put my small finger between the boards. I used board and batten. Each board with shirk away from the other one,almost a ¼ inch. I suppose you are using steel for the roof? I would not want to put shingles on green wood. The wood will dry out just fine. Now if you was going to insulate it and use wrap for a house,that would change everything. I cut down the tree, mill it, and nail it.  ;D

[ladylake]

Use it green before it twists up, it dries real fast after its put up.  Steve

[WH_Conley]

Check after you put the frame up and before you put the siding on.. You can get some bowing pretty quick. I just built a building for Brother, house wrap and vinyl siding. The inside will be left uncovered for several months to dry before it is covered.

[Chuck White]

If it's nailed up (green) it will get more ventilation than it would if it were stacked and stickered.

So, it will dry quite a lot quicker being nailed up.

If you're going to wrap the building, I'd suggest nailing it up then wait at least a few days, then wrap it.

[drobertson]

If it is left open, i.e. not being sheathed over both sides so it can dry in place, it will be fine. There are days when I might need a few boards for a shed or whatever outbuilding, I'll throw a log on the mill and saw them, and then nail them right up.

This is what I am thinking as well, just about threw one on yesterday, but found some extras' at my father in laws,  but to answer the question it happens all the time out here, in fact I have cut several patterns for a builder that likes green better, but as mentioned, get busy with it, it can twist and warp,  david

[Jay C. White Cloud]

Hello Kingcha,

As you can see the basic answer is yes, go for it.  There are several good books on low cost green lumber construction (many are out of print-but you can find used copies, libraries, etc.)  In our local group of builder here in Vermont, as Timberwrights, we build almost exclusively with green wood, and currently have several turnkey project, some even with insulated spaces in them.  As long as you understand the species you are using, and how wood grain and character effects movement, you should be just fine.  It would be great to see pictures of what you build, when you are done.

Regards,

jay

[Sixacresand]

I don't have a problem using lumber right off the mill, other than the boards are heavier.  I try to spray the structure with a borax solution to retard mold and insects.

[Kingcha]

Thanks all, I have the wood stacked and stickered right now.  I just have to figure out where I am putting it and cut a few more 2x6 trusses.   

Not sure if I am doing a steel roof or shingles, but probably steel.  It is just going to be 10' by 6'.  No wrap, just some rough wood siding.   Nothing fancy.

I just picked up some borax, do you mix it with anything decides water Sixacresand??

Then after adding some shelving to my pole barn  (2x2 with 1" boards) I plan on starting on a solar kiln by mid summer.

Matt

[giant splinter]

Kingcha,
I always use fresh lumber right off the mill for outbuildings on my ranch, it will need a couple weeks after you are framed out to adjust and dry enough for your finished siding, I have never had any shrinkage effect a tin roof but this may be due to the region I live in and our weather patterns here and their effect on air drying and shrinkage. Use up some of what you have cut and make room for more, the more you use your mill the easier it gets and the better the lumber looks and if you dull up a band and blow a few cuts just size it up for stickers and call it good. Slabs and trim waste make great firewood so set up a spot near your splitting shed to deal with the whatever your mill kicks out that you don't need for lumber.

Sixacresand,
Do you have a formula to share for your debugger/mold protectant brew?.

[WH_Conley]

I have never had any problem with green wood and metal either. I hadn't gave it any thought. After you mentioned it though, you are TRYING to hit the sheathing board in the middle. As it shrinks, the board would shrink inward, becoming narrower. I guess in a perfect world the middle of the board would not change location. Probably more movement coming from the metal expanding and contracting in hot and cold cycles over the years.

[Sixacresand]

I just picked up some borax, do you mix it with anything decides water Sixacresand??

I just mix it with water. 

[Magicman]

I have sawed SYP framing lumber that was used the very next day, more than once.

[schakey]

When I first met my good friend and neighbor Bill,he took my wife and I around and showed us cabins and houses that he had sawed the lumber
for. Each one was built using green lumber and none of them had any problems, one of the builders was nailing the siding up as it came off the mill.