Storing dried lumber

[Everest123]

I'm unloading my kiln which has fully dried and sterilized its first full load.  Now I need a place to store this Lumber and I have a large empty garage with plenty of space.  I've set up a dehumidifier in there and can easily keep the humidity at 40%.  Question - Do I need to use stickers in the wood piles or can I stack one board right on top of the other. It is all between 4 and 6% at this point.

I'd rather not use stickers in my storage area I would use a set just to keep them off the concrete but  would be it.

Thoughts?

-Jeff

[farmfromkansas]

I would put some strips down to keep the lumber off concrete, but dead stacking dry wood is ok.  My plan as well. And a dehumidifier is needed as well.  My shop is really humid right now after all this rain, been dumping the dehumidifier 2 times per day.  When the dehumidifier is full, says 60% right now, running says 50. Supposed to heat up soon going by the forecast.

[Stephen1]

That will work just fine. 

[YellowHammer]

If you deadstack it on pallets, it gets it off the floor and also makes it easy to move.

[low_48]

Do you have powder post beetle there? Even dry and sterilized can be infested. Not as likely as air dried, but still possible.

[Everest123]

I 100% have PPBs here.  Sadly some firewood was stored in this very garage a number of years ago and a lot of stuff got eaten up.  An old ox yoke, several tool handles (all of that was hickory) and a few walking sticks.  No impact on my exposed rafters, etc. so I suspect a hardwood variety.  Nothing in several years though and I've removed all of the affected wood and "bombed" the garage.  

I have a bucket of Propylene Glycol, and 40 pounds of Borax and Boric Acid on the way.  I plan to cook up some Bora Care equivalent and spray down all of this lumber.  And moving forward I'll be treating everything straight off the mill so I don't have to be concerned about PPBs.

Interestingly, whatever beetles I had appear to have been mighty particular.  For example, I have a large hardwood workbench in that garage.  Totally untouched.  Many wooden tools and only one handle in particular got attacked.  Several walking sticks, and only one got hit.  The old antique ox yoke got it the worst.  It was completely riddled with thousands of holes.

But no new activity for at least 3-4 years that I can tell.

[farmfromkansas]

Good thing to treat.  I have neighbors who are using a Morton building to store lumber, and it got PPB in it, lots of boards infected.  all stickered and on pallets.   Neighbor said they will probably have to burn the lumber.

[GeneWengert-WoodDoc]

If you stack the dried, sterilized lumber on a pallet that did not go through the kiln with the lumber, and if it hardwood pallet, you have a good chance of infecting the fresh lumber with lyctid PPB from the pallet.  A heat treating stamp on the pallet is of no value...the pallet can get the PPB after heat treating before you use it.  Same for 4x4s.

From the time the lumber leaves the kiln u til it goes into the garage, it must be kept away from (30' at least) from all other hardwoods.