How to store heavy slabs for easy access and display

[Old Greenhorn]

If you are going to use pine for the floor I would go at least 7/4, but frankly with all that poplar you have I think you would be better off using that. 
 I have 2 pine floor sections in my shop (which will never see water), one is just a storage loft and handles the weight fine but doesn't see much traffic or wear. It's 8/4 thick. The other is 4/4 and sees a lot of foot traffic, but it had 6/4 hardwood underneath it layed on a bias so the hardwood takes the load and the pine is just a second layer I messed around with as shiplap flooring and is full of old bug holes.
 Just remember pine doesn't do well when it gets wet and it will be getting moisture from the ground/rain/snow.
 I do like marble though. ;D

[thecfarm]

I've made a few woods road that way with a layer of rocks and gravel. 

[WV Sawmiller]

   Marble? Teak? Yep, the boys are back in town! Marble is out! Too slick when wet.

    I cut the pine and the first 12' were black ants and punk before I found solid wood. Yes, the poplar does well but I also can sell it much easier than I can the pine. This floor will be over 4-5 inches of gravel, a 4-8 mill layer of plastic, 2" thick locust sleepers on top of that and 2" poplar "joists on top of the sleepers so there is 4" of air space on top of the plastic. This is the same design I used before. The only difference was the question about the pine instead of mixed hardwood for floor. 

   I'm going to have to do something with the pine if it is not already too late. I was surprised at the ants and rot already in that standing tree. I guess I could make a lifetime supply of stickers ;).

[mudfarmer]

WV don't take this as gospel but I have one 4/4 EWP "floor" that is just sitting on pressure treated 4x4s set on the ground, no vapor barrier or even gravel underneath and it is still good after 10 years. I did spill a bunch of motor oil in the open doorway part a few times while working on various engines though.

[WV Sawmiller]

Muddy,

Thanks. I won't be nailing to treated wood but I do have the gravel and plastic sheeting.

Don,

I get my gravel from Grandview Market just off I-64 before you get to Beckley. They sell mulch, stone, sand and assorted gravel. They even have pallets/baskets of local river rocks for sale out in front of the store. They also sell seed, feed, fruit and veggies and assorted Amish furniture and crafts.

Tom,

  There is only one more bay in the shed without a floor when this one is finished. I would not be surprised if it gets one too.

[WV Sawmiller]

 

 
I put my plastic on top of the gravel then cut some more 8/4 LE Locust sleepers and put them on top of the gravel. The shed bay is about 9' wide and 17' deep on the left side and 14' deep on the right side as facing the picture. Some I cut from big dry fence posts and that dry locust is hard wood to saw!


 
I had a customer make a couple of trips by and got two truck loads of slabs for his boss lady and will come back later this week for a load for his own use. She uses it in a small wood heater and really likes the way it works. Anyway just before sunset I went out and cut 3 of my 2X2 poplar strips to use as "Floor joists". Each of the joists are 9' long and I squared them up with the 2X4 on the right side of the picture using a piece of metal roofing as a square. That works real good. You can just barely see my 14" spacer stick made for a 2X2 on the right side of the picture. I use it to make sure the joists are on 16" centers. I have to find or buy some more 16d nails in the morning before I can continue this project which should go pretty fast at this stage. I am still debating on using the white pine for flooring. My ultimate plan will include a front wall with a big/wide door.

I guess once this bay floor is done I'll have to consider adding one on the left in the last remaining bay.


 
When I sat down to type this post I looked out the window and one of our many resident deer was in the pasture about 35 yards away with 2 big healthy this years spotted fawns. They are a daily sight around here.

[Old Greenhorn]

......
I guess once this bay floor is done I'll have to consider adding one on the left in the last remaining bay.
.......

As I recall, this would be in compliance with the committee's original guidance.   In other words.... We told you so. :D :D :D :D :D ;D
 Actually I think having floors in all bays just allows you to take better care of your stock and inventory. Doors just make it a bigger winner. Good on ya' mate.

[WV Sawmiller]

Tom,

   I confess I have been very pleased with the floors in the bays where I have them. It makes all wood handling and storage so much easier, cleaner and adds access and visibility.

[WV Sawmiller]

 

 
We started off with thunderstorms and humid, dreary weather all day, but mid afternoon I went out and finished installing my 2X2 floor joists on top of the locust sleepers. It was too wet for me to attempt to saw any more flooring but that will be the next step.

  After finishing this I put a blade on the weedeater and started cutting some weeds in the pasture beside the house. Less that 30 minutes after I finished and got out of the shower from the heat and 112% humidity this is what I saw out my living room window.


 

There are 3 spotted fawns (about 3 months old) and 3 yearling to old does in this picture. A couple minutes after I put my camera down another adult doe joined them. The fence posts shown are about 35 yards from my seat on the couch where I'm typing this entry.

[GRANITEstateMP]

Howard, the floor project is looking great, but your heifers need a liitle more weight on them😁

[WV Sawmiller]

Granite,

 Considering what I have invested in feed for them they are looking pretty good IMHO. They are a bear to pen up and load to take to market though.

 Yes the floor will go down quick now. I may even mill the boards full length so I don't have any splicing to do.

  After that will be more vertical bin storage and eventually front walls and doors. I already have the hinges.

[WV Sawmiller]

 

 
I cut these mostly 8" wide Spruce (?) 4/4 boards and managed to get them into position on my tractor forks.


 
It was hot and very humid but I managed to get the floor finished today. The spruce covered most of the floor but I had to use 14" of poplar on the right and notch it around a post or two to finish it. I used my last 12d nail to finish it 

Now I need to start planning on my vertical bins. Right now I am thinking just the R side and the back. More to come!

[WV Sawmiller]

 

 
Been piddling a few minutes at a time and got out today and resumed work on the bins for my recently added floor in the 3rd bay in my shed. Two more uprights and a couple of short 2X4 braces in the floor and this section will be ready to use. There will be 10 more bins of assorted sizes (since nothing in this shed is square) and heights from about 8' up to 10'.

 I am not going to add bins on the left (as facing) side. I will leave it open plus I have some shelves up high I use for storing birdhouses and other small items. I will use the open area to store my LE benches. I had them here before on pallets but this will work better.

I can tell I did not level the gravel as well as I should have and the front left corner is a little high. It will sink down when I step on it. I guess if I store enough weight on it then it will settle and maybe permanently. Anyway it works as designed right now.

 My next step will be to start building some doors for the 3 front bays. I already have the hinges and can use some of the stock I cut the last few days.

 When I walked back to the house I found a big old doe had jumped the chain link fence into the back yard. Outside the fence her fawn was waiting. When I got to the house she gracefully jumped the 4' fence. The fawn trotted over and started nursing as soon as she cleared the fence so I guess it had been separated for a while.

[WV Sawmiller]

 

 
I went out to finish my bin project. I found a guy from the power company walking along checking the lines for dead trees or dangerous limbs. He saw and asked about my mill and said he is looking at an LT15 and wants to mill lumber to build a house off a 9 acre patch he has. I showed him the features and he really liked the hydraulics and setworks. Then he left and I finished the bin as shown above.


 
I filled one of the new bins (back left) with some short ash slabs and bench leg stock then started moving my benches back. Here are the first 8. Sampson had to check them out. I have about 3' of free space between the benches and the bins and a couple of fee free between at the rear.


 
I covered them with moving blankets then stacked 8-9 more on top.


Then I put 5-6 more on top of these and covered them with moving blankets to help keep the dust off them. I see I have room to make 5-6 more short benches and stack easily on these now.


 
The next, non-urgent step is to move some more of my slabs and stock into these bins, build doors for these three floored bins and finish walling them in.

Eventually I will move the stock in that first bay on the left and put a floor in it too.

[doc henderson]

looks great!

[Old Greenhorn]

Looking Super Howard! See what a little input from the FF Design Committee (FFDC) can do? :D Really though, nice work. Basically (correct me if I am wrong) you took your existing space and transformed it into a space that holds a lot more stuff in a much more usable manner. That has to feel good and I am happy for you because I know that (rare for me) feeling.
 I will say that to me it is looking pretty dang slick and with those doors on, even better. Hinged doors that big might be a real challenge to keep from sagging, but maybe you can pull it off. Sliding barn doors might work better if you didn't have the conflict between bays.
 Keep on truckin' along man, Looks great!

[WV Sawmiller]

   I thought about sliding doors but the cost was a lot more. I don't know if I could hang them there but I suspect I could.

    I bought 3 sets (3 per door) of big combination hinges (strap hinge one side/butt hinge the other side) which I think I can connect to the locust up rights for support. I'm thinking the doors will be 4-5 ft wide. I was thinking of making them 12' high like the front but the header there takes up at least 12" or more so there is no reason to add that extra weight to the door. I can swing the doors below the header and either cover the header with short boards for cosmetic reasons or just leave it as is. 

   Yes, this gives me a lot more useable space especially with the vertical bins. You can't see it in the photos but most of the long uprights are fastened to the 2X6 trusses above which makes them rock solid to support the loads expected. 

    A collateral benefit is that gives more vertical support to the roof so if we ever had a huge snow load that would help prevent a roof collapse. (We were erecting a big circus tent in Bagram for billeting and before we got the heat hooked up we had a heavy snow and the only thing that kept the tent from collapsing was that we had put the furniture inside and the the tall clothes lockers saved the day/tent. When the heat is installed the canvas is warm enough to melt the snow. I'm thinking these 2X4 uprights would do the same thing.)

   Projects like this are a great use of lower grade lumber that may be harder to sell but is fully useable. I don't care if there is a little bark on a board as long as it is fit for purpose. They are also handy to show to customers sometimes to help them visualize building projects they are considering. It is amazing how little it costs to build something like this when the lumber and uprights come off your property and you can build it yourself. Finding and repurposing used roofing and such helps even more.

   For example - I make shelves 12-14 inches wide and use 1' 2X12's cut into diagonals as my "shelf braces" and nail them onto my 2X horizontal pieces the siding is nailed to. A short 2X4 spacer under the 2X12 - 45* brace keeps it from sagging. You can store a ton of weight on these things and going vertical provides more floor space. 

[WV Sawmiller]

   Just reviewing this thread and recent posts i comes to mind for the doors I could build a pretty simple frame and cover it with used metal to keep the weight down. Any thoughts or suggestions on that idea?

[RichTired]

Howard,
   You have done a very good job increasing your warehouse space and for the most part, have had knowledgeable suggestions and comments from the folks on the forum. 

However, from my point of view, you didn't have a storage problem, you have an inventory problem.

Sell some stuff!!!  :D

[WV Sawmiller]

RT,

   Make me an offer. :D

[Old Greenhorn]

Richard is right Howard. 
 Too bad there is no get together coming up we will both be at. I saw your pile of benches and thought that since you sell them cheaper than I do, I could buy some of yours, bring them home and resell them here with a markup and we would both win. :D :D
 I should try to get another bench together before the next show on the low end of the scale. I have plenty (too much) high end.

[WV Sawmiller]

   Just been piddling the last couple days cutting and stacking firewood and such. I have had one stack of spruce boards and some poplar 2X4s and such I cut for future composting toilet use that has been air drying about a year in front of my shed. I've bumped it a time or two with the tractor and decided to take advantage of my new bins.


 
The stack was about 2' wide X 8' long X 5' tall.


 
Now I just need to move the stacking pallet and re-stack the cinderblocks for future use.


 
 When vertically stacked the spruce all fit in one bin and the 2X4s took up less than half a bin. Sampson seems satisfied with the stacking job and says I can go get him a treat. 

   I've been looking at the door requirements and design and see I need more fasteners. I'll be near a TSC next Monday so I'll stock up on a bunch of bulk lag screws for holding the hinges to the uprights and to the doors. I may start on the first door tomorrow if I don't get a better offer or other instructions from the boss lady.

[Wlmedley]

Howard, I like your setup.Vertical stacking seems to work pretty well and take up less room.I've got a bay in my shed I'm going to modify to store slabs and specialty wood.My problem is right now it's full of pine I cut for a fellow a year ago that he has already paid me for.He wanted to know if I could store it for awhile and let it dry some.I agreed thinking a couple months,not over a year.Seems like I get in a mess every time I sell anything.Not worth the aggravation.From now on if I've got lumber already cut and someone wants it it's going to be cash and carry  :laugh:

[WV Sawmiller]

Bill,

   The problem is they still need to air dry somewhere first especially if you don't have a kiln. You still need the space for that and I figure about 2 years for 2" thick hardwood and more if you have 3 & 4 inch thick mantels like some of mine. Maybe it is time to start thinking about building a small solar kiln of some kind?

   Looking at the picture I remembered I had not covered the stack of stickers in the background. I freed up several dozen stickers today so restacked them with the others but saw I forgot to cover them. While I was at it I stacked the tin and moved the cinderblocks that had been under that and another nearby stack so now the area is much more available for driving and turning trailers around. 

   I agree storing for others is not a good idea at least not for me. I cut some 4X4 posts for a customer a week ago and he finally came and got them today. I don't like extra handling the lumber but he's a good, many times repeat customer although his purchases are usually small.

[WV Sawmiller]

   Thinking back on it, vertical bin storage does not take up any less storage space the any other flat stacking set up. It does take up less floor/ground space and the biggest advantage for the thick live edge pieces is easier access and visibility. You can just pull out a single slab to look at both sides without having to move hundreds of pounds of other boards or slabs on top of it.

 Good, sturdy shelving accomplishes some of the same thing by better use of otherwise wasted air space but it does not improve access and visibility.

 I have been fortunate to see some impressive storage setups around the world. Rotating file storage where basically shelves are hooked to a chain like a roll-up warehouse door and the clerk pushes a button till the right shelf/bin rolls to her level work good for admin and other small item storage needs. I saw one system where rows of bins were on tracks in the floor and could be opened up to create an aisle. The rest of the room was solid storage bins with only one 3'-4' space that could be placed where needed s an aisle instead of half the room being left empty for walkway/access. In a 50' X 50' store room instead of 25" X 50' used for storage shelving and 25'X50' left open for access, 47'X50' was used for storage with one 3'X50' aisle that could be placed anywhere in the storeroom.