Dead-stacking pine lumber

[Chuck White]

I need to make a little more room in the back bay of my garage for winter storage of my sawmill.

Wondering if it would be ok to dead-stack about 500 board feet of White Pine inch-boards of various widths.  This lumber has been sawed, stacked, and stickered out of the weather and sunlight and has had good ventilation since the middle of may.

It's nice lumber and I just don't want it to mold, but I do want to make more room.

[poolman]

Once my lumber has dried in my solar kiln to below 12% mc, I stack it in a dry place one on top of each other indoors on shelves and racks.Moisture must be on the wood for mold to live.Be sure to check moisture content with a meter.I bought a wagner in 1994.Its a pinless type and still works well.I heard You can use an ohm meter but I dont know at what setting.A pin meter is sold low cost from harbor frieght tools.I paid 300 for mine in 94.Good luck ,brian

[Tom]

Once dry, you can flat stack it inside, keeping in mind that a stack of wood will absorb as much as 1% per day and not give it up as quickly.  The result, in an  open invironment, is that the wood could become wet enough to grow mold again. I wouldn't worry about it too much in an inclosed environment. 

Mini-Ligno sells a pin meter for about $100.  You can buy the same meter from the wood working magazines for as little as $80.  It works just fine and the company is known for its meters, making both pin and pinless.

Read about drying in "The Wood Handbook".  You can find a link to it in the forum knowledge base, which is in forum extras.

[Brad_S.]

Chuck,
Here in our neck of the woods, assuming all you say is correct, that lumber is about as dry as it will get outside of a kiln. You will be fine dead stacking it. Your lumber should be in the 13% range which is probably drier than the stuff at the home center!

[WDH]

I agree with Brad and Tom.  Pine dries quickly when properly stickered.  It would be best to check the moisture with a meter, as has been pointed out by Poolman, if you have the means.

[woodmills1]

I have seen pine get 95% dry as it gets in 2 months in the summer

I dead stack some 5 to 7 thousand feet every winter for future winter deliveries, after at least 3 months of summer sticker stacked....never had mold except for the ones under the roof leak in the trailer

[Chuck White]

Well, this lot is going to be dead stacked in the back shed as soon as I can get to it.

I want to get my mill inside before snow flies.