Looking for lumber storage shed ideas

[flyboy16101]

I have been kicking around the idea of building a lumber storage shed. I am starting to sell more lumber from my own logs and was thinking about having some on hand for when people stop by and also to have a place to put a customers order out of the weather if they cant pick up right away. Was wondering what some of you guys do and any thoughts you have about layouts. I don't have very much flat ground so it won't be very large. Is it worth it have a large opening to put whole bunks in, or a door to walk into with shelves on both sides?

[thecfarm]

Not that I sell lumber,but if I was sawing and told them to come get,I would not be to concerned about storing it. But if I was sawing lumber to sell later,than I would be concerned about storing it.

[Percy]

Regardless of what you build, it won't be big enough. Even if it was an acre in size, eventually you'll need more. 😄😄😄😄

[scsmith42]

We're in the process of building a combination air drying barn / lumber storage shed.  We started off with some reclaimed trusses and tin roofing sheets from a dismantled chicken house (lots of them in NC).  The trusses are designed for a 42' span, so the drying barn will be 42 x 80, and on one end there will be a pair of 30' wide kiln chambers for Nyle L200's.  The 42' span is common for chicken houses; or you can also find reclaimed trusses from turkey barns with a 28' span.  I already had the 42 footers so that's what I'm using.

The lumber will be loaded from the sides of the barn, so to facilitate ease of access the barn is designed for a 40' span between the posts.  Basically I will only have to work around a single post in the middle of the 80' length, which will help increase loading efficiency.  It is being situated so that the long sides are perpendicular to the prevailing wind. 

One thing that I don't like about my current air drying barn is that we're loading the lumber from the ends of the barn instead of the sides.  This causes us to have to spend a lot of time (and $) moving stacks of lumber around to get to a stack behind them.  Side loading on the new barn should reduce this handling cost.

Truss height will be 18' which will allow us to stack up to 16' high for maximum utilization.  I'm estimating that we can store / dry 160K bd ft in it.

My advice to you is to design your barn with lumber handling in mind, and set it up where you can fork in stacks of lumber easily instead of hand loading / unloading.  Sometimes you can pick up a deal on pallet racking, which will allow you to store multiple bundles vertically of a similar product.  When customers finish buying the bundle on the lowest level, simply fork a bundle from above down into that location.  That also keeps customers from cherry picking through every bundle that you have, leaving you with low grade product over time that takes up a lot of space.

[oakiemac]

I had same problem years ago (still have same problem), I built a 24x32 pole barn which clearly wasn't close to being big enough. Next I added a 32x40 on to the original pole barn. Eventually out grew this so I put up a 48x34x 17 fabric skin Quonset building. Still not enough space so I commandeered on old 30x40 horse barn that we had on our property. I still need more space so I'm looking into doing something else this coming summer.
Bottom line, as mentioned above, you can't have too much space.

[tmbrcruiser]

I have been working on setting up a mill and shop for the past year. Phase two of the build includes a 30'x 84' lumber storage and kiln chamber (nyle L300). Plan is 30'x30' for green lumber both sides open with sun shade curtain. Second chamber for dried lumber storage 30'x30' with barn style rolling doors on both sides of this chamber. Kiln chamber is 14'x30' with one door and loading from the end using lumber carts on tracks (two sets of tracks, three foot wide carts). Last part of the building will be kiln control room.

Lately I've been thinking a 16'x40' open shed for green storage may also be needed. The earlier advice to build more than you think you need and then build the rest of what you need is likely our  :)best advice.

[Peter Drouin]

 

 

You can see the pole barn in the pic. Set up 8' 10'12' 14' 16' Just got a permit for 40' more.
Customers want clean lumber, not stuff left out,

[paul case]

I was gona be the village smart allick here and ask where are you gonna get the lumber to build such a storage building? Last time I did such WDH builds a red iron framed saw shed!

PC

[flyboy16101]

My great uncle has one of these things called a Woodmizer what ever that is? It makes lumber or something. Guess I'll give him call :D. The truth is I would probably get it built faster if I bought the lumber. It took me 5 years to saw out my mill shed, every time I got almost everything cut someone would come along and buy it.

[longtime lurker]

The truth is I would probably get it built faster if I bought the lumber. It took me 5 years to saw out my mill shed, every time I got almost everything cut someone would come along and buy it.

I dunno whether to laugh or cry: I re-entered the industry 6 years back and all I was going to do was buy a portable mill to saw out a new house... I'm working on it :D

I've given this a lot of thought over the last few months of being "homeless".
I think a pole barn is the way to do it, sited crosswind to our predominant wind direction, 20' deep, shadecloth curtain sides for weather/ sun protection as required-with a Couple wide bays for the long stuff and then just keep adding 20' bays as required. We do a lot of 16's with flooring, and I want 2' clear of the posts either side for ease of loading. Figure after about a half mile I should have enough space lol.
That'll give me 3 or 4 packs deep plus a good overhang... and nothing will be more then 3 lifts with the forklift from the face: I lost days a year in the joint we were leasing digging stuff out because it was designed to have "deep" storage piles rather then "long".

Look hard at a racking system if you want to sell boards, and design sheds to work with that. Small sales are only profitable if you can lay hands on what you want quick, otherwise the time spent digging it out eats the margins quick.

[flyboy16101]

Its seems to come in phases, one month its furniture makers wanting just a few pieces. The next its farmers looking to repair barns or somebody wanting to build a shed. I'm hoping to keep 10 to 15 mbdft of 1 x siding boards and maybe the the same of 2x's not a lot of invetory. The cherry, walnut and things of that nature I keep in the overhead of the garage, which I'll probably keep doing since I don't sell very much of it. I would like to try to stay mostly with custom sawing but it seems like I'm getting further and further away from that. I don't anticipate moving the volume some of you guys do but I guess that's something I need to start planning for. The original idea was for a one and done building about 32' x 24'

What dimension lumber to you usually keep on hand?

[Peter Drouin]

I was gona be the village smart allick here and ask where are you gonna get the lumber to build such a storage building? Last time I did such WDH builds a red iron framed saw shed!

PC

:D :D :D Yes he did , and a nice one too.
:christmas:

[4x4American]

lol lol lol flyboy, one and done at 32'x24' I don't think is gonna work, it is just too small!  I have an 18'x30', it's not been 6 months and I've put an addition on and I really need to add another addition on the back.  I think for a one and done, you need to do like 300' x 400' with 20' ceilings and a helipad on the top lol lol

[paul case]

Well 40'x400' is not enough and I dont try to store lumber.

Bigger is probably better.

PC

[Planman1954]

I did a thread on a small lumber storage shed a few months ago. It is a small one though....perfect for me, since I'm small potatoes compared to the other fellows on here. But the one thing about it I was most proud of is the rack system I built out of 1x4s. They are strong, and you can find what you need quickly. You might want to take a look:

 

[bandmiller2]

Lumber is best stored in barns and sheds after it is dry or well on the way to dry. Unless you have a lot of air movement wood doesn't dry well in a building. I prefer to stack and stick in the open where house then when dry store it under cover. If you handle a lot of lumber you need to handle it in lifts with forks. Smaller quantities or special products a setup like Planman"s will work well. I try to avoid storage and cut to order. Frank C.

[Planman1954]

Good points! The lumber I put in my shed is mostly kiln dried in my solar kiln. It's mainly overflow from previous projects.
The whole shed is enveloped by felt in order to prevent moisture inside. It works well.

[paul case]

A company that I used to sell pallet wood stored their wood under a roof like this.


  

 

PC

[WV Sawmiller]

Plansman,

   I'm impressed with your lumber storage. Obviously a heavily manual operation but looks ideal for high value specialty woods. Since I don't use a kiln and my wood is stickered and stored in an open air pole barn your system would not work well for me but it sure looks like the way to go for fireplace mantels and thick specialty slabs. I may try to add something along those lines. Merry Christmas.