I’m in the process of milling some alder and maple into dimensional lumber to be used for framing.How do I dry it and for how long.I’m in Washington and the rain is going to start any day.What can I expect if I don’t dry it.What can speed up the drying process if I find that I need to dry it from your advice. Thanks all, omni
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Replies
1. What type of space do you have to place the freshly cut and stickered wood into to dry?
2. Is this wood meant for framing a building, can you start building right away?
If you don't dry the green wood out it will start to mildew, then start to rot, and it will possibly get eaten by bugs.
Shop Manager for FWW Magazine, 1998 to 2007
John,Right now drying would be done outside under cover.The lumber will be used for framing a building and it's possible to start soon. Thanks,omni
Omni,If the "under cover" means under a roofed area with good air circulation, then you will probably be able to dry the wood out successfully even during your monsoon season, although hopefully someone with more direct experience with this will offer an opinion. If under cover means under a tarp then you will have problems with rot and bugs.There are two schools of thought on using green lumber for construction. On the positive side, hardwoods are much easier to nail green than when dry and by getting the wood nailed down warpage is at least partially controlled. Also the wood is now exposed to the air and can dry out as quickly as possible once there is a roof over it.On the negative side green wood is much heavier to handle and more difficult to cut. If some of the boards warp badly after they are used for the framing you will have fitting problems later with dry wall and trim work. Also you will need to let the frame dry out as much as possible before installing insulation and hanging the dry wall. If the studs are still green when you hang the drywall, the screws will pop badly as the framing dries.Over all I would use green lumber for building a rough building like a barn or shed. For a house you are probably better off using properly dried wood that has been jointed and planed, to straighten it out and square it up.John White
Shop Manager for FWW Magazine, 1998 to 2007
John, how long will it take to dry properly under a roof and what % am I trying to reach? Thanks, omni
If you aren't going to be drying the wood out with heat then the best you can do, and really all you need to do, is to get it down to where the wood's MC is in equilibrium with the local humidity, I'd guess you are talking about something in the range of 20 percent. If you have a meter, test some wood that is already in equilibrium, perhaps the framing of the building you will be storing the wood in.If you have a meter, test the wood every few weeks as it dries and when the MC starts to level off you are there. If you don't have a moisture meter, take a sample board two or three feet long and weigh it once in a while, when the wood stops losing weight it is a dry as it can get, at least until the weather improves. If you want to get a sense of how dry the wood can get in a drier season, bring a sample indoors to a well heated area and using either a meter or the weighing technique, see how much moisture it loses in a dry environment.In any case you should give the ends of the boards a couple of coats of latex paint to prevent the ends from drying out faster than the rest of the board which will cause cracking called end checking.Getting some air moving around the pile by aiming an oscillating fan at it might speed up the drying a bit, but it will take several months, probably six or more, to get the wood down to the point where it stops losing moisture. Thicker stock will require more time to dry out than thinner stuff.John White
Shop Manager for FWW Magazine, 1998 to 2007
Edited 9/29/2009 9:30 am ET by JohnWW
john, thanks for the feedback,omni
You are welcome.John White
Shop Manager for FWW Magazine, 1998 to 2007
Hi John,
Ok,the decision has been made to go ahead and construct the building using the lumber after only a month of drying.It will not be insulated or rocked due to the mildew factor but there will be a wood stove installed.With the building heated, is it possible for the wood to dry too fast and if it is ,what could we expect? Thanks for your input. omni
The wood stove will speed up the drying somewhat but I doubt if it will cause any problems that wouldn't show up even if the wood were left to dry out in an unheated space. If there is some area especially close to the stove you might want to shield it a bit to prevent it from drying out much faster than the rest of the framing. Other than that the quicker you can get the wood drying out in your damp environment the better. The biggest problem that comes to mind, whether you use heat or not, is that the floor joists will lose quite a bit of width as they shrink, if you sheath the wet frame with plywood you will have problems where the non shrinking plywood goes over the shrinking rim joists. If this doesn't make any sense, I'll have to do a sketch that will include a couple of possible solutions.John White
Shop Manager for FWW Magazine, 1998 to 2007
John,
I believe I understand the problem but would really appreciate your offer of the sketch and possible solutions to give to the owner. Thanks again, omni
Omni,What kind of a building are you planning to make out of the lumber? A simple shed, a large house, something in between? One floor, two, three? How were you planning to frame it, platform balloon, some hybrid system?John White
Shop Manager for FWW Magazine, 1998 to 2007
Hi John, It's just a simple one room cabin(aprox.240 sq ft) with a carport attached to it.Will be using standard 2x6 construction set on concrete posts. Omni
What is the width, height since they are set on edge, of the floor joists and roof rafters? You'll be building a deck, then building the walls on the deck, than another deck on top of the walls, then roof rafters on the second floor deck?John White
Shop Manager for FWW Magazine, 1998 to 2007
Hi John,
I'm not sure of your Question, the floor joist and roof joist are 2x8s and the walls are 2x6s.Imange a 12x24 struture with a 12X24 carport. There is no 2nd story.The roof pitch is 4/12.Can you see it? Thanks, Omni
Hi john,
I'm not sure of your question, the floor joists and the roof joists are 2x8s and the walls are 2x6s.There is no 2nd story.Imange ,a 12x24 structure with a 12x24 attached carport attached to the side
John, I don't know if there's ever any time here in western Washington when the RH is as low as 20%. Perhaps smack in the middle of our one or two hot spells (hot= >85 degrees). Based on the trees he's cutting and his comment about the rains being imminent, I think he's somewhere in my general neighborhood.forestgirl -- you can take the girl out of the forest, but you can't take the forest out of the girl ;-)
Hi FG,The 20 percent figure was for the moisture content of the wood that could be achieved by air drying the stock in a moist climate, at around 90 relative humidity. My charts show that at 70 degrees Fahrenheit and 90 percent humidity the wood will dry down to 20.5 MC.John White
Shop Manager for FWW Magazine, 1998 to 2007
Just thinking about this? If you fell a tree in the winter vs summer growing seasonWould that have any effect on the MC of the wood?I only thought of this because my sawer mentioned he like to harvest his trees in the winter. less dirt and debris to run through the mill. Up here in the winter -40 c humidity is a concept!
My shop has infloor radient heat so wood in the winter dries down to 6-8% with in a bit of time
Shoe who has an inquiring mind.
There is a difference, the sap wood will be considerably wetter during the growing season than over the winter, and will be the driest in late winter. The heart wood is less affected by seasonal changes. As I understand it frozen wood cuts differently and better than wet, but that a different blade is used for frozen wood. We get down to -20 Fahrenheit, -30 centigrade most winters here in the center of the Green Mountains, and not enough humidity to fill a shot glass.A heated floor is the way to go, wish I had one.John White
Shop Manager for FWW Magazine, 1998 to 2007
It's hard to believe that we live on the same planet.In Malta houses are built with limestone or concrete bricks, wood is never considered to be a structural material, roofs are always flat, our floors are tiled and a bitterly cold winter is when the mercury drops to +2 deg C!Oh yes, a wet winter is when we have 30" of rainfall. We start muttering about building an Ark.
Shoe,
In addition to what John said, many loggers prefer to harvest wood in the winter as the ground is frozen (in colder climates) and that translates into less harm done to the terrain.
At least here in northern New England that's been the way of our forefathers who worked in the woods. Seems they were Green long before it became fashionable.
Regards,Bob @ Kidderville Acres
A Woodworkers mind should be the sharpest tool in the shop!
Omni, if you're close to Seattle you have a little breathing room. It's showery the next couple days, but Sunday through Thursday next week are now looking sunny and in the low 60's. I was pleasantly surprised when I saw that forecast.
forestgirl -- you can take the girl out of the forest, but you can't take the forest out of the girl ;-)
Edited 10/1/2009 10:33 pm by forestgirl
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