Storing Oak

[LA3222]

Long story but I've ended up with most of my 2nd fix oak being delivered when I only wanted the 1st fix stuff.

 

I now have to store it for a few months. My concern is warping etc over that time. What would be the best way to store it? I've stacked it all at the minute, I was thinking to cover it over and then chuck some bags of cement on tonweigh it down - unnecessary??

 

Wood is a PITA at the best of times, leaving this on my floor for 3 or 4 months doesn't thrill me but it's where I'm at?‍♂️

[Temp]

Planks should normally be stored on strips of clean dry wood used as spacers. Be careful not to stack it too high or the weight can leave marks/indentations from the strips on the wood. 

 

Make sure no iron (tools or nails) gets left on the oak as it can react with tannin in the oak and stain badly. I left a chisel on a green oak beam over lunch once and it left a mark.

 

I wouldn't put cement on it. If you want to weight it down I'd put a scrap plank on top and put blocks on that. 

 

As its for second fix I'd store it all in the house so it acclimatises. Unfortunately all wood can move, particularly if humidity changes.

[Gus Potter]

Yes keep it inside. Actually, if you take your time and condition it then you'll get a dividend as it will tend to move less once installed.

 

Follow Temps advise. 

 

If it was me I would also every 2-3 weeks turn the planks. Here you start at the top of the pile. Take the first plank off the top outer edge of the pile, turn it so the bottom is now on the top and place it on a good thick spacer where you think the middle of the new timber stack will be. Keep it well clear of the floor, lets the air in. The idea here is that you are taking the timber from the ouside of the stack and placing it in the middle and at the bottom where the weight of the stuff above helps gently keep it more true . Also you are aiming to dry / condition the whole stack evenly thus the reason for moving the outer planks to the middle of the stack.

 

As you do this, check it is being kept clean and so on. Lastly keep the timber spacers a bit long then cover the stack with something breatheable, say a dust sheet, not plastic. The longer spacers keep the sheet away from the timber. Leave a gap at the bottom to let the air flow freely. Every now and again check to see if you need to add a bit of ballast to the top of the stack.

 

Be careful as Temp says about marking the timber with too much weight/ ballast. Depending on the plank thickness maybe look at spacers 600 - 900 mm apart.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[SimonD]

And store it out of direct sunlight, especially if the sunlight is likely to hit only part of the stack.

[Redoctober]

On 24/04/2021 at 21:01, LA3222 said:

Long story but I've ended up with most of my 2nd fix oak being delivered when I only wanted the 1st fix stuff.

 

I now have to store it for a few months. My concern is warping etc over that time. What would be the best way to store it? I've stacked it all at the minute, I was thinking to cover it over and then chuck some bags of cement on tonweigh it down - unnecessary??

 

Wood is a PITA at the best of times, leaving this on my floor for 3 or 4 months doesn't thrill me but it's where I'm at?‍♂️

 

Oh dear not good. Sound advice given though so hopefully it won't cause you too much pain.

 

We had a similar situation whereby the oak arrived ahead of the scheduled time and in fact unannounced. I refused to take delivery of it simply because we had nowhere to store it and had I done so we would have been forever moving it about within the build structure as I wasn;t prepared to store it outside. The Company accepted it was going to be returned but unfortunately, when it was re-delivered some weeks later, it was in an awful mess! I suspected at the time that the Haulage company concerned just "slung" the pallets in a corner of their warehouse pending re-delivery. The Oak company were very good and replaced warped and broken items.