Tips for Storing Your Wood: Info from a Lumber Yard in Houston

As you get more and more into the hobby of woodworking, you’ll find that you’ll start building up quite a supply of extra and scrap wood. You can briefly get away with leaning it up in a corner in a semi-organized jumble, but the more of it you gather, the more you’ll want to have some kind of organized system in place so you know exactly what you have the next time you’re starting off with a project.

With this in mind, here are a few tips from a lumber yard in Houston to help you more effectively store your wood in a secure, organized manner.

Try to keep the wood off the floor

Again, if you’re just starting out with your woodworking hobby, you might not necessarily have an in-depth storage solution for your wood in place. But the biggest thing you should know is that you don’t want that wood lying on the floor, no matter what kind of flooring you have.

This is because moisture will often seep up through the floor and get absorbed by the wood, which can cause some very undesirable results over time, including warping or degradation of the quality of the wood. Keep the wood on a shelf, and better yet, build a shelving system that offers plenty of storage options to keep your lumber organized.

There are several common methods people use to keep their wood off the ground. You might consider building some shelving, putting wood up in your rafters (if applicable in your particular space), under your work bench or on vertical racks.

Have some kind of inventory system in place

You’re going to have a hard time keeping your lumber collection organized if you don’t have at least a basic type of lumber organization system and inventory. You should try to keep lumber in similar sized chunks together, as well as lumber of the same type and dimensions.

On your shelving (or the wood itself, if you’re comfortable) mark down the thickness, width and length, or any other combination of information you find useful. You should be able to pick out certain sizes of lumber without having to go back through and measure everything all over again.

And again, keep lumber of the same types stored together. If you’re looking for a couple white oak boards, you shouldn’t have to go through your entire wood collection—they should already be grouped together.

Make sure you have sufficient ventilation

You should have enough ventilation in your wood storage area for your wood to be able to breathe. Keep the storage area dry and free of an overabundance of humidity. It helps to have a dehumidifier running in the area. This will prevent the wood from warping over time.

Looking for more ideas to keep your shop organized and your lumber clearly inventoried? Contact our lumber yard in Houston, TX today and we’ll be happy to give you more tips.