Covering lumber outdoors with on-hand materials

Started by Strix, June 07, 2018, 04:49:09 PM

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Strix

Hey all,

I've been hard at work sourcing the materials to build my cabin, and have run into the issue of storing the materials while I'm still accumulating. I would really like to store all the lumber and panels I've acquired right next to the build site but keep them from getting rained/snowed on. I've got a bunch of different coverings I can choose from but I was wondering if I could crowd-source some knowledge from you all on what might not work so well...

The location these will be placed at is underneath some enormous black spruce trees, which historically has kept snow from falling on the soil below them. Rain on the otherhand will get to the ground under these trees...

Universally across all types of wood, I have 40"x48" HDPE pallets to keep things from touching the ground. My stacks of material are thus 48" wide and however tall they need to be... They are also fairly solid, so I don't think they'll sink into the soil when weighted down to the point where any wood will meet soil.

Here's where I'm stuck. I have Tyvek, Woven "typar" housewrap, 4 or 6-mil poly in clear and blue colors, grade D building paper, tar paper, and a large amount of asphalt shingle material. (think granular shingles but one solid rolled piece.) Of these materials, I have thousands of square feet of each... My current thinking is to take the lumber piles and completely wrap them in tyvek/typar, then wrap the tyvek with tar paper or building paper to keep the sun off the tyvek/typar. The tar paper will obviously degrade in the sun, but as long as water resistant material remains underneath the tar paper, the pile shouldn't take on very much water even in a rainstorm. (?) Button cap nails to hold everything in place, and the wrap would be fairly tight so the wind doesn't catch and rip it off...

I would also take a sheet or two of panel material place it on top of the pile at a slope, nail it down, and then cover the pile with the wrap materials... So there's no chance for water to puddle on the top of the pile, be it sawn lumber or panels...

Any idea how this might play out? I could theoretically keep these things inside of camper-trailers on my property, but there isn't an easy way to get things in and out of them. and I have some long pieces to store too.

I've recently purchased a 40' thermoking trailer which might not reach my property until the end of the year, but once I have that I have ample enclosed storage and don't need to worry about keeping lumber outdoors.  So the durability of this setup would maybe need to be a year...

Thanks in advance for any advice!

NathanS

In my opinion it is not a good idea to wrap or tarp anything. Some water will get in, and it will never get out... causing mold or rot. My lumber delivery was wrapped in poly, and in the month or two the rafters sat wrapped they got soaked and were covered in mold spores. Not a big deal short term... just made them really heavy. Longer term they would rot, though.

I think the best thing would be to sticker the wood... panels as well... and then sit sloped metal roofing panels on top.. even the shingles or house wrap could work as long as you replace them when they tear. The lumber might turn gray but it will be dry. edit: should have read your post more carefully, i think that shingle material would be good on top, with sloped plywood underneath to keep it rigid.

In the winter I think wrapping them to keep snow off should be ok, but once the daily temp goes above freezing I would unwrap ASAP.

Also harbor freight or amazon or ebay has those temporary storage garage stuctures for maybe $100-200... that would be a safe route if you are protecting several thousand dollars of material.

Maybe others have different experience or opinion.


Strix

I have looked into the temporary garage structure and it seems worthwhile for at least the next year. There is one on sale at an outlet near me currently for about $140. 10ft by 20ft... Would certainly keep the rain mostly off provided it doesn't rip or fly away. Maybe I'll swing by tomorrow.
Would certainly like to hear more strategies though if anyone has them!

Don_P

I second getting it on stickers between layers of wood with a temporary roof of some sort and no sides, let the breeze blow through the spaced lumber or it will take on water in the pile and rise into the rot or insect zone. You won't be able to effectively keep the water out, certainly try but back in the real world go ahead and work from that mindset. Then set up for it to be able to redry readily.