Air Drying Lumber In Attic

Instead of bringing the lumber to the heat i set up a box and with fans and hoses sucked the attic air to the lumber.

Air drying lumber in attic. When you airdry lumber it s not unusual to lose up to 10 percent or more to drying defects. How to dry out an attic. Drying wood in the attic the attic is a handy place to dry small quantities of lumber. Drying times can vary significantly depending upon wood species initial moisture level lumber thickness density ambient conditions and processing techniques.

The thicker the wood the longer the drying time. Typically you can achieve a moisture content of 10 15 percent by air drying alone although this will vary according to your local climate. Though attics are typically hot and dry a leaky roof or pipe condensation or severe weather can cause water to enter your attic. Osb sheathing makes for a cheap.

Air drying lumber over time can help reduce stress in boards. Here is how it works successfully for me. Robert mcguffy has headed up the wood drying sequence at the anderson tully company s vicksburg mississippi hardwood processing facility for decades. You can air dry 4 4 lumber indoors from 15 percent to 8 percent in a single heating season.

How to air dry lumber find a knowledgeable sawyer. You might get a lot of degrade in the lumber. Here are some tips and cautions. Do some research on the drying schedule for the type of wood you are considering drying.

I ve had small stacks of wood drying in the attic the basement and the garage. Lumber defects occur when drying is too rapid which leads to surface checks and end splits or when drying is too slow which results in sticker stains and discoloration from fungal growth because air drying is at the mercy of the weather drying rates are difficult to control. Also air drying for a period of time prior to loading it in the attic might be a good. See monitoring the stack page 51 air dried wood contains no internal stress.

After reaching 20 moisture content stack the lumber in a place where it can remain for an extended period of time until it reaches a point of equilibrium. Here s my experience with attic air drying. Wood will reach an equilibrium air dry mc or emc at that rate but it will continue to lose moisture and shrink when brought indoors. At this complex the largest of its kind in the u s robert has the responsibility for air drying and then kiln drying about 70 million board feet of hardwood every year.

Allowing lumber to passively sit at a given humidity level in order to obtain a desired emc air drying may be the simplest and least expensive method of seasoning wood but it is also the very slowest. Sticker lumber on hard surface ground floor or 2nd floor of shop. That made it much easier for me to hoist all of those boards into my attic for longer drying time and storage. Just bring in enough to satisfy your needs for the coming year.

Lumber is air dried first.