best way to store kiln dried wood outdoors-possible?

[Nick Sorenson]

I have a small shop and around 800 bd ft of kiln dried hard maple. I need a place outdoors to store it but I don't want bugs to get to it any tips?

[Henry Ambrose]

Unless you live in Arizona or other very dry place it won't be dry enough to use after you park it outdoors. There must be some place indoors you can stash it?

[Bud Millis]

Unless you live in Arizona or other very dry place it won't be dry enough to use after you park it outdoors.

Why??

I have a friend that stores his outside under a lean to. Its either a grass or gravel floor, I forget, with a roof and three enclosed sides with the front open. The wood is stacked on racks. Currently I'm also storing approx 1100 BD FT of hardwoods outside. I like its a lot better than the loft which is about 30'+ warmer than outside temps.

[Larry Edgerton]

Spray it with a Borax/water solution as you restack it. There are lots of posts in the archives on this. That will keep the powder post beetles away. I have the same situation, a stack of ash that I do not have room for.

Larry

[John TenEyck]

You can store it outdoors, but the EMC will track the average humidity of your local. Where I live that means around 12 - 14% about now, while the wood in my humidity controlled shop is around 8 - 9%. If you have a shed with a loft, that would be a good place to store it as the EMC would likely be lower up there. The worst place to store it is just stickered on bunks out in the open with corrugated on top. No matter how you store it you should bring it in to your shop as far in advance of using it as possible to let it equilibrate, otherwise all kinds of interesting but not humorous things will happen. A moisture meter will tell you when it's ready.

[Sean Kinn]

My lumber guy (Dennis of Maryland Select Hardwoods in Ironsides, MD) stores ALL of his kiln dried lumber outside in a well covered (but open on all sides) pole barn. I've been purchasing my wood from him for years, and I have never had a problem. I just follow standard practice of bringing the material into my shop for at least 2-3 weeks before using it in a project. I also ensure that I have enough wood (plus a little extra) stacked in my shop to complete the project at hand.

[dave toney]

My lumber guy (Dennis of Maryland Select Hardwoods in Ironsides, MD) stores ALL of his kiln dried lumber outside in a well covered (but open on all sides) pole barn. I've been purchasing my wood from him for years, and I have never had a problem. I just follow standard practice of bringing the material into my shop for at least 2-3 weeks before using it in a project. I also ensure that I have enough wood (plus a little extra) stacked in my shop to complete the project at hand.

All of the major lumber dealers here have the lumber in sheds, some open one one side only, some are in metal buildings, but none are climate controlled.
If you think the humidity is too high then do like Sean and put it in a climate controlled area for a while.