I have an unusual space that I want to exploit to store and season lumber. I can control the humidity in the crawl space that extends at the back end of my garage between the dirt that is now triple covered in 6ml black plastic and the floor joists above it. I have a 4 foot tall and 15 x 20 foot area to build a lumber rack. I was just going to attach a set of supports across this space but was unsure of the interval. No sense being wasteful and no sense being negligent.
Is there any rule of thumb in terms of points of support per foot of lumber? For instance, while it would be possible to support a 20 foot 2x4" with just 2 points of support at the one foot and nineteen foot marks of the lumber, I am thinking this would encourage some sagging in the middle of the 2x4". I could put continuous shelving that supported the entire piece but this is likely more support than it needs and it reduces the air flow.
Support every 3 feet seems reasonable but it is arbitrary and not predicated on any experience. However, given that there will be pieces of various lengths, every 3 feet seems like it would manage short cutoffs that could hang out in this space and not clog up my garage work area. I have likely answered my own question but is there some metric that suggests that stored wood needs support every x inches or it will promote sagging?
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