Lumber storage in loft/second floor

[Jon Endres]

My new garage shop has a full-footprint second floor, 24x36, with 30" knee walls and a 9/12 roof pitch. I have a space about 6' wide in the center that is 7'-6" to the collar ties. I am trying to figure out an efficient way to store lumber in that space, knowing that whatever footprint the lumber takes up, I will need close to the same amount of space to add and remove boards. Wall mounted racks don't work as I have a sloped ceiling, not really a wall. Both ends have windows (the 24' dimension) so I can't put racks on the ends. I have a lot of material to put up there (probably close to 4-5 thousand board feet), most of it is 8-12' in length and 4/4 or 5/4 stock.

Any suggestions on how I can make efficient use of that space? I am going to be reducing the quantity significantly over the next 3-5 years but still need a good way to store it. Right now it's in a rack in my shed, which I don't intend to move; and dead-stacked in a shipping container which I need to get rid of soon (it's rented).

[Jim Becker]

I understand your situation very clearly...





These photos were taken before all the cross members were completely installed.


BTW, be sure you've ascertained that your building can take the weight load of that lumber...

[Gary Radice]

Whoa. 5000 board feet at an average of hardwood density of 4 pounds per board foot is 10 tons of wood. Yes, be sure your structure can support that kind of load!

[Jon Endres]

That's more or less what I had in mind. Looks like it will fully support 10' pieces if the rafters are 16" on center? It also appears that you placed it in the middle of the long wall - are you trying to access the lumber from either end?

I have a 100 psf live load rating on my floor, but a fully loaded rack might exceed that if I am not careful. In theory I have 800 sf @ 100 psf = 80,000 lb. 40 tons. I don't think I'll have a problem as long as I don't try to pile it all in one corner. My floor is 14" deep steel beams supporting rough-sawn full-dimension 2x12 joists @ 16" on center. I'm also not going to put all 5000 bf up there. I'll probably limit it to half that, and the rest will be in the actual shop or left in my shed.

[Jim Riseborough]

That's more or less what I had in mind. Looks like it will fully support 10' pieces if the rafters are 16" on center? It also appears that you placed it in the middle of the long wall - are you trying to access the lumber from either end?

I have a 100 psf live load rating on my floor, but a fully loaded rack might exceed that if I am not careful. In theory I have 800 sf @ 100 psf = 80,000 lb. 40 tons. I don't think I'll have a problem as long as I don't try to pile it all in one corner. My floor is 14" deep steel beams supporting rough-sawn full-dimension 2x12 joists @ 16" on center. I'm also not going to put all 5000 bf up there. I'll probably limit it to half that, and the rest will be in the actual shop or left in my shed.

The weight idea will work, sounds like you have the capacity, but also be careful about deflection, at 100psf, the rafters might deflect enough to cause issues below. Hopefully it was designed with deflection in mind.
,

[Robert Engel]

I think I would be looking at a way to make my shed bigger.

[Mike Holbrook]

I am considering moving into a mountain home with a garage that is very much like the OP mentions. There is another two car garage for actual cars, so it looks like the single car garage will be my shop. I like working green wood and was thinking I might be able to wall off one side of the top knee wall like Jim shows above. If I add extra light or a small heating devise I might have a low temp kiln, if I can figure out how to make it safely. Peter Galbert suggests 120-140 degrees for chair parts. In the summer, in North Georgia, I suspect the temperature in that roof will be close to hot enough without help.

Currently I am using metal brackets. Which I was hoping I could remove from the concrete walls and move to the new shop:

WoodStorage.jpg