Lumber storage- vertical or horizontal?

[Howard Pollack]

I'm in the midst of building a shop and wonder about lumber storage. Vertical allows easier viewing of lumber, arranged by type. My concern is that boards that are long and leaning, even a little bit, might warp. Is that a reasonable concern? I've been in various hardwood yards that store lumber both vertically and horizontally. Thanks.
-Howard

[Ted Reischl]

I used to store mine horizontally. Always a pain...the board I invariably wanted was buried under a bunch of other boards. Dig, dig, dig....put everything back.

In my new shop, I am storing vertically. Has not been a problem. Here is something to think about:

What do you mostly build? If you are building big cabinets out of solid lumber it can cause a problem as you mentioned. But if you are doing smaller stuff it does not matter if the board bows a bit while leaning against the wall. Also consider just flipping your boards over now and then so they can lean the other way for a while.

[Chris Fournier]

Vertical all day long! Shop has 13' ceilings, welded up a metal rack 8' long 20" wide double sided. You can see it, you can pick it. Old shop with 8'6" ceilings not possible and horizontal was the way to go. Hated the work required to dig out lumber.

[Randall J Cox]

I would say vertical if possible. My shop not possible, have bowed lumber and also have to move the whole stack to get to a certain board...pain in the xxx.

[Jim Becker]

If I had the height available, no question, I'd opt for vertical storage. It's much easier to get to individual boards in most cases than stacked lumber and the "racks" don't have to support a lot of weight like horizontal storage requires. (The floor still does, however)

[Andy Giddings]

+1 on vertical for the reasons stated - and I don't have room for a horizontal store :-)

[Tom Bender]

Let me pick on the premise a bit, with tongue in cheek.

"Store Wood" I try to store as little as possible. That said, there is some obtained at a good opportunity and there are offcuts. But I try to not bring home anything without a near term plan to use it. It's an ongoing struggle.

[James Cheever]

If you have the vertical height, +1 for vertical storage as most everyone has said.

In my basement shop, I get to pick through horizontal stacks.

[Jim Andrew]

I have some vertical storage, and do not notice any bowing of boards if they are stood up DRY. If they have moisture in them, yes they can bow.

[Drew Pavlak]

+1 on Vertical Storage... I have 2100+ board ft of Cherry, Oak, and Walnut that had to be kiln dried or let mother nature turn it to dust. Storing horizontally would have taken up way too much space. The lumber rack in the picture is 16' long x 32" deep.. actual storage area is only 24" deep as I built support behind the lumber to keep it from bowing. the nice bonus was that now I have a place to store some sheet goods behind the lumber.

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[Howard Pollack]

Thanks everyone. Vertical seems to be the best answer.
-Howard

[Matt Putnam]

Sounds like vertical won the vote here.
I did the same recently and copied Sam Layton's wood storage rack. Here are a couple pics (framed up and then with the plywood cover).
The change I'd make in retrospect would be to split one of the sheet stock bins (the area behind the slanted wall) to accommodate more partials. I am using the upper bin for partials and it fills up very quickly with lots of dead space above. I'd be better off splitting that upper area with another horizontal divider and essentially doubling what I can store (as my partials are long but narrow).

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[Michael Stein]

Horizontal now due to space constraints... Next shop will be vertical, without question. I have my wood rack up high-ish, behind the garage tracks. Sucks, but keeps the floor space below it empty. In a one-car garage, this matters.

[Ron Hampe]

Which do you prefer for plywood storage - vertical or horizontal and why? I have room in my new shop for a pallet rack and am trying to decide if its worth the added cost. Thanks.

[Jim Becker]

Ron, I store sheet goods horizontally simply because that's about the only way I can handle the handling, if you will. I don't have the strength (or ceiling height) to deal with vertical. I can lift a full sheet (barely) using my Gorilla Gripper horizontal to move to/from the rack, however.