[Masterofnone]

I live in Kansas. Summers here are usually 100+ degrees and humidity in the 50-80% range. My shop is in my garage with no climate control. My house has an unfinised basement. I keep the house at about 80-degrees but the basement stays about ten degrees cooler. But with the house being new I don't know about humidity levels down there.

Should I store wood in the basement or in the garage? I know all about letting wood aclimate, but for long term storage, whats the best place for it?

Bobby

 

[against_the_grain]

If you plan on building furniture, its best to acclimate the wood for the conditions that the piece will be
put. You need to get a moisture meter. My guess is that you likely will have some problems unless you dehumidify your shop some and only work the wood when it has reached a moisture content of 12 % or lower.

 

[Steve Neul]

Is your basement damp? You might put a humidity meter down there to be sure. I would rather keep the wood in a hot garage than a damp basement. The hot garage will be more like a dry kiln.

 

[Dave Paine]

I am with the other replies, an unfinished basement is higher moisture than the garage and may result in mold on the wood. You would have to run a dehumidifier and it is going to run constantly.

The garage is perhaps the better location for your house.

 

[Itchytoe]

I also agree that a damp basement is a bad place to store wood. I'm actually storing my wood in a spare bedroom in my house. That way they're already acclimated to indoors humidity. The vast majority of what I make stays indoors. The pieces that don't won't be bothered by slight expansion or even a crack or two. They're strictly utilitarian.

 

[Masterofnone]

Good to know. The basement isnt damp yet but I wonder, especially as we move into the summer, it may get damp. I've also got an open sump-pump hole down there. Probably not ideal.

 

[TomC]

I keep mine in the basement of my shop. I keep a dehumidifier running.
Tom

 

[Midlandbob]

The thread is dancing around the important factor.
The moisture content (at equilibrium) is determined almost completely by the relative humidity. For most of the country indoors the desired moisture content is 5-8 % which corresponds to a heated building in mid winter.
If you live in the south or where the humidity is high indoors, the 9-12% or so.
Store your wood in a place with the same humidity that it will sit. In the heated and air conditioned north, the garage or damp basement is not likely ideal unless you are going to build outdoor objects.
You can do a search for "graph humidity vs moisture content wood" and find lots of articles and graphs. Wikipedia has a good discussion.

The property of the air is called the equilibrium moisture content (EMC) and it is numerically equal to the MC that wood will achieve during drying if you wait long enough and if the conditions do not change. (Example: At 30% RH, wood will achieve 6% MC. So the air has an EMC of 6%.)

Common conversions:
0% RH = 0% MC = 0% EMC
30% = 6%
50% = 9%
65% = 12%
80% = 16%
99% = 28%

 

[Masterofnone]

The thread is dancing around the important factor.
The moisture content (at equilibrium) is determined almost completely by the relative humidity. For most of the country indoors the desired moisture content is 5-8 % which corresponds to a heated building in mid winter.
If you live in the south or where the humidity is high indoors, the 9-12% or so.
Store your wood in a place with the same humidity that it will sit. In the heated and air conditioned north, the garage or damp basement is not likely ideal unless you are going to build outdoor objects.
You can do a search for "graph humidity vs moisture content wood" and find lots of articles and graphs. Wikipedia has a good discussion.

The property of the air is called the equilibrium moisture content (EMC) and it is numerically equal to the MC that wood will achieve during drying if you wait long enough and if the conditions do not change. (Example: At 30% RH, wood will achieve 6% MC. So the air has an EMC of 6%.)

Common conversions:
0% RH = 0% MC = 0% EMC
30% = 6%
50% = 9%
65% = 12%
80% = 16%
99% = 28%

I build all indoor stuff, with the exception of a few outdoor items made out of cedar. I have a pretty good cache of red oak and hard maple, and the occasional piece of walnut and cherry. Walnut and cherry around here are RIDICULOUSLY expensive, hence the reason why I'm curious about storage. I don't want to have walnut acclimate to the garage, then take it inside and have it twist and split.

Bobby

 

[GoIrish]

I'm in Houston and store my wood in my garage. I have not had problems building small items like a box or large items like a blanket chest and moving them inside. I know a few other woodworkers who do the same or possible have an unconditioned shed. They have not complained of problems.

I moved some wood (100bf) from Houston to Tulsa and back as I was relocated (99% in the summer and 0% in the winter) and the boards did not seem to suffer any noticeable warping. They were not snickered just stacked.

My wood was probably kiln dried so that may make a difference since I think it sets the wood where air drying does not. (I know I can't steam bend it as well)