How to Air Dry Lumber
Chopping down a tree will get you wood, but that wood isn't lumber until you dry it. Until it is dried, the wood won't be useful for either building or firewood. There are several methods for drying wood, but the easiest, cheapest and most accessible method is air drying. With an empty space, a few basic supplies and a year's worth of drying time, you can properly dry out lumber in your own back yard.
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Instructions
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Find a suitable location for your wood pile. The location should on a gentle slope. This way, water drains off rather than pooling beneath the stack. There should also be as little plant life beneath the wood pile as possible. Plants collect moisture, which prolongs the drying process.
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Set out the cinder blocks on the ground in a rectangle. This will be the base for your wood pile. The stack should be as long as one of your cut pieces of lumber. Space the cinder blocks evenly, but do not space them too far apart. Too much space between cinder blocks can cause the beams to sag.
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Lay the wooden beams across the cinder blocks. The beams will form a foundation for the lumber. When the stack is completed, the beams will run perpendicular to the lumber.
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Lay down the first layer of cut lumber. Leave a 1-inch gap between each board to allow proper circulation.
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Lay down the thin wooden boards on top of the lumber. The boards should be perpendicular to the lumber, just like the foundation beams. These boards are called "stickers," and will space out the different layers. Try to use the same sticker size for each layer.
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Lay a second layer of lumber down on top of the stickers. Repeat this process until you have finished stacking all your lumber.
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Pull a tarp over the top of your wood pile. Weigh down the tarp with rocks, cinder blocks or pieces of wood. The tarp will protect your lumber from rain, snow, and sunlight.
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Check the wood stack occasionally to make sure the wood is drying properly. The drying process takes about a year. However, drying times differ depending on how thick the cut lumber is, what type of wood it is, and what the climate is like in your area.
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Tips & Warnings
Always be careful of falling wood.
References
- Photo Credit Hemera Technologies/Photos.com/Getty Images
