Air Drying Construction Lumber

The rough lumber required for the bunk bed works out to be about 370BF of construction grade spruce. The idea is to save money on the lumber and air dry it in the basement before using it to build the bunk beds.

I couldn't find a good article on the web about drying construction lumber, but the sidebar in the CHW article says stack the lumber and let it dry for about a month before using it, with an oscillating fan to help the drying process.

Before picking up the lumber I cut up some 2x2 stock to get enough stickers to support the pile every 24". I also laid out some plastic where the pile would sit on the concrete floor to prevent the moisture coming up through the concrete.

My workshop is located in my basement, so bringing home the lumber was quite a workout. Each piece was moved four times : stack to truck, truck to front entrance, front entrance to stairs and finally stairs to pile. My father-in-law whose truck was used to bring home the lumber has a bad knee so couldn't help, and Rosemary was off with Joshua so it was all me. Good times.

Once I had the lumber stacked in the basement I added a box fan at one end and a dehumidifier at the other. You can see some melamine shelves I added to the top of the pile to help keep it from warping, I'll dig up some more weight this weekend to add to the pile. Concrete blocks would work well but I don't have any lying around so I'll have to see what other heavy scrap I have to use.