- The Wood Whisperer is sponsored
by Powermatic and Titebond.
So today we've got an interesting project for you.
We just did a shop tour,
but I'm gonna make it almost out of date at this point
because we just installed an air conditioner.
And that required me to take
all of the wood off of this wall
and I had a pretty simple horizontal storage for lumber.
So we're trying to rethink how we want to do this
and I think I'm gonna go with vertical storage.
We use vertical storage in our shed,
which is where we keep most of our material,
and it just makes life a whole lot easier
sorting through the wood,
getting everything in a nice stack,
getting it off and back on is just a breeze.
So the space we're gonna do this in
is right here against this wall.
We're gonna utilize this whole section for
some nice vertical storage.
We're gonna build a platform that we're gonna have to level
because my floor is definitely not level.
And I'm gonna make use of some pipe materials here.
Basically, I've got a couple of 12-inch nipples,
which should impress you.
If it doesn't, there's something wrong with you.
But we also have these floor flanges
which will offset here.
Now this is not my idea.
I've seen many people do this sort of thing.
But I think it'll work really well.
Couple of two-by-fours to be able to anchor to
and plywood for the base really is all about,
about all it's gonna take.
Over here I probably will include
some wall-mounted horizontal storage for shorts, all right?
So it's gonna be a fun one, let's get to it.
We'll start by cutting up some plywood for the platform.
On the underside of the platform I'll install
a gridwork of support strips using some ripped two-by-fours.
We'll attach them with glue and brad nails.
To keep the boards from moving around or sliding off,
I'll install some additional strips on
the top surface of the platform.
With the platform in place, we can begin leveling it.
As I mentioned before,
the slope in my shop is pretty significant.
So the far end gets
some three-quarter inch pieces of scrap as shims.
We'll then use some standard shims
to provide support where needed.
After the glue dries on the shims, I'll trim them flush
and add a couple of dabs of construction adhesive
to hold the platform in place.
Now we'll cut up some two-by-fours for the support strips.
Wherever we have a divider on the platform,
we'll have a pipe divider up top.
The top support rail is attached
six feet above the platform.
When drilling into soft wood,
it's a good idea to use washers
or screws that have a wide head,
as it helps distribute the pressure.
The lower support rail is placed
about three feet above the platform.
A floor flange is added on the ends
and at each divider location.
(jazzy piano music)
I'd like to put some eye bolts through the pipes,
so I'll carefully drill each one.
The eye bolts are then installed,
one to the left and one to the right.
I want the bottom support pipes to be
a little bit longer than the top
and all I could find were these 18-inch pieces,
so I cut a few of them down to 16 inches.
So that's 12-inch pipes on the top
and 16-inch pipes on the bottom.
Now we can thread each pipe into the flange.
For safety, I cut some chain to length
and added spring snaps to each end.
So I think this is gonna be really nice to have in the shop.
Now a couple of questions that I know are going to come up:
Does the wood warp when it's stored like this?
Well, not if you're storing the boards practically vertical.
They're almost at 90 degrees.
In fact, I measured it.
They're about two degrees off 90.
So that's not a lot of pressure causing them to warp.
The other thing is, if it start to do any warping,
you can always rotate them
and flip them around once in a while.
But this storage for me is not longterm storage.
This is where I put the wood before I use it into a project
and then the scraps go somewhere else.
So ultimately, this is a very temporary storage solution.
Another thing you might think about doing
with this kind of storage is turning the wood this way
and then leaning them up against the pipes.
And this way you kind of have almost like
a library or a bookshelf where you can kind of
just pull each piece out.
In this case, I don't really have that much material here.
I like being able to see the faces of each board
and it's not hard to get to the ones behind them.
But if I'm ever at capacity here,
I might turn everything sideways
just to accommodate more material.
The other thing people tend to be concerned about is
will moisture wick up from the ground into the boards?
Well, if you're on concrete and it's unsealed
you certainly might have something like that occur,
but that's why we have a platform.
It is providing a nice distance
between the concrete and the wood and,
because we had to level it,
there's a lot of air underneath there
so there's plenty of room for air exchange.
And if there is moisture,
it should dissipate fairly quickly.
If you're having trouble deciding
should you go horizontal or vertical,
here's what you want to think about.
If you are very tight on floor space,
this kind of storage solution might not be the best choice.
This could be a drill press or some kind of a saw here.
So you'll probably want to go
with wall-mounted horizontal storage in that case.
But if you have enough floor space,
and you don't mind sacrificing wall and floor space,
I do think this is the better and the easier way
to store lumber that prevents you from having
to get up on a ladder all the time,
which was definitely not my favorite thing to do.
So for us in this particular situation,
I think this is gonna work out very nicely.
(uptempo R&B music)