Wood is a ubiquitous building material. However, unlike other common building materials like cement, lead pipes, and electrical wiring, transporting and storing wood requires great care and proper handling. If not handled and stored correctly, wood quality can deteriorate much faster, resulting in wasted resources. Hence, it is important for the timber supplier to have the right timber storage facility that will ensure its longevity and keeps the wood in good condition.
Effective Wood Storage Ways Followed by Timber Suppliers
So, if you are a timber supplier, and want to ensure the complete safety of the wood, then we have listed some simple but effective tips to help you maintain the wood quality during storage.
Here Are A Few:
#1. Keep Wood Indoors If Possible: Exposure to rain, sun, wind and other harsh elements can damage your wood. Without proper protection, your wood supplies could warp, bend, shrink, and discolour. It can even lead to the presence of insects and mould. All of these can affect the quality of the wood, so storing them in well-ventilated indoor areas is the best way to protect them from damage from these factors.
#2. Place Them on Flat Surfaces: As a timber supplier, you must know the right way of storing the wood. When storing wood, make sure it is placed on a flat, dry surface. Never keep them horizontally. Doing this will ensure no bending or warping occurs, allowing your wood to maintain its flatness during storage. If you stack pieces of wood of different sizes, place the most significant piece on the bottom.
#3. Minimize Ground Contact: Make sure that direct contact with the ground is minimized. Indeed, humidity in the basement or crawl space can dampen the floor above some buildings. This will, in turn, affect the wood’s quality if placed directly on the ground. To avoid this, place your wood on a flat surface raised at least 150mm above the ground.
#4. Coat The Ends of Each Piece: If you plan to store your wood for a very long time, i.e., a year or more, make sure that coatings are applied to the ends of each piece. This prevents splitting and cracking at the ends, thus preserving the quality of your wood even during extended storage periods. Some of the more common coatings you can use for this are coal tar, microcrystalline wax polish, and aluminum foil paint.
#5. Use Wooden Covers: In addition to keeping them indoors on flat, elevated surfaces, placing wood wraps over them also helps keep the quality of your wood intact during storage. Most wood siding is made with materials that allow it to significantly minimize weathering effects on the wood. Hence, using the right quality cover is paramount.
#6. Label Them Correctly: Labelling your wood is as important as protecting it from the elements. This helps handlers identify relevant information for handling and deploying each piece, such as what type of wood and how long it has been stored in the facility. Don’t use regular markers, though. Instead, use features that are safe to use, such as crayons.
Concluding Thoughts
These are some of the effective ways of storing the wood, followed by the timber supplier. If you are starting your business supplying wood, it is essential to store the wood aptly and at the same time, following the right storage method is significant. We have mentioned some of the generic tips followed by most of the suppliers.
You can also do an internet search and or connect with fellow suppliers to get to know about the right way of storing timber.
