I am about to start building a 24×32′ shop/barn.its going to be open and simple,
im thinking of using rough sawn full dimension stock from a local mill (realy nice stuff and very very reasonable), instead of regular lumber.
my question is, this stuff is freshly sawn and really wet, for a house i would want it dried, but for a nice rustic sturdy shop do people think it would be ok or would it move to the point of causing major problems (heating with a woodstove).
just built a “fauxst and beam” screened in porch out of it and it came out beautifull, no problems yet but its unheated and drying very slowly.
any ideas or comments would be awesome thanks,
simon.
Replies
A lot depends on the particular species, but green wood will tend to twist and warp as it dries. You need to fasten it in a way that will tend to hold it flat, but will not excessively restrain it from shrinking as it dries (two contradictory goals, for sure). Board and batten style was invented in part to accomplish this goal.
Any wood that you don't use right away you should stack flat with "stickers" between layers, lightly covered.
Barns and outbuildings have traditionally been built of green wood. Since the wood is open to the air on all sides it dries quickly. The typical method is board and batten since both the board and batten are free to shrink without affecting the integrity of the wall. I'd do exactly the same thing.
thanks for the replies, wood is mostly spruce. sounds like i will def get movement but it will be within reason, and like florida said green wood on out buildings is nothing new, sounds like it might be tricky to wrap with rigid foam without having seams open while barn dries and moves, then again it doesent have to be blower door tight, its a barn.
It's a barn - why are you insulating?
go for it..
If you can at least partially dry it in a proper fashion [stacked and stickered] you'll be better served.
It won't be near as heavy and rafters and joists won't sag under their own weight as they will in the plastic stage. Shrinkage is another issue as most of the shrinking and warping occurs after most of the weight loss, down toward the lower end of the drying scale.
If you can't wait then go ahead and go for it, even in the worst case scenario it won't explode or collapse due to green...
Go for it.
The guy that does sawing for me has put up a couple of buildings with green lumber. Mostly post and beam frames and vertical board and batten siding out of reen lumber. his frames are bolted together and he uses Simpson hardware for conections that preclude bolts. His frameing lumber choices are what ever he has on hand to saw, Siding has all been red cedar thus far. His buildings are not insulated or heated so i can't coment on how that might affect them, but thus far, over the trhee years I've gone to him, everthing has satyed tight and staight as far as I can tell. The guy is also a framing carpenter, so he knows how to build them right to start with.
this is all great feedback, with lots of usefull info, maybe i should say a shop that looks like a barn, thinking of insulating with 1 1/2 or 2" rigid foam to keep it toasty in the winter when im working in shop, and also keeping the insulation on the outside keeps the inside framing and barn boards exposed which i think looks nice. sounds like it wouldnt hurt to order the lumber sooner than later and stack it for a couple weeks.
How would you heat it?
Probably with "slab wood".
Probably with "slab wood".
heat would be a vermont castings woodstove, fueled with cord wood and building scraps.
I think the only thing you should worry about is air sealing then. Kill the drafts, but don't worry about insulation. The only thing insulation does is slow the delta between inside and outside. But if you are only heating while inside, you don't care what oit's like the other 16 hours of the day. Especially since you are using wood, it's probably alot cheaper to use a little more wood when you are in there, than to keep your warm air warm past 12 midnight when you left the bard at 5pm.
FYI, I've done a couple car rebuilds in an uninsulated attached garage with only a kerosene heater to help - I was nice and toasty when I needed to be, and I'm a big baby about cold.
Paul
Did you move from California?
Where's this guy living?
I rebuilt the cars in an attached garage in the NW Chicago suburbs (Lake Zurich) many years ago. Not unusual to have sub 20 days/nights. It helps to not stand directly on cold concrete too.