When it comes to storing wood in your garage, you’ll need to do it the right way otherwise you may have a useless pile of wood once you take it out of strage.
If you store firewood wrong, you might end up with damp wood that doesn’t burn properly. Or worse, you might end up with rotten wood that’s no use at all.
When it comes to storing plywood and lumber, incorrect storage can result in warped and useless wood.
Just make sure that you know what kind of wood you can store in your garage and how you need to control conditions in your garage while your wood is in there.
Below you’ll find everything you need to know about storing wood in your garage.
Should You Store Wood in the Garage?
For the most part, any wood that you store in your garage needs to be dry enough for storage before it goes in.
Most garages, unless they’re heated and they have unusually good airflow, aren’t good places to dry wood of any kind. Unless you’re going to heat your garage at cold times of year and find a way to improve the airflow, you won’t be able to put wood in your garage to dry it out.
However, if the wood that you want to store in your garage doesn’t need any further drying before it’s used, then you’ll be able to store it in your garage as long as you’re careful that it doesn’t get damp while it’s in there.
In garages that are climate controlled or are heated and have good airflow, storage of wood is possible. For garages that don’t have climate control, some care is needed to make conditions right for storing wood.
It’s particularly important to be careful when you’re storing plywood or lumber as warping caused by dampness is a real problem. Firewood also needs to be stored properly, but only well enough that it’ll burn when the time comes.
How to Store Firewood in the Garage
When it comes to storing firewood in your garage, if it’s been dried already you need to make sure that it doesn’t get damp.
Do your best to check the individual pieces of wood for rot or bug infestations. If you store a piece of rotten or infested wood with good pieces of wood, the problem could spread to the rest of the stack. In the worst-case scenario, a large proportion of a stack can be lost.
This may be alarming, but don’t worry too much because bad cases are rare. Also, you can help to reduce the chances of this happening by making sure that the wood doesn’t get damp. Rot and bugs like the damp so keeping firewood dry will help to reduce the chances of this happening.
Keeping firewood dry will also help to prevent it from getting so wet that it’s difficult to burn.
For firewood it’s normally enough to just make sure that there’s a good amount of airflow in your garage and that it doesn’t get particularly cold. If your garage feels damp then you can look into the best garage dehumidifiers.
In a damp garage, you’ll need to do something substantial (like open the door, open a window or install some heating) to dry everything out. In a garage that doesn’t feel damp, it’s probably okay to just keep a window ajar or open the door from time to time.
How to Store Plywood in the Garage
When you buy a sheet of plywood it’ll be dried ready for storage and so getting drying it out won’t be an issue. However, in order to stop it from warping while it’s in storage you need to keep the wood at the same level of dryness while it’s in storage.
If your plywood gets damp in your garage, then when you take it out it will warp as it dries. Similarly, if the humidity in your garage varies all the time while your plywood is in there then it will warp a little bit every time it dries out in your garage.
In terms of how to actually store plywood, make sure that it is laid flat in neat stacks and that it is stickered. Stickering is when strips of wood are put between each layer to allow air to flow through.
Keep your plywood from touching cold concrete floors and put your stack in an area of the garage that has a stable temperature and a good amount of airflow. If the airflow is poor in your garage then try to crack a window or leave one wide open. In some cases, it may be necessary to install a fan. In garages that are cold it may also be necessary to install some kind of heating.
How to Store Green Wood
As I said earlier, a garage is usually a bad place to dry out green firewood.
If you buy or collect your own firewood then the best thing to do is to dry it outdoors and then store it indoors.
It’s possible to dry out wood outdoors either in the open or under some kind of basic shelter and then bring it indoors for storage. Remember that when you’ve taken all the time to dry it out you store it properly in your garage as well.
If you need to dry out green firewood in your garage, then this is possible but you’ll probably need to enhance conditions in your garage for this.
What you’re aiming for when it comes to drying green wood in a garage is a low level of humidity and a warm temperature. A low level of humidity will allow the wood to dry and a high temperature will speed the process up.
You’ll need to experiment a bit, but in most garages and particularly in small enclosed ones without windows it’ll be necessary to introduce some kind of heating and to install a fan or do something else quite drastic to improve the airflow. Also, make sure that you stack your firewood loosely so that air can flow right through the stack.
If you live in a warm enough climate and there is a good amount of airflow to your garage, it may be possible to dry out firewood by leaving the door open permanently.
Final Thoughts
Just make sure that you’re careful when it comes to storing wood in your garage.
It’s particularly important to be careful when it comes to storing plywood and lumber in a garage.
Where firewood will probably be difficult to burn if it gets damp, a sheet of plywood might be ruined by the dampness of your garage.
If you’re wanting to store more stuff in your garage, check out our guides below!
