storing plywood

[Rex Fearnehough]

Now I live in a humid area as most of us do.
I will be buying plywood when I can afford it over the next few months. What is the best way to store it for later use?
Thank you. :D :D

[Graham Knight]

I think the best way to store it is indoors and flat, that's what we do at work. At home I don't have the space to do that at the moment, although I'm supposed to be putting up some beams so I can store all my timber in the roof space of my well ventilated garage.
For now I store the wood at work until I need it, then at home it's stored vertically in a rack in the garage, it would probably be OK outdoors under cover provided air can circulate and it's kept off the ground.

[Alixander Beck]

You can put strips of wood between layers so that both sides of each layer will be able to breath.

[kc8pql]

Store it stacked tight and flat just like they do at the lumber yard.

[Bruce Hooke]

I have had occassonial problems with plywood (and more frequently MDF) in my basement developing mold/mildew on the surface when it was stored in my basement, leaning up against a foundation wall. So, I would try to find someplace to store your wood where it will not be in a really humid environment. For that reason I would be hesitant about stacking nice marine plywood outside under cover unless you absolutely have to. As long as the plywood is dry when you get it and as long as it is being stored in a reasonably dry environment I would not worry too much about putting spacers between the sheets. If you need to stand the sheets up on edge I would provide something solid (some 2 x 4's for example) for the plywood to lean against that will support the full width of the plywood rather than just the top edge. This should keep the plywood from warping.

If you are storing the plywood on a concrete floor I would also put some blocks under the edges of the sheets so that they are not right on the concrete.

Another approach would be to store the plywood in the form of cash until you have enough saved up and until you are actually ready to use the wood! :D

[cs]

Ever thought about storing it in the form of a boat? ;)

Chad

[JimD]

Originally posted by cs:
Ever thought about storing it in the form of a boat? ;)

ChadI tried that once but found I had to cut the plywood sheets into odd shapes so it became useless for anything except the boat I was building.

[imported_Craig]

Damn the luck Jim.

[JimD]

Originally posted by Craig:
Damn the luck Jim.Sometimes ya just can't win. :D

[Rex Fearnehough]

Thanks a lot folks.
Now a few replies.
Money that I store seems to rot away. Humidity, I don,t know.
The price of ply seems to increase weekly in Shetland, so by the time that I save enough money for the job, I wont have enough.
Storing it as a boat. Not a good idea it would get wetter than humid.
http://fla.fg-a.com/boat_005sm_w.gif

[quidproquo]

With limited space, I decided to store it as it was at the timber yard - flat and tight with protectors top and bottom as in the photo:

http://www.nnsw.quik.com.au/bbclub/dsc00087.jpg

I needed to make a couple of bridges - one omitted here for clarity.

Access to the ply is from the other side of the building jig (where my good wife insists on parking the car)

[Bill Perkins]

I had some occume ply under my big tarp shelter over the Summer . It rained allot this year,and though the roof kept out the rain, I was appalled at the mold or mildue that grew on the ply .It can't be finished bright now . I suggest keeping marine ply indoors , at least in my climate .

[Graham Knight]

You might...snip......find a termite farm.
Good advice not to keep it on the ground, but I doubt they have much of a termite problem in Shetland!

To avoid mildew you can wipe the surface with a mild bleach solution before storage, it usually stops it.

[Lewisboats]

A coating of antifreeze will make it mould, mildew and dry rot free...virtualy forever.

Steve