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Mold on popular boards

Started by sport500ho, December 02, 2007, 07:56:01 AM

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sport500ho

Hi I got a question I need a little help with. We have a little LT10 and sawed some popular boards and stacked them up in our pole barn. They developed mold on them in a few weeks. They are up off the floor about 10" and had stickers between them but still molded. Should we keep them in an open barn with a roof but one end open for better airflow or something? Thanks for your time

woodmills1

as a test I would plane one or two of the boards to see if there is stain that goes through the boards.  I have had stain/mold on boards that were stacked inside of an open ended building and also when my stack was outside but was too wide.
James Mills,Lovely wife,collect old tools,vacuuming fool,36 bdft/hr,oak paper cutter,ebonic yooper rapper nauga seller, Blue Ox? its not fast, 2 cat family, LT70,edger, 375 bd ft/hr, we like Bob,free heat,no oil 12 years,big splitter, baked stuffed lobster, still cuttin the logs dere IAM

Qweaver

Mold has been a real problem for us also and I've come to the conclusion that it's mainly a factor of how humid it is during the first few weeks of drying.  The summer of 2006 was rainy and almost everything that we cut and stacked in our shed mildewed.  It was a constant fight.  As we used the boards we had to power wash and clorox most of the boards that we were not going to plane.  That's time consuming and costly but we had no choice.  This summer was pretty dry and we had no mildew problems at all.  So short of setting up a kiln, I don't know what to do when conditions favor mold.  I think that using fans to keep fresh air moving across the wood may help.  I did this on some stacks that I had under my house and I had very little mold there.  Some have suggested a light bleach spray before stacking...I have not tried that and can not say if it will help.  It is important to get all of the sawdust off.  I've had no mold when cutting in cold weather either.  So bottom line, cut and stack only during periods of dry or very cold weather.  :D ;D ;) 
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Quinton
So Many Toys...So Little Time  WM LT28 , 15 trailers, Case 450 Dozer, John Deere 110 TLB, Peterson WPF 10",  AIM Grapple, Kubota 2501 :D

Ron Wenrich

One problem that some people get into is air flow.  If you have no air flow, your moisture content on the surface will remain high, and that allows for the growth of mold.  We don't get mold very often in piles that are stickered. You must also use dry stickers.

Staining in poplar is another issue.  You have to saw your logs while they are fresh.  Leaving them lie around in hot, humid weather is just the ticket to have the logs start to stain.  Once the stain is started, it is really hard to get rid of.  Logs that are damaged from things like log forks, splits, grapples and loaders will also stain.  Logs that are bucked and not seperated will also stain.   Air flow around the logs also help.

So, you need fresh logs, dry stickers, and good air flow to avoid the staining and mold.
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sport500ho

Thanks everyone for your help!!

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