Tips on Outdoor Lumber Drying

[theunbroken]

Hello, We have purchased a portable saw mill for use for creating lumber to help house needy people. We have been in the tree and construction business for over 21 years, and now decided to put logs to good use :laugh:. We have been sawing and stacking wood for about 4 months now and have run into mold on our wood stacks. (Outdoor Stacks with 1 inch stickers in-between, wood off ground approx. 1 1/2 feet) We want to do it right, but now we have to get the mold off the wood before we can re-stack it. I am believing the mold is there because we had wrapped the entire stacks, top and bottom, side to side with visqueen, and someone....(who won't admit it:) poked holes all throughout the TOP of the visqueen on the stacks! anyhow.... so now, we have molding wood, and we are ready to re-stack the wood at a building in which has no walls, and only a tin roof. We need ADVICE to get the mold off and on re-stacking. Thank you!

[kelLOGg]

Your current shed is the way to go. As for the mold problem, I have read on the FF that Chorox will remove it. I have never used it so I hope someone who has will chime in.

Good for you for your milling endeavors for the needy.
Bob

[beenthere]

Use a beach solution to get rid of the mold.
And wrapping your green lumber stacks was the problem.. needs a lot of air flowing through between the stickered layers.

Welcome to the Forestry Forum.

A lot of good help here.. hang with us.

[GeneWengert-WoodDoc]

You can ignore the mold for now and remove it when planing.

Do not close the stacks with plastic.  We need as much air flow as possible.

When dry, mold can be removed by a stiff brush.  However, you may also have blue stain, and bleach and planing may not remove it all.

Whomever told you to wrap in plastic is not your friend.  The holes on top didn't help either.

[tule peak timber]

Hi Unbroken. I believe I spoke with you earlier today on the phone. Welcome to the Forum. As promised this is the place to find answers to some of your  issues with wood processing. If I was closer I would visit !  Cheers Rob

[theunbroken]

Hello All and thank you for the tips. Tomorrow, we move and Clorox wood  :laugh:! @tulepeaktimber, yes, and thank you for suggesting this site! I believe we will have many questions answered here.

[davemartin88]

Sounds like a lot of work to clean off the mold. Once the wood is moved to the proper conditions, the mold will die off anyway. Are you going to be processing the lumber before use? If so, I would leave it and let it get removed when you surface the boards. Good luck,with your projects! 

[Denny]

In theory if that mold gets to heavy it could mess with your air flow. I've had some red oak where Iv seen mold grow and it always planes out just fine but then you got mold flying around the planer line.  So what I've done is a quick broom job on the packs and then a quick blow job.... with a 3 foot long blow gun. Wear a dust mask and your safety goggles.

[John Grange]

I avoid the mold by stacking with 3/4" stickers every 24". left under a roof the air circulation through my pole barn does the trick. If you place the stack outside cover with tin. I use siding or roofing panels, used ones work quite well and are cheap.
I agree that final finish should remove the dry mold, the fresh stuff could gum up the cutter, planer, or sander.

Good luck with helping your project, noble cause.