# How long can I store pressure-treated wood before using?



## DaveNJ (Oct 31, 2009)

I'm building a deck, solo, in my spare time and am wondering if I can order the whole boatload of pressure treated framing lumber in one shot (need to have it delivered) and store it in my garage and use it as I have time available over the winter. If it matters, we're talking about maybe 35 16ft 2x10s, 20 12ft 2x12's along with a dozen 4x4x8' posts.

Any concerns about warping or dimensional changes? The garage is unheated.

Thanks.


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## Daniel Holzman (Mar 10, 2009)

You can store it indefinitely in a dry garage, no problems. The wood will move as the moisture content varies, but it will do that when you install it anyway, so as long as your connections are good, there should be no problem constructing the deck.


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## MikeKy55 (Nov 4, 2009)

I just put up 600 plus feet of treated dog ear fence. I jammed the verticals tigh against each other. Three weeks laterm, there was a 3/16ths gap between each one. On a deck I don't see how it would matter. I built a deck last year and did the same thing there. A couple months later I had 1/4 inch gaps between the deck boards. But that was good because water can pass thru the air can get between the boards as well. Minimize things clogging up the gaps causing problems later.


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## Lazy_Jake (Oct 25, 2009)

DaveNJ said:


> I'm building a deck, solo, in my spare time and am wondering if I can order the whole boatload of pressure treated framing lumber in one shot (need to have it delivered) and store it in my garage and use it as I have time available over the winter. If it matters, we're talking about maybe 35 16ft 2x10s, 20 12ft 2x12's along with a dozen 4x4x8' posts.
> 
> Any concerns about warping or dimensional changes? The garage is unheated.
> 
> Thanks.


It would be fine to store, but best if you could leave some spacing between boards.


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## bjbatlanta (Jul 16, 2008)

The amount of moisture in PT lumber (and even white wood) can cause it to warp as it dries, in my experience, if not used pretty quickly once you break the bands they use for delivery. I had my lumber banded separately (posts, framing, decking,etc.) then they banded everything together and dropped the "package". I broke the bands as I needed the material (just covered it with a tarp where they dropped it in the yard) and it stayed relatively straight. I built my deck solo and it took about 5-6 week of evening/weekends.......


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## Maintenance 6 (Feb 26, 2008)

Keep the sun off of it as much as possible until you're ready to use it too.


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## fulline (Nov 11, 2009)

The key is to keep the moisture in the treated lumber as long as possible. You are storing pretty large dimensional lumber, so it should hold the moisture for a while. Cover it with plastic or a tarp. It's always best to use it as soon as possible tho.

Your concerns of warping? If they dry out, I would give them a 70% chance of warping some. Especially if there yellow pine.

Hope this helps.


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