Stickering a stack: spacing and alignment
A stack of boards dries well only if air can move through it and the pile stays flat. Both depend on the stickers, the thin strips laid between each layer.
The rules I keep
- Stickers of equal thickness, about 20 to 25 mm, dry and clean. One thick one ruins a whole pile.
- Spacing of roughly 40 to 60 cm, closer for thin boards and for woods that like to warp.
- Every sticker above another one, in a straight vertical line, so the weight goes down through them and not across the boards.
- A level foundation off the ground, with a roof that overhangs the sides.
Put a sticker at each end of the board, flush with the end. A board that overhangs sags, and the sagging dries into it.
When the pile is built, step back and look along it from a low angle. If the stickers do not line up, fix it now, because the boards will not forgive it later.