L. Francis Herreshoff wrote a book about wooden boats in which one
home boatbuilder stored wood in his shop's attic. As I recall, he had
installed a trap door in the attic floor so that a board came in the
end door of the shop and had a straight shot up to the attic through
the trap door.

When lumber was needed, the boards were fed down through the same trap
door, passing temporarily out through the shop's end door until the
upper end cleared the trap door and then carried horizontally into the
work area.

"Mike in Mystic" wrote in message . ..
Hi everyone,

SWMBO and I are at loggerheads regarding my wood storage/shop space. To
date, she has had this old POS piano that she says she's going to restore
sitting in one corner of the garage/shop. I need/want the space to set up
more workstation/storage space. She offered that if I take down my wood
storage rack that is along the back wall of the other garage bay, and move
the piano there, then things would be fine. Ugh.

The only other option I have is the attic storage above the garage, which is
actually quite spacious. There is a hoist on one end and a swing-out set of
double doors. Inside is a pull-down staircase.

My question is - does anyone have experience dealing with lumber storage
upstairs in a loft/attic like this? Is a hoist the best/easiest/safest way
to get rough lumber in reasonably long (approx. 8'-12') lengths into such a
space? It just seems like a royal PITA to me, but I have to live with the
space I have for now. There really isn't any space on my property to build
an outdoor shed or other storage facility.

Thanks for your suggestions,

Mike