Woodworking in Michigan: Wood Moisture and Outdoor Builds
Month-by-month outdoor wood moisture for 9 places in Michigan, from 12.0% in Houghton Lake in May to 16.7% in Houghton Lake in December, and what it means for buying lumber, gluing up and finishing.
Wood trades moisture with the air around it until it reaches a balance called the equilibrium moisture content (EMC). The numbers on this page are the average EMC of wood kept outdoors under cover (out of direct rain and sun) for each month, calculated by the USDA Forest Products Laboratory from at least 30 years of NOAA humidity and temperature records. Wood that gets rained on will be wetter for a while; wood inside a heated or air-conditioned house will be drier. The general advice below uses Detroit as the reference city.
Outdoor wood moisture in Michigan, month by month
| City | Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | Year |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Detroit | 14.7 | 14.1 | 13.5 | 12.6 | 12.3 | 12.3 | 12.6 | 13.3 | 13.7 | 13.5 | 14.4 | 15.1 | 13.5 |
| Alpena | 15.0 | 14.0 | 13.9 | 12.8 | 12.1 | 12.5 | 12.9 | 14.2 | 15.0 | 14.4 | 15.4 | 15.8 | 14.0 |
| Flint | 15.0 | 14.3 | 13.5 | 12.6 | 12.2 | 12.7 | 13.1 | 13.9 | 14.4 | 13.9 | 14.9 | 15.5 | 13.8 |
| Grand Rapids | 15.5 | 14.7 | 14.1 | 13.0 | 12.3 | 12.7 | 13.1 | 14.1 | 14.6 | 14.3 | 15.3 | 16.0 | 14.1 |
| Houghton Lake | 15.8 | 14.9 | 14.5 | 12.9 | 12.0 | 12.6 | 13.1 | 14.7 | 15.3 | 15.1 | 16.5 | 16.7 | 14.5 |
| Lansing | 16.3 | 15.2 | 14.5 | 13.2 | 12.7 | 12.8 | 13.4 | 14.4 | 14.9 | 14.8 | 15.8 | 16.7 | 14.6 |
| Marquette | 12.6 | 14.9 | 13.9 | 12.8 | 12.2 | 12.9 | 13.3 | 14.1 | 14.5 | 14.2 | 14.9 | 16.0 | 13.9 |
| Muskegon | 15.8 | 14.9 | 13.9 | 12.8 | 12.2 | 12.8 | 13.5 | 14.6 | 14.7 | 14.3 | 14.9 | 16.0 | 14.2 |
| Sault Ste. Marie | 15.6 | 14.9 | 14.7 | 13.5 | 12.9 | 14.1 | 14.7 | 15.3 | 16.1 | 15.8 | 16.7 | 16.7 | 15.1 |
City by city
Each city below gets its own numbers and advice. Deck board figures are for a 5½-inch flat-sawn pine board going from the wettest to the driest month.
Woodworking in Detroit: wood moisture by month
- 13.5%Year average
- 12.3%Driest: May, Jun
- 15.1%Wettest: Dec
- 1/32 in.Deck board movement
Wood sits on the damp side most of the year, averaging 13.5% with a peak of 15.1% in December. Kiln-dried stock left in an unheated garage will pick up moisture, so store it indoors. The driest months, April, May and June, are the best time for staining and painting.
Woodworking in Alpena: wood moisture by month
- 14.0%Year average
- 12.1%Driest: May
- 15.8%Wettest: Dec
- 1/16 in.Deck board movement
Wood sits on the damp side most of the year, averaging 14.0% with a peak of 15.8% in December. Kiln-dried stock left in an unheated garage will pick up moisture, so store it indoors. On average it is 0.5 points wetter than Detroit. The driest months, April, May and June, are the best time for staining and painting.
Woodworking in Flint: wood moisture by month
- 13.8%Year average
- 12.2%Driest: May
- 15.5%Wettest: Dec
- 1/16 in.Deck board movement
Wood sits on the damp side most of the year, averaging 13.8% with a peak of 15.5% in December. Kiln-dried stock left in an unheated garage will pick up moisture, so store it indoors. The driest months, April, May and June, are the best time for staining and painting.
Woodworking in Grand Rapids: wood moisture by month
- 14.1%Year average
- 12.3%Driest: May
- 16.0%Wettest: Dec
- 1/16 in.Deck board movement
Wood sits on the damp side most of the year, averaging 14.1% with a peak of 16.0% in December. Kiln-dried stock left in an unheated garage will pick up moisture, so store it indoors. On average it is 0.6 points wetter than Detroit. The driest months, April, May and June, are the best time for staining and painting.
Woodworking in Houghton Lake: wood moisture by month
- 14.5%Year average
- 12.0%Driest: May
- 16.7%Wettest: Dec
- 1/16 in.Deck board movement
Wood sits on the damp side most of the year, averaging 14.5% with a peak of 16.7% in December. Kiln-dried stock left in an unheated garage will pick up moisture, so store it indoors. On average it is 1.0 points wetter than Detroit. The driest months, April, May and June, are the best time for staining and painting.
Woodworking in Lansing: wood moisture by month
- 14.6%Year average
- 12.7%Driest: May
- 16.7%Wettest: Dec
- 1/16 in.Deck board movement
Wood sits on the damp side most of the year, averaging 14.6% with a peak of 16.7% in December. Kiln-dried stock left in an unheated garage will pick up moisture, so store it indoors. On average it is 1.1 points wetter than Detroit. The driest months, April, May and June, are the best time for staining and painting.
Woodworking in Marquette: wood moisture by month
- 13.9%Year average
- 12.2%Driest: May
- 16.0%Wettest: Dec
- 1/16 in.Deck board movement
Wood sits on the damp side most of the year, averaging 13.9% with a peak of 16.0% in December. Kiln-dried stock left in an unheated garage will pick up moisture, so store it indoors. The driest months, January, April and May, are the best time for staining and painting (check the can's minimum temperature if it is cold then).
Woodworking in Muskegon: wood moisture by month
- 14.2%Year average
- 12.2%Driest: May
- 16.0%Wettest: Dec
- 1/16 in.Deck board movement
Wood sits on the damp side most of the year, averaging 14.2% with a peak of 16.0% in December. Kiln-dried stock left in an unheated garage will pick up moisture, so store it indoors. On average it is 0.7 points wetter than Detroit. The driest months, April, May and June, are the best time for staining and painting.
Woodworking in Sault Ste. Marie: wood moisture by month
- 15.1%Year average
- 12.9%Driest: May
- 16.7%Wettest: Nov, Dec
- 1/16 in.Deck board movement
Outdoor wood stays damp, averaging 15.1% and reaching 16.7% in November and December. Keep furniture stock indoors, keep outdoor lumber covered with stickers between layers, and wash off mildew before refinishing. On average it is 1.6 points wetter than Detroit. The driest months, April, May and June, are the best time for staining and painting.
What moisture content to aim for
The Wood Handbook's rule is to install wood at the moisture content it will live at, so it moves as little as possible afterward. In Detroit the year-round outdoor average is 13.5%.
- Outdoor projects (decks, benches, planters, siding and trim): the Handbook recommends an average of 12% (individual pieces 9% to 14%), the Handbook's figure for most of the United States.
- Indoor furniture and trim: about 8% (6% to 10%), the figure for most of the country.
A pin or pinless moisture meter takes the guesswork out. Check a few boards from each batch, not just one.
How much a deck board moves here
Using the Wood Handbook's shrinkage coefficient for flat-sawn loblolly pine (a common treated-lumber species; Table 13-5), a board 5½ inches wide, the width of a 2x6 or a 5/4 deck board, changes width by:
| Change | Moisture change | Width change |
|---|---|---|
| Wettest to driest month | 15.1% to 12.3% | about 1/32 inch |
| From 19% ("dry" lumber) to the local average | 19% to 13.5% | about 3/32 inch |
These are estimates: real boards are rarely perfectly flat-sawn, and western redcedar moves about 10% less than pine. The point is the direction. Lumber bought at 19% will shrink, so gaps between deck boards installed tight will open as it dries.
Acclimating lumber in Michigan
- Bring it home early. Buy lumber a week or more before you build.
- Stack it with stickers. Lay straight spacer strips every couple of feet between layers so air reaches every face, and keep the pile off the ground.
- Store it where the project will live. Outdoors under cover for outdoor projects; inside the house for indoor furniture.
- Measure, don't guess. When moisture meter readings stop changing from one day to the next, the wood is ready.
Damp all year
Outdoor wood in Detroit stays above 12% in almost every month. Kiln-dried furniture lumber (dried to 6% to 8% at the mill) stored in an unheated garage or shed will drift up toward the outdoor level. The Forest Products Laboratory notes that warming a closed storage space above the outside temperature lowers the moisture level: with an outdoor EMC of 14%, holding the space about 20°F above outside brings it to about 7%. Store furniture stock indoors or in a conditioned room, and build indoor pieces there too.
Damp weather also favors mildew on outdoor finishes. The Wood Handbook advises washing mildew off with a commercial mildew cleaner or diluted household bleach and detergent before refinishing, since new finish over mildew fails early.
Wet months
In Houghton Lake, outdoor wood reaches 16.7% in December. Keep lumber covered and off the ground, with stickers (spacer strips) between layers so air can move, and plan glue-ups and finishing for the drier months.
Woods and finishes that hold up outdoors
For anything left outside, choose wood that resists decay or wood treated for it. The Wood Handbook's Table 14-1 rates the heartwood of the cedars (including western redcedar), white oaks, black locust and old-growth redwood as resistant or very resistant, Douglas-fir and young-growth redwood as moderately resistant, and most pines, spruces and firs as slightly or not resistant. Use pressure-treated lumber rated for ground contact for posts and anything touching soil.
From the Handbook's Table 16-5: a water-repellent preservative typically lasts 1 to 3 years, semitransparent stain 4 to 8 years on rough-sawn or weathered wood, solid-color stain 6 to 15 years and paint 10 to 20 years. Clear varnish is a poor choice for furniture left in the sun; it generally needs refinishing every 1 to 2 years there.
Best months for outdoor builds and finishing
In Detroit, outdoor wood is driest in April, May and June and wettest in January, November and December. Lumber dries fastest, and finishes go onto dry wood, in the drier months, so plan staining and painting for then. Avoid sealing wood during the wettest stretch, when it is holding the most moisture it will hold all year. The city sections above give the driest months for each city.
Keep reading
- The actual size of a 2x4, and why it matters
- Why your woodworking project doesn't fit
- How to build an Adirondack chair
Deciding what to build this season? Start with our list of 9 things worth building instead of buying.
Sources
- Monthly EMC for Detroit: USDA Forest Products Laboratory, Wood Handbook (FPL-GTR-190), Table 13-1. The same values appear in Simpson 1998, Table 2.
- Monthly EMC for Alpena, Flint, Grand Rapids, Houghton Lake, Lansing, Marquette, Muskegon and Sault Ste. Marie: Simpson, W.T. 1998. Equilibrium moisture content of wood in outdoor locations in the United States and worldwide. FPL-RN-0268, Table 2
- How we got the numbers: Simpson's Table 2 is printed as a scanned image, so we transcribed it from a high-resolution render and read every value three independent ways (two separate text-recognition passes and a visual check). All three agreed on every value, and for the cities that also appear in the Handbook's text table the values match it exactly.
- Both tables were calculated by the Forest Products Laboratory from NOAA National Climatic Data Center records (Comparative Climatic Data): the average of morning and afternoon relative humidity and the normal daily temperature for each month, mostly from at least 30 years of observations.
- Recommended moisture content (Table 13-2, Figure 13-1), shrinkage coefficients (Table 13-5), decay resistance (Table 14-1) and finish service life (Table 16-5): Wood Handbook (FPL-GTR-190)