Kiln Drying Services

Kiln Drying Services for Premium Lumber

At GPS Hardwoods, we provide custom kiln drying services to meet all your lumber needs. Serving Greensboro, NC, Winston-Salem, NC, Kernersville, NC, and surrounding areas, we offer high-quality kiln-dried boards and slabs that are perfect for your woodworking projects.

Our services are designed to ensure that your wood is dried to perfection, making it ready for any project you have in mind. We use advanced drying techniques with our two kilns, including a vacuum kiln for more difficult woods and a Nyle dehumidification kiln.

Request a call back to learn more about our kiln drying services.

Why You Need Kiln Drying Services

Choosing kiln drying services is crucial for ensuring the longevity and quality of your wood. By removing bound water from the wood cells, kiln drying makes the wood stable and ready for use. Here are some key reasons why you should consider our kiln drying services:

• Custom kiln drying tailored to your needs
• High-quality kiln-dried boards and slabs
• Two kilns for efficient drying
• Vacuum kiln for challenging woods
• Nyle dehumidification kiln for optimal results
• Air drying as a safe preliminary step

Call or text us to get your boards and slabs kiln-dried to perfection.

Our Custom Kiln Drying Processes

At GPS Hardwoods, we produce high-quality kiln-dried boards with our custom processes using 2 kilns, a vacuum kiln for more difficult woods, and a Nyle dehumidification kiln. Whatever your project, all boards and slabs you want dried must not have a moisture content above 30%. As a point of reference, most green boards start with a moisture content of 60% to over 100%.

To achieve the right amount of moisture, air drying the boards naturally is the safest method. Kiln drying is used to get the “bound” water out of the wood cells (including sterilization). Count on us to make the wood you buy from us ready for your project.

The first thing is to coat all the ends of the boards with some sort of a waxy sealant like Anchorseal or a heavy oil-based paint. You don’t want moisture to escape from the ends. We want it to come out through the 2 faces and the 2 sides.

Stacking the wood properly is an important step in air drying the wood. We lay boards side by side to get to 48-inch widths. Then we lay stickers (thin strips) every 16 inches across each layer so the next layer can lay flat on them. This allows for a proper air flow. 

Next, we cut stickers, which are normally ¾ inch x 1 ¼ inches x 48 inches. They must be kiln-dried or they can stain your wood. Buying pre-dried boards and ripping them is a good way to get them made. Then they must be stacked in an area that gets fresh air but no rain. We use 4×4s as the bottom layer to keep the boards off the ground.

A light breeze is adequate for most wood. White oak should have fairly still air. A strong breeze will dry out the outside (shell) too quickly, and you will see surface cracks (checks) all over the faces. It takes about 2 or 3 months in the summer to air dry 1-in (4/4) boards. They dry more quickly in the summer. It will take 2 to 3 times as long during the colder months.

You can expect it to take 8 to 16 months to air dry 2-inch (8/4) slabs and boards, depending on season. Then it’s on to the kiln.

GPS Hardwoods currently charges $0.15 per board foot per day for our vacuum kiln and $0.12 per board foot per day for our Nyle system. Depending on the species and thickness of the boards or slabs, it can take from 10 days to 3 weeks or more (for slabs that are 2 inches - 8/4 - and thicker). That’s why it is worth waiting for your wood to be under 30% moisture content.

The thickest boards that we will dry are 2.5 inches (10/4) thick.

Please note that we do not dry pine because the sap (pitch) can get very messy. In addition, drying pine isn’t cost-effective. 

Consider the value of your wood - call or text us today for more information about drying wood.

Exceptional Benefits of GPS Hardwoods

When you choose GPS Hardwoods for your kiln drying needs, you benefit from our extensive experience and commitment to quality. Here’s what sets us apart:

• Domestic wood sales of high-quality woods
• We cut our own wood and dry it
• We control the types of wood we sell
• 9 years of custom drying hardwood experience
• Locally and family-owned

Request a call back today to experience the benefits of our kiln drying services.

Contact Us

Ready to get started with our kiln drying services? Reach out to GPS Hardwoods to discuss your needs and how we can help you achieve the best results for your woodworking projects. We look forward to serving you.