Shop-wall chart · No. 05
Wood Movement & Gaps
How much boards shrink and swell by species, what moisture to build at, and how big to leave the gap on decks, slats, and panels.
What’s on it
- Movement per foot of width for PT pine, cedar, redwood, fir, spruce, oak, maple, cherry, walnut
- Target moisture content by where the piece lives, from heated indoors to Midwest outdoors
- Deck board, slat, picket, and floating-panel gaps, worked examples, and symptom-to-cause
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The other shop-wall charts
No. 01
Outdoor Lumber Chart
Which wood goes where, what the end tag actually means, which screws survive treated lumber, and how to pick and dry a board. One page.
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No. 02
Exterior Fastener Chart
Which screw for what, pocket-hole length by stock thickness, pilot holes, the coatings that fail in treated lumber, and which glue actually works outside.
Get the chart →
No. 03
Outdoor Furniture Dimensions
The seat heights, table heights, depths, and clearances that make outdoor furniture comfortable — and a five-line design check to run before the first cut.
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No. 04
Outdoor Finishing Schedule
Which finish for which wood, the weather window, dry and recoat times, and how often to redo it. Two-sided.
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No. 06
Lumber Sizes & Metric Converter
Nominal to actual for every common board, the stocked size that replaces a 2x4 in the UK, EU, and Australia, plywood true thickness, fractions to millimeters. Two-sided.
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No. 07
Pressure-Treated Wood: Where It's Safe
The question I get most: is pressure-treated wood safe for furniture? Seats, tables, kids' pieces, garden beds, coops, indoors: a verdict for each, with the evidence.
Get the chart →