Stickers,skids, sleepers, cribbing, spacers, etc...

[Jay Pique]

So I always thought that skids were the 4x4x~40" chunks of wood that were used to keep piles of wood off the floor so a forklift could get under and between stacks. Is this right? At work everyone calls them stickers, but they also call the little 1/2x1x36" things that we put between layers of wood for the kiln "stickers" too. And what are sleepers? Cribbing? I see on the web that "pipe cribbing" is something else. Anyone know, definitively, what the appropriate names are? JP

PS - the reason I ask is bc I want to get a whole bunch of "skids" that are uniformly sized (so our piles don't keep falling over) and painted bright green or something so you always know what's a skid and where one is. I'm trying to get across the "time is money" argument at work. Still.

[RicodJour]

I'm sure the terminology varies quite a bit from place to place, but here's my understanding.

A skid is another name for a pallet.

A sticker is the thin piece of wood that separates boards that are stacked to allow the boards to breathe and dry naturally, and help prevent rot.

A sleeper is a board laid on a concrete slab that a subfloor or wood strip flooring is attached to.

Cribbing is stacked, alternating, perpendicular larger-section pieces of wood (think railroad tie) used as temporary support when jacking up a building or heavy load.

Spacers are the people that believe we are involved in an interstellar war and they are the only ones that know about it. DAMHIKT

R

[Larry Jaques]

Google is your friend. Type in "define: sleeper", etc.

Spray paint is your friend. Tubafores: Cut to length, screw or nail a pair/trio together for height, spray ends green. Roberta's yer auntie.

-- Happiness is not a station you arrive at, but a manner of traveling. -- Margaret Lee Runbeck

[Swingman]

"Skids", in at least some parts of the UK, are what we in the US call dumpsters. Around here stickers are found between layers of stacked wood, to crib is stack interlockingly (or a bad habit of horses), sleepers are found under railroad rails, screeds are found under wooden flooring placed on top of a concrete slab ... and all bets are off on all the above, depending upon where you're from.

As whatshisname said, we are (geographically) divided by a common language.

[RicodJour]

Indeed. Screeds around here are wooden guide strips used to level a mortar/plaster/stucco surface. Sometimes removed, sometimes not, depending. In interior plaster if they're left in they're dandy for attaching the trim.

R