Is anyone piling it really high?

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Rory

Member
Jan 10, 2009
203
Central Me
I have an area behind my garage that holds perhaps a year's worth of wood (around 6 cords) if I pile it up to my usual 6 feet or so. There's plenty of room for another 6 on top, but it does present certain logistical problems. Obviously, some sort of racking system and a method to load and unload it would be required. Another one of those things that is probably too expensive for me and more costly than its worth, anyways. Is anyone doing such a thing? Pics?
 
I've been cross stacking for several years and have yet to have one fall over
my FIL hit one a few weeks back with a skid steer when we were doing our yard and it barely budged. I was impressed....
chuck
 
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I've been cross stacking for several years and have yet to have one fall over
my FIL hit one a few weeks back with a skid steer when we were doing our yard and it barely budged. I was impressed....
chuck
Chuck, I have been stacking, cross stacking, for 40 years and only had one stack fall over in all those years, but I just can't take a chance by going higher than 4 - 5 feet that one will, on my grand kids. They love to play in the stacks and so I just have to make sure they are safe.
 
I know this is annoying, but my first thought is "Is there nowhere else to stack?"
I've gone to about 7 feet of single-stack in a rack (had to tie it off to a tree after 8 months) and 8 foot holz-hausen, but honestly I feel like 4-5 feet is ideal. 12 feet seems crazy to me dude, but hey, if there are no other options & you need to store more wood I guess you find a way.
 
My stack is just over 7ft tall. Never thought of going much higher than that.
 
I stack it 8'+ in the wood shed. Jammed to the roof so it's pretty stable.
Outside with kids around, 4-1/2 to 5' max.
Friend had an earthquake knock down a 4' stack.
 
I'm not doing much "stacking" as they are U's made from pallets. BUT.. when I get around to building my barn, I will for sure buy some pallet racks to store two levels high. I'm inside the tractor. Just got to lift em up and put them on the rails that you can set any height you want. I'm guessing I'll have the two of them in and be under 9 feet at the top of the second one.
 
Single row stacked in racks to about 8ft. high by 12ft. long. The 3 racks are from plans that were posted on this forum. Each one has a slight variation that improves their stability and load capacity. The third rack will be filled as soon as my finger will let me split more than a couple of rounds at a time. No hydraulics split all by hand.
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The condition of my wood storage area is not where I want it to be at the moment because I broke a finger and I can’t do the clean-up and restacking work I had hoped to have done by now.
DSC_0040 (1200x1155).jpgDSC_0046 (1200x793).jpg
 
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Ralph I like your stacks, nice job. Rory, I agree with the other veterans on this site in regards to height. I think 4-6' is ideal. My stacks are all 5 1/2' to 6' tall, but due to limited space I go four to 8 rows wide, cross-stacked on the ends and approx. every 8' along the rows. I season my wood uncovered for two years, top-covered late in the 3rd year right before I use it (in other words I top-cover it in late summer the third year). So their is a total of three years of seasoning to my wood, that is the key if you ask me.
 
We stack 4 1/2' high outdoors. Never had one fall over until I'd been stacking for over 50 years. Not really sure what happened there but I just restacked it and forgot about it. However, when I put the wood in the barn for winter use, I then stack it higher. Because of the slope of the roof, we have 3 rows and they are 6', 7' and 8'.

If one builds some racks then you can get by building the stacks higher but when not in a rack, one has to consider frost heave and that is why we stop at 4 1/2 feet high.
 
Just the wood loosing moisture content and shrinking can cause a well built stack to become a jumbled mess. I stack to 5-6 ft high on pallets. I do not have any bracing on them mostly works out .
 
Just the wood loosing moisture content and shrinking can cause a well built stack to become a jumbled mess. I stack to 5-6 ft high on pallets. I do not have any bracing on them mostly works out .

+1. I find the stacks lean towards the sun. I visit them often throughout the year, so I straighten them as needed.
(I use the back end of the maul, or pick up small round and use it as a hammer to beat the offending pieces back in line.)
When I had a drying shed I could stack to 8', but that was with posts every 13'.
 
It's about 9 1/2 feet high to the rafters. I use a scaffold to reach it.

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I think if I were going to pile 12' (or even 9'), I'd stick some pallets in the middle for stability. I stack to 6' normally, but I have one that started out at 8' and has since shrunk/settled 6". It makes me nervous just walking by it, and it's between two trees. And if you're using pallets on the bottom, make sure they're good ones. Several of mine have begun to collapse under the weight, it seems. Getting green wood up that high doesn't really sound like fun. Maybe only for restacking seasoned wood?

6 cord for a winter? Maybe a more efficient stove? Where in central Maine are you?

Nice stacks, Rory.

Great observation about the sun-induced lean, maplewood. I also like to beat the stacks back into a more upright condition. Reminds me of my mother's "don't slouch!" cry that has been ringing in my ears for 45 years now.
 
Getting green wood up that high doesn't really sound like fun. Maybe only for restacking seasoned wood?
For the record, the pic of my woodshed is a restack of already seasoned wood. I would never again stack green wood that high. I have done it before and can attest that it will dry more (and subsequently shrink more) on the exposed face. It need not be exposed to direct sun to do that, just to the air. Also, frost leaving the ground unevenly is a major factor as shown in this pic.
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My outdoor stacks are double rows on pallets, 4 feet high. The wider base the pallets afford reduces the effect of uneven frost heaving. I've always levelled them off at 4 feet but am considering putting a crown on it this year, taking the middle up to 6 feet.
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As for the woodshed, I have since modified it with slotted guides to keep the stacks plumb and to not have to be so meticulous with the end cribbing.
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Single row stacked in racks to about 8ft. high by 12ft. long. The 3 racks are from plans that were posted on this forum. Each one has a slight variation that improves their stability and load capacity. The third rack will be filled as soon as my finger will let me split more than a couple of rounds at a time. No hydraulics split all by hand.
View attachment 67254
The condition of my wood storage area is not where I want it to be at the moment because I broke a finger and I can’t do the clean-up and restacking work I had hoped to have done by now.
View attachment 67251View attachment 67252

I have been building variations of that rack design too. I have found that building a double wide rack as a single unit drastically improves stability.
 
We can stack up to 9' in our shed, but be careful. If not stacked well, that entire wall of wood can come tumbling down on you. (Don't ask how I know! :oops:) I like to have it so that the stacks have a very slight lean toward the back of the shed for safety because our splits are often irregular. If you have nice clean logs with few branches and are cutting them to equal length, then Ligetfa's stacks and guides look like a very nice system.
 
Chuck, I have been stacking, cross stacking, for 40 years and only had one stack fall over in all those years, but I just can't take a chance by going higher than 4 - 5 feet that one will, on my grand kids
Do you ever consider the fact that we are pretty close to the New Madrid seismic zone? I could have a buttload of wood to pick up one day... _g


My outdoor stacks are double rows on pallets, 4 feet high. The wider base the pallets afford reduces the effect of uneven frost heaving. I've always levelled them off at 4 feet but am considering putting a crown on it this year, taking the middle up to 6 feet.
I'm also stacking double-row on pallets, about 4.5', now that I'm a few years ahead and don't care if it dries a bit slower. I stack in the woods, so the soil can be softer in some spots and I agree, the width of the pallets seems to afford more stability. I have bricks under the 2X4s to hold the pallets off the ground (can't tell if you do.) Those pallets should last for many, many years. It looks like I'll be getting some 2'-wide aluminum roofing sheets to cover with so the tops of the stacks will have to be level.
 
IF you could afford it........build racks 4 x 4 x 4 out of welded angle iron. Design them so they nest on top of one another. Stack wood in them, and use a tractor or skid-steer to stack them up. The top tier would be easy to cover to keep out water, and it would be real easy to see how much you've got, along with ease of labeling them as to when they were split, what kind of wood is in them, ect. I bet you could even find angle iron for cheap at the scrap yard. Most people could even do the welding with a wire feed welder and a little practice. The biggest drawback would be the tractor part.......
 
Right. Then you've got to have this for your splitter. LOL

 
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