Firewood Rack Cover

Someone asked this question about a month ago or so, did you do a search? You may find that thread, there were some good links to companies that sell covers.

I put these on, for single stacks, around the end of each October. Fairly cheap. They've held up pretty well to three winters but I remove them and uncover everything in March. They are not exposed to summer sun:

http://www.coversuperstore.com/Woodpile-Tarps/

Covering only the wood that will be burned that year seems to work for me. YMMV.

My 'stacks' are covered, top only in the back yard. When I need wood up at the house, I have two 4' long firewood racks on our porch where I can stockpile firewood when I can't get to the backyard due to snow depth.

I use these covers:



Once the wood is on the porch I want to keep it dry for inside use. We get a LOT of snow & wind on our porch and these tarps have worked very well over the last 3 yrs. we've used them. The front flap is held down via velcro which works great and there are grommets to tie the back & sides to the log rack. There are similar products out there that have a zipper closure - not good.

Here's a link: http://www.northerntool.com/shop/tools/product_200395529_200395529

This is NOT your typical tarp material - it is much thicker/stronger than a normal tarp.

These score 10+ on my list.

Shari

PS They come in 4' and 8' lengths. I choose to use 2 racks/2 tarps, each 4' long as then I only have to deal with a 4' flap.

IanDad said:

I put these on, for single stacks, around the end of each October. Fairly cheap. They've held up pretty well to three winters but I remove them and uncover everything in March. They are not exposed to summer sun:

http://www.coversuperstore.com/Woodpile-Tarps/

Covering only the wood that will be burned that year seems to work for me. YMMV.

Click to expand...

The only size is 3'x18'? What an awful size.

I use old rubber roofing material, it is alot better than tarps and flat roofers will give it to you for free from old jobs. Easy to cut to size with sizzors or a utility knife, won't stick to the wood like tarps yet molds to the top. Not real great for looks if you are putting it next to the house but not awful.

GolfandWoodNut said:

I use old rubber roofing material, it is alot better than tarps and flat roofers will give it to you for free from old jobs. Easy to cut to size with sizzors or a utility knife, won't stick to the wood like tarps yet molds to the top. Not real great for looks if you are putting it next to the house but not awful.

Click to expand...

+1 - I'm loving the rubber roofing I scored from CL about 3 months ago. Bought enough to make about 30 4' square covers for the pallets. The are tough, heavy, and I think I'll have them for a lot of years. Cheers!

Research this on the forum and you will find that there is a strong consensus that covering the sides of the pile is actually bad. It's very counterproductive. Side covering traps moisture which is trying to leave your wood. This promotes mold and mildew and fungal growth and general wood rot. That stack needs to breathe! Top cover only. The full side covers look really spiffy, but they are doing more harm than good.

Admittedly, this is probably less of a problem in Winter. And certainly less of a problem with fully seasoned wood (2-3 years).

The one time I fully covered a small pile of wood splits one summer, it was amazing to see how many things quickly started to grow out of that wood. Lesson learned for me- newly split wood wants to breathe. Wants to badly. Let it. ;-)

Cluttermagnet said:

Admittedly, this is probably less of a problem in Winter. And certainly less of a problem with fully seasoned wood (2-3 years).

Click to expand...

My 'porch stacks' are the only ones fully covered. This is only for winter - just prior to burning & the 'porch wood' is 2-3 yrs. seasoned.

You know what you're doing, Shari. But noobs like me might shrink wrap a whole stack of newly split wood. Well, not any more- heh!

Happy holidays, all!

Spikem said:

IanDad said:

I put these on, for single stacks, around the end of each October. Fairly cheap. They've held up pretty well to three winters but I remove them and uncover everything in March. They are not exposed to summer sun:

http://www.coversuperstore.com/Woodpile-Tarps/

Covering only the wood that will be burned that year seems to work for me. YMMV.

Click to expand...

The only size is 3'x18'? What an awful size.

Click to expand...

Not awful. Perfect. I stack oak and locust on landscape timbers, long single rows. Keeps the ice and snow off the top during the Winter but still allows desiccating Winter winds to keep doing their thing.

I suppose it would be awful if you wanted to wrap your wood in up in plastic, like a big condom. I guess I don't practice safe stacking.

Lower BTU wood for shoulder seasons gets stacked,in double rows, on pallets. These are purely bareback.

If I were building racks I'd build a permanent rigid roof over the racks. A flexible cover of any kind is a hassle when there is snow on it, and flexible covers don't allow air movement. A rack with a rigid cover could be made to look a lot nicer than any flexible cover is likely to look.

Cluttermagnet said:

Research this on the forum and you will find that there is a strong consensus that covering the sides of the pile is actually bad. It's very counterproductive. Side covering traps moisture which is trying to leave your wood. This promotes mold and mildew and fungal growth and general wood rot. That stack needs to breathe! Top cover only. The full side covers look really spiffy, but they are doing more harm than good.

Admittedly, this is probably less of a problem in Winter. And certainly less of a problem with fully seasoned wood (2-3 years).

The one time I fully covered a small pile of wood splits one summer, it was amazing to see how many things quickly started to grow out of that wood. Lesson learned for me- newly split wood wants to breathe. Wants to badly. Let it. ;-)

Click to expand...

Even for the winter? I split about 8 cords and have it stacked in 2 4'x24' rows. I got a couple 12'x24' tarps and have it covered. It's covered on the top and both sides.

Again, for the winter, is the collective wisdom on Hearth.com that it's bad to do this?

Spikem said:

Even for the winter? I split about 8 cords and have it stacked in 2 4'x24' rows. I got a couple 12'x24' tarps and have it covered. It's covered on the top and both sides.

Again, for the winter, is the collective wisdom on Hearth.com that it's bad to do this?

Click to expand...

Let's clarify a couple of things here:

1. I have wood that is seasoned 2-3 yrs.

2. I also have wood fairly freshly split (Spring/Summer/Fall of 2011).

3. Of all of the above wood, I have determined I need around 3 cord of wood per heating season.

4. In the fall I top covered 3 cord of my 2-3 yr. seasoned wood that I will be using this winter - the rest of my stacks remain uncovered.

5. When I bring seasoned wood up to the house, I stack in 4' long racks and call those 'porch stacks'.

6. My 'porch stacks' are fully covered because those splits have a remaining life-time of about 2 weeks & I don't want them contaminated with rain or snow.

IanDad said:

I put these on, for single stacks, around the end of each October. Fairly cheap. They've held up pretty well to three winters but I remove them and uncover everything in March. They are not exposed to summer sun:

http://www.coversuperstore.com/Woodpile-Tarps/

Covering only the wood that will be burned that year seems to work for me. YMMV.

Click to expand...

That's a good find, I think. Thanks for putting up the link! Beats the crappy blue tarps I usually get (though they're dirt cheap).

Spikem said:

Cluttermagnet said:

Research this on the forum and you will find that there is a strong consensus that covering the sides of the pile is actually bad. It's very counterproductive. Side covering traps moisture which is trying to leave your wood. This promotes mold and mildew and fungal growth and general wood rot. That stack needs to breathe! Top cover only. The full side covers look really spiffy, but they are doing more harm than good.

Admittedly, this is probably less of a problem in Winter. And certainly less of a problem with fully seasoned wood (2-3 years).

The one time I fully covered a small pile of wood splits one summer, it was amazing to see how many things quickly started to grow out of that wood. Lesson learned for me- newly split wood wants to breathe. Wants to badly. Let it. ;-)

Click to expand...

Even for the winter? I split about 8 cords and have it stacked in 2 4'x24' rows. I got a couple 12'x24' tarps and have it covered. It's covered on the top and both sides.

Again, for the winter, is the collective wisdom on Hearth.com that it's bad to do this?

Click to expand...

Well, when covered like that, it traps all the moisture in which is the opposite of what you wish to have happen. Top covering is good but side covering is not. That wood needs air. You already have some air blocked because it is stacked 4' x 24' so you don't need any more blockage. btw, we also stack in 4' x whatever length but we also leave that wood for several years before we burn it. If it were needed in 2 years or less, then we would stack in single rows.

Here is a story some will get a chuckle out of!

Just bought my house 4 months ago. Guy who I bought it from built some nice wood sheds and now I appreciate it more than ever. The house came with a pool also which needed to be covered for winter. I also have a 150 pound saint bernard that decided after the pool was covered he would go for a walk on it and try to be like Jesus if you catch my drift. $125 later I got a new pool cover and a tarp for the wood I "scrounged" up over the past two months.

Moral of the story: watch the dog no matter how smart you think he is!