Discovered - affordable attractive roofing for woodshed

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TradEddie

TradEddie

Minister of Fire
Jan 24, 2012
981
SE PA
How did I not find this stuff before? I've been looking for years for an attractive, inexpensive roofing option for my woodpiles. I don't have a woodshed, I prefer to use smaller racks holding about a face cord each but I've never been able to find a good solution to keep the rain off. Tarps just don't do it, they inevitably become untied and flap about, they rip and degrade and are soon worthless, worst of all they look like hell. I've made covers using shingles and plywood, but while they look good, they are heavy, and would be expensive if I didn't already have spare shingles.
Last Thursday, I found Ondura roofing. $21 gets you a 4'x5' sheet of corrugated trex-like material. It's light, flexible enough to bend to fit in the back of a Subaru wagon, comes in a variety of colors and is very easy to work with. Over the weekend I made covers for two of my racks, it was quick, easy and they look great . As my other racks are emptied I'm going to be rebuilding them to take this roofing.

I'm not affiliated with this product in any way, just thought I'd pass it along.

TE
 
Thought I had them on my phone but after writing the message, couldn't find them. Will take again when I get home.

TE
 
TradEddie said:
How did I not find this stuff before? I've been looking for years for an attractive, inexpensive roofing option for my woodpiles. I don't have a woodshed, I prefer to use smaller racks holding about a face cord each but I've never been able to find a good solution to keep the rain off. Tarps just don't do it, they inevitably become untied and flap about, they rip and degrade and are soon worthless, worst of all they look like hell. I've made covers using shingles and plywood, but while they look good, they are heavy, and would be expensive if I didn't already have spare shingles.
Last Thursday, I found Ondura roofing. $21 gets you a 4'x5' sheet of corrugated trex-like material. It's light, flexible enough to bend to fit in the back of a Subaru wagon, comes in a variety of colors and is very easy to work with. Over the weekend I made covers for two of my racks, it was quick, easy and they look great . As my other racks are emptied I'm going to be rebuilding them to take this roofing.

I'm not affiliated with this product in any way, just thought I'd pass it along.

TE
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That certainly will work Eddie and as you stated, much better than tarps. The picture below shows what we use. Old galvanized roofing that we scrounged. It cost nothing and works like a charm. I've spotted an old corn crib that is falling down so might offer to tear that down just for the roofing. I got some a year or two ago when I tore down an old building in one of our township's cemetery. Not only did I get the roofing but also got some good lumber.

Woodfrom2009.jpg
 
I love using old tin roofing, I can hear the rain falling on it.
 
I like to keep my stacks close to the house and we love looking out on the woods all around us, so I try to keep the stacks looking nice if at all possible. My tarp covered stacks have to be hidden away out of sight and it's a tough haul back to the house. I have only limited areas open to much sunlight, so several smaller racks works best for me, in addition I use some of the stacks as a privacy fence between our garden and my neighbors, I don't want to upset them by building something ugly.
I know it's still only corrugated sheets, but hopefully this stuff will keep looking nice for a long time, it's hard to beat the price, and each sheet is more than enough to cover two face cords. That comes out to a total materials cost of less than $50 per rack, using either all 2x4s, or using hardware store steel frame ends.

TE
 

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We used Onduline roofing for our wood shed - was great to work with and is supposed to have a very long lifetime. I think it is made of pressed paper/card impregnated with bitumen. Totally waterproof and doesn't degrade in sunlight.

I guess that if/when you are done with it you could chuck pieces on a hot fire to dispose of them.
 
I had Onduline roofing on the shack/camp that I lived in after college . . . when I finally tore down the shack to re-purpose the wood for my woodshed the Onduline was still in very good shape after more than 15 years. However, I could not salvage the Onduline as it would tear off in chunks . . .
 
What does this mean - "covering the wood stacks" this is a strange concept to me?? ;)

I'm burning 2 yr old wood that's been sitting in the uncovered stacks all that time and it burns great. Other than having to knock snow off it it's been working out great.

It does sit in a fairly sunny area so the rain dries pretty quickly. Has anyone ever done a test of the MC of covered v/s non-covered? (Not trying to start any wars, just truly curious). Maybe I'll measure some this weekend and post results.
 
It depends a lot on your climate - here in the UK we have wet winters and uncovered piles end up with lots of surface moisture. If it was a simple as knocking snow off we probably wouldn't bother.
 
I've got to say it was nice to work with - the colour is actually quite dark but seems to have a bit of surface sheen to it, I guess from the oil. I'm working on writing up my shed plans with a few diagrams. So far, after just a few months of using it, it has worked out great :D
 
My lot is heavily shaded, so the sun doesn't get much opportunity to dry off the rain, but I'm on top of a hill so the wind does more than the sun. Last year was the wettest ever recorded around here and the trend is upwards, so anything I can do to keep rain away helps. I've had some wood types rot in the stacks in less than 2 years when left open to rain but not enough sunlight. Covering stacks tightly can do more harm than good, which is why I like the roofing. Snow has never been a problem, it can just be brushed off, but we haven't seen any here yet.

TE
 
Those roofs are actually brown, funny how evening light makes things look different.

TE
 
I've had troubles with mold attacking my uncovered damp wood piles that didn't get enough sun / wind.
Keeping it dry saved the day (built a simple tin roof on posts). But that structure came down in a big blizzard.
Now I've got access to a sunny field for storage. No roof needed.
I think your solution is super. And it looks good, too.
 
TradEddie said:
I like to keep my stacks close to the house and we love looking out on the woods all around us, so I try to keep the stacks looking nice if at all possible. My tarp covered stacks have to be hidden away out of sight and it's a tough haul back to the house. I have only limited areas open to much sunlight, so several smaller racks works best for me, in addition I use some of the stacks as a privacy fence between our garden and my neighbors, I don't want to upset them by building something ugly.
I know it's still only corrugated sheets, but hopefully this stuff will keep looking nice for a long time, it's hard to beat the price, and each sheet is more than enough to cover two face cords. That comes out to a total materials cost of less than $50 per rack, using either all 2x4s, or using hardware store steel frame ends.

TE
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They are some NICE looking racks and would certainly make for good neighbors. I'm lucky enough to have room at the back of my property that backs up to high tension electric lines and then woods so looks aren't a big concern for me. Cost however is and at $50/rack and each holding 1/3 cord it would cost me over $700 as my goal is to get 9 cords c/s/s and I'm almost there. I understand that not everyone has the space for that and it needs to look good if you are seeing it everyday from the house.
 
Agreed that it seems expensive to cover each face cord separately. We built our shed for about that total cost - holds approx 12 cords.
 
Roofing individual face cords is terribly cost-inefficient, which is why I was looking for some inexpensive roofing. There are many photos of incredibly beautiful woodsheds on this site, testimonies to the talent and style of their owners, but some of those cost many thousands of dollars in materials alone. I enjoy building stuff as much as anybody, but when the cost of the shed is far more than the value of wood in it, that's gone too far for me.
When I've looked at building a more traditional shed, the cost of roofing was always what stopped me, although I think now I'll be planning a small shed with this roofing. Online reviews have shown some possible issues with this stuff, but some are obviously from shoddy work, people using regular screws then complaining because it leaks etc., hopefully that's the case, I don't want to replace this with corrugated tin anytime soon.

TE
 
Mesuno said:
Agreed that it seems expensive to cover each face cord separately. We built our shed for about that total cost - holds approx 12 cords.
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But 12 cords stacked tightly in a wood shed will season only very slowly if at all. I guess the individual covered racks are for keeping the rain off the wood while it is seasoning. Most people here move their wood to the shed only after the seasoning is completed. If you have a good sunny and windy place to stack up your wood you probably will not need to cover the racks but if the spot is less than ideal than the roof will help IMHO.
 
That roofing material looks like interesting stuff, but in this picture below it looks like you have only secured the roofing to the 2x4 on the front and the back part is just free floating. If that's the case the wind will likely tear it off eventually.
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This roof is intended just to be a nicer alternative to a tarp, or loose boards thrown on top, so I'm sure that it will stand up to wind at least as well as those. I do plan to add a rear 2x4, I just didn't have any left, but I don't think it'll do much other than add weight.

Anyway, we don't get high winds around here, see pic below:

TE
 

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TradEddie said:
This roof is intended just to be a nicer alternative to a tarp, or loose boards thrown on top, so I'm sure that it will stand up to wind at least as well as those. I do plan to add a rear 2x4, I just didn't have any left, but I don't think it'll do much other than add weight.
Anyway, we don't get high winds around here, see pic below:

TE
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Build one with the extra 2x4 and leave one without, by the looks of those pictures it won't take you long to see why the "extra weight" is worth it. ;-)

That looks like a pretty close call BTW, did the trees do any damage besides ruts in the lawn? At least you didn't have to go far for firewood. :)
 
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