To cover or not to cover? That is the question

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BoilerMan

BoilerMan

Minister of Fire
Apr 16, 2012
1,717
Northern Maine
I'm going to build a woodshed next year. At the present time I just leave my stacks uncovered on the due south end on the house about 3' apart. I've covered my wood in the past, and left it uncovered, with mixed results. What is everyone's opinion, is it better to cover? Maple and Beech, and poplar windfalls.

TS
 
Since we started burning wood we top cover what we plan to burn starting in the fall, works for us.

Edit, 8/13/2012 / If this weather pattern continues (wet) I might top cover the wood for this year next week.

zap
 
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Most do cover but not all. I've covered the wood for years now but did not cover what I cut in 2010-2011. The reason? Just because I had not done it for many, many moons and wanted to see the difference again. In other words, just playing around.
 
I keep it uncovered, and move the current winters wood into the shed in October so I dont have to deal with the snow and weather so much. The other 2-3 years of stacked wood is always uncovered.
 
Here we go again-- I don't cover and never will, I move what I will burn the upcoming winter into the woodshed, I have about 12 cords in single rows stacked around the place, and I burn an average of 4 cords per winter. The stacks have become part of my landscape, and I am enough ahead to not worry about rain or snow on my stacks of wood.

I must add that once you get far enough ahead and you don't burn right out of your stacks that in my opinion covering is a waste of time.
 
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I go back and forth on that question. During this dry hot summer, "Naw, the wood is drying just fine". Now after 2 days of constant rain I say "Dang, those stacks should have been top-covered". Once you make your woodshed, ya won't be plagued by that nagging problem. Have stacks top- covered and some without. I'm thinkin' that as long as you protect wood for use in 9 months, the splits stacked outside for 2-3 years does not matter.
 
Top covered with Grace underlayment.
 
I must add that once you get far enough ahead and you don't burn right out of your stacks that in my opinion covering is a waste of time.
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Thank you Denny, and this site. Now, and always be 3-4 years ahead. If you don't get it now, you will.

KC
 
If your far enough ahead I think there's no reason for it. I also put my wood in the shed starting this month so ts undercover for a solid few months.
 
I hate to bring wood in to burn that's snow covered, icy or been rained on recently.
I used to cover with tarps for fall rains & winter, now have a roof over my wood.
The wood for this season , it's nice to be dry & snow free
The wood I have out back seasoning for 14/15 is uncovered, but will go under roof this fall.

My vote is to top cover the wood you'll use this burn season.
My thinking is, rain makes wood wet.
Bringing in dry wood to load in the stove is a good thing.
 
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I topcover only the wood I plan on burning in the coming winter........my other wood ( for down the road) doesn't get topcovered until the late summer of the year it is to be burned. Has worked great for me and I've been burning quite a while.
 
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I'm not covering at all. Wood is in pallet U's so it would take too much to cover it. I have room for 3, or 4 pallets in the garage.. so I figure it will be in a heated space for at least a few WEEKS to melt and dry before burning. Hope it works. Think it'll be fine.

JP
 
I have a 20x30 tarp that I use to cover what is next up in the stack. The rest is open. I kind of like giving the freshly split stuff lots of air. Top covered only as my stacks are all together. My stacking area is shaded with good wind frontage.
 
I have lots of room in the boiler room inside the house, enought room for a winter and a half (6 cord). I process my wood, stack it outside............season............ then bring in enought to fill the boiler room for the winter. Whats left outside is usuallt uncovered and will be left out another year till the following fall. I have seen some pics of the stacks on here some covered, and some uncovered. Locally It's about the same, some covered and some uncovered, no one seems to know why. I was just curious what the experts had to say. I grew up never covering the stacks and moving them into the wood shed in the fall to be burned that winter. When I build my shed I want to stack in there directly after processing, to season under cover, but open on all sides

IX
XI
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type of walls.

Thanks ALL, oh and trust me
iskiatomic said:
Now, and always be 3-4 years ahead. If you don't get it now, you will.

KC
Click to expand...

I GET IT!!!! Have been burning wood before burning wood was Kewl.

TS
 
Now: Stacks are left uncovered for a year or two outside . . . and then brought into the woodshed where they sit for another year and then in Year 3 the wood is burned. Works out pretty well for me . . . one of the nice things about an over-sized woodshed.

Then: In my first year of burning I left the stacks uncovered until the Fall when the first snow made its appearance. Then I top covered the stack . . . I definitely do not miss the days of knocking the snow and ice off the cover or the wood before hauling it inside or standing there in a snowstorm picking out the splits to haul inside. Woodsheds rock.
 
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Im building a wood shed right now. Ill be using a metal roof with all open sides.Back is against a tall chainlink fence.Put down Used old cement block caps on the ground to keep the wood up off the dirt. I would think its hard to dry out wood thats getting rain/snowed on every other day. letting the wood sit out iv found the rain cause the bark to fall off and all sorts of bugs to take up shelter under the bark where it stays wet from periodic rains.Plus Pine gets punky fast if not kept dry. Roof = less bugs. IMHO
 
About half my wood is covered with sheets of aluminium composite, and about half is in the open.

I figure it's a lot easier to move the covers to the wood after a year or two in the open, than move the wood.....;)
 
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I cover mine as soon as it's stacked . I just consider it part of the process . Whether it does any good ,or harm .... Don't know ,don't care . It's just habit now, and I've got tons of old metal roofing .
 
I cover my wood with used rubber roofing material. It's cheap (free) as my son gets it for me. He cuts in into 6' wide strips and I staple it down. Stays put and never blows off.
Firewood.jpg
 
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BigV said:
I cover my wood with used rubber roofing material. It's cheap (free) as my son gets it for me. He cuts in into 6' wide strips and I staple it down. Stays put and never blows off.
Firewood.jpg
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Wow thats some stack of wood. Looks like a 10 year supply
 
cptoneleg said:
Here we go again-- I don't cover and never will, I move what I will burn the upcoming winter into the woodshed, I have about 12 cords in single rows stacked around the place, and I burn an average of 4 cords per winter. The stacks have become part of my landscape, and I am enough ahead to not worry about rain or snow on my stacks of wood.

I must add that once you get far enough ahead and you don't burn right out of your stacks that in my opinion covering is a waste of time.
Click to expand...

Except for the single rows that is EXACTLY what I do.
 
I would think you would have some rotting or deterioration after a few years uncovered. I left a stack of oak uncovered for a year and all the bark rotted and fell off from all the wood ,not just those on the bottom.
 
I stack mine with a slight slope and throw some pallets on top then some old plastic signs or metal roofing. The palletes create a space for air to ventiate on top of the pile so that any moisture coming up doesnt collect on the bottom of the tarp.
 
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