When do YOU cover?

Another month at least!

My 13/14 wood will move from the woods into the shed Oct/Nov

It will dry thru November if it doesn't get snowed on. Been doing it this way for years.

In about a month and a half to two months when it rains or snows.

If it's wood for this burn season, top cover before the next rain.
If it's for next burn season or farther out, covering is not necessary ( most here say anyway )
I like having wood that I'll burn this season covered a month or so before it's needed.

Just a top cover, anytime, should not slow down the drying. Keeps the rain off yet still allows good air circulation.

I leave mine out until fall (uncovered) then stack in the wood shed (wood port) for 2 years , just before I start getting in wood to replace what will be burned this season.
1st year trying this method. 1st time, in a while, being able to get caught up & ahead.
Birch is quick to go punky, I learned the hard way (1)not to tarp it top & sides, (2) to not leave it in logs rounds over a year & (3) 2 years (or more) seasoned birch burns much better in my stove than 1 year seasoned.

I still look at the outside wood stacks when it's raining & want to go cover it, just not sure it would be cost effective to top cover my 2 , 73' rows.
I'm following the advice of folks here with more fire wood seasoning experience than I have, (but still rain on all that work, makes me cringe)

I follow the weather and cover this year's burn wood just before the remnants of the first hurricane blow through, usually sometime in September-October. Hurricane storms mean long periods of heavy rain, which I try to avoid. If there's a long period of autumn sun, I'll take the covers off, but put them back on for the duration before it snows.

I watch the weather and like the cover after we've had a good dry spell and everythings dried out, I start watching at the end of sept into oct and play by ear.

Before I had a wood shed I would cover the tops of my stacks before the first snow fall and leave them covered for the rest of the winter. As mentioned above, I now top cover this year's wood if an extended wet period is predicted about a week or 2 before the wood goes into the shed which normally happens mid October. It may happen even later this year since I have over a cord of wood still in the shed from last winter.

I like to cover the top of the stacks right after stacking. Keeping the rain off sure helps speed drying. I have the woodshed full for this year and will restock in the Spring.

weatherguy said:

I watch the weather and like the cover after we've had a good dry spell and everythings dried out, I start watching at the end of sept into oct and play by ear.

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Same here. I'll be keeping a close eye on the weather here very shortly and then the ugly tarps come out.

Well since I have a woodshed I don't really cover my wood . . . at any time . . .including the stacks I have outside.

That said . . . in my first year of burning I top covered my wood that I was going to burn that Winter sometime in mid-Fall when snow was forecast . . .

I always have my shed full by April and any stacks outside the shed are top covered by mid Sept. My shoulder season wood is put up in stackable kiln baskets and stacked in an old lumber drying leanto. Baskets are lifted to the house as needed with rubber roofing cover.

I've been slowly moving this years wood into the woodshed over the past week. It's almost full now and I'd like to have it full before the next rain. It's been such a dry summer and my wood is ready to go now, so why get it wet now?

If I really needed more drying time, I would just top cover before the next big rain and leave it out for another month or so.

I try to cover all my wood (well, as much as I have cover for) before the leaves fall. My stacks are in the woods and I don't like them getting full of leaves as that crap never really dries out when wet inside the stack.

fv, the last time we top covered at the beginning of September it ended up being the best month we had that year for seasoning. The shoulder season wood might get top covered next week, it all depends what the weather is like.

zap

I'll be top-covering the stacks in a week or two, making the move from those ugly blue tarps to some good rolled rubber roofing this year. Found a local place that has end scraps and overruns for cheap, some vulcanizing glue to piece it together and stainless woodscrewa to fasten it down to the top row of splits and she'll be good to go......

I covered my wood thats going on two years split yesterday, its good and ready to burn today so I want to keep any rain we get off it. I found some steel roofing yesterday and coulnt wait to use it lol.

We usually cover any time after November - December. Before the snow flies much. I have covered in October but that is usually early for us.

I top covered as I stacked this year. It's made a huge difference in drying time. Working on 2012/2013 now, and I'll leave that uncovered (unless I get ambitious / have alot of time) until next spring.

Plastic here, no wood shed, yet.

i'm top covering when it rains and flipping the tarps off when its dry. once november comes i'll move 2 cords into the basement and continue to burn shoulder season wood from outdoor covered piles until its finished, usually by thanksgiving, then start burning the primo hardwood from the basement. late january we'll load up 2 more cords to take us the rest of the way thru winter. 13/14 stacks will be top covered all winter and then i'll repeat the process.

as soon as it cools off i'm going to break out the splitter and try to get all my 14/15 rounds split/stacked before the snow flies. i may pick up a couple of those billboard tarps to cover the pile.

I don't cover at all. If I had some steel roofing or something similar I would cover before the stacks get snow covered, but I don't have any. I store about a week's worth on wood on the back porch so it has time to dry off before I bring in into the stove room for a couple of days before it is burned.

After fighting with everything flying off when the winds come, I don't cover my stacks anymore. Other than a bit of ice/snow on the top couple layers I haven't found any negative. Maybe the wood won't last quite as long, but I'll burn it long before that happens.

Being a full three years ahead I cover after it is split and stacked for a year or so. Where I live it is kind of humid and we can have extended periods of dampness so after leaving them exposed I cover them when we have a dry spell. Being stacked on pallets I don't like the idea of mosture getting down inside of the stacks where the air flow is not that great.

I don't top cover the wood drying in the open field. It stays out there for at least 2 years (oak), then goes into the shed in June, July, and/or August, then gets burned.
I always wait for at least a few good warm, sunny days after a rain to do the moving, and it takes a while (since the rain doesn't follow my schedule). This could happen many times before I get it all in the shed.
I would like to top cover in the field after the first year, but 2 rows @112' long- each would amount to quite an undertaking and expense.

PapaDave said:

I don't top cover the wood drying in the open field. It stays out there for at least 2 years (oak), then goes into the shed in June, July, and/or August, then gets burned.
I always wait for at least a few good warm, sunny days after a rain to do the moving, and it takes a while (since the rain doesn't follow my schedule). This could happen many times before I get it all in the shed.
I would like to top cover in the field after the first year, but 2 rows @112' long- each would amount to quite an undertaking and expense.

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You could get a big roll of that plastic like Dexter got and just unroll it over the top of the stacks and stale here and there or put splits on top.