Wood stacking tactical mistake

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Dunadan

New Member
Oct 3, 2006
184
Holland Patent, NY
After much thought about where and how to stack my (delivered) wood, I made the decision and got about 4 of my 5 cords stacked. I decided on 24' rows, stacked about 2' apart. Originally I was going to put them further apart so I could snow blow around them, but then read a post here and decided to move them closer so I could anchor the rows to each other by inserting the ends of wood slats, positioned perpendicular to the rows, throughout the length of each stack. In essence, making the 3 rows, one large structure. I then covered all 3 rows with plastic tarp, thinking come winter, I didn't want snow falling between my rows. I still hadn't worked out how I was going to scrape snow off the hard to reach parts of the tarp, but I was working on it. Here is a pic of how it looked a few days ago (at the time I only had 2 of my stacks up) -

Original Wood Pile

Well, starting yesterday it started to rain, and late this afternoon when I went to check on my wood (I tend to do that a lot once it's up) I found that water was pooling in low parts of the tarp, and I had small tarp pools hanging down between my rows. This was causing my tarp to pull off the outer rows, and I'm sure, put extra tension on my stacks.

I realized my tactical error just as one of the pools pulled one side of a tarp completely in, and the tarp and water collapsed between 2 of my stacks. Come winter, a heavy snow was going to do the same thing, not to mention any more rain we get before the snows start - of which there will be alot.

So...I made an on the fly decision to cover each row with a separate length of tarp. I cut my blue tarps in half, and, using another tip I'd seen here, cut a couple 10' lengths of 4 mm black poly to make up what I was now short.

The blue tarps are held down with wood, and the black poly is stapled into the wood about every 2'. Here are pics of how it looks now (can you tell it was raining)?

New Wood Pile 1

New Wood Pile 2

My only worry now, is come snow season, what do I do about snow that pile up between the stacks. There's not a enough room for me to get in to shovel (not that I'd really want to) and the only snow blowing I'll be doing will be around the outside so I can get to the stacks come late winter. I'm thinking even if I get snow in between the stacks, it's not really going to get the wood all that wet. And since I plan to move wood from these piles, up onto my deck before they are moved into the house, any surface moisture from snow should dry up pretty quick in the cold air while waiting on the deck to be burned.

Would people agree? Or have I made another tactical mistake?
 
why was it you didn't put all the rows all together like everyone else???

as it is, mid winter you will be shovelling ice and snow between teh stacks, and tracking snow into your house all winter.
 
I think you're right about the snow not being too much of an issue since you will move wood up onto the deck for a short period before moving it inside. I'm assuming your wood is already seasoned. I think after a few winters of burning you figure out what works best for you in where and how you stack your wood. If your wood is seasoned, it might be easier to stack it in cord size stacks instead of with spaces in between rows. While I have much of this years wood stacked under tarps or plastic in cords, I also built 2 woodsheds this summer that have a total of about 10 cord capacity. I will build 1 or two more next summer. I have a lot of very hilly woods so I have strategically placed sheds that allow me to harvest and store near 2 different sections of woods as well as by my house and at the end of my driveway where I process my scrounged wood. (I keep a lot of wood, 20 cords or so on hand) For me in the long run, once my wood is pretty much seasoned, I want to store it so snow or rain are irrelevant. In the long run, I've never found a way to stack using tarps that wasn't a pain in the butt when I was actively pulling from a pile over time. Tarps work well for inactive storage though. I no longer drape the sides at all but just cover the tops with a couple of inches overhang each side and end. I find draping the sides even a foot or two tends to cause moisture to condense and stay in that "cap" area.
 
Go down to Home Depot or Lowe's and get ya a few sheets of corrugated plastic roofing. The wavy stuff. Place it over the spaces between the rows and then put your plastic over the whole thing. No sags, and you have air passage between the stacks so the stuff can dry out.

Blue tarps are good for about fifteen minutes on a woodpile because the wood rips them to shreds.

BB - Who went to an auction for a bankrupt bakery years ago and uses a whole bunch of sheet baking pans to do the same thing.
 
Perfect !

Dunadan, I think you did perfecto........I have 4 stacks that look exactly like yours except mine might be a little taller (6 ft.) and are about 40 ft. long each.

Each has a variety of tarps and plastic held down just like yours does.........been keeping my wood piles dry for over two years with no problems at all with wind or snow.

Each pile is anchored with poles connected through each stack for support and I have never lost a stack.......yet. :)

If your wood is seasoned and ready........snow will not hurt at all unless it is a low area and it collects deep water and slush......then it's not a big deal because the surface will dry in a week or so on the porch.

Good job..........no.............great job.......sit back and enjoy your hard work and savings.




Robbie
 
Dunadan,
What you have there looks fine and will work great. During the winter, when the wood is frozen, most of the snow will just knock off when you go get it, and will dry off as it waits to get into the firebox.

They way I tarped my wood to season it somewhat solves the water run-off problem. I was lucky enough to get a buch of free metal fence posts when my brother-in-law tore down his fence. I built a frame over 7 cords of wood I cut last winter and draped clear plastic sheeting over the whole thing to make a solar kiln. I built it sort of like trusses for a house roof, angled to the edges, and made valleys so the rain could run off and not pool up. I still had a few problems, but it was so dry this year that rain really wasn't much of an issue here. Serious drought. Set up worked well and my wood is at 25% moisture after only 4 months of drying. I just uncovered the whole thing and only have it tarped on top to take advantage of the dry fall winds to get the wood down to 20% over the next 1.5 months before it gets moved into the woodshed for winter.

Looking at the size of your pile, if that is normal for you, building a simple A-frame with scrap lumber would work or some scrap wood siding or something flat lie the mentioned roofing to put over the top. But your method is simple and effective.

I'm just waiting to get some free plastic roofing material to build a permanent solar kiln. I don't like paying for stuff.
 
interesting.
different strokes for different locations.

we get 3 or 5 feet of snow piled up here. the concept of some fo the snow melting off the wood pile doesn't occur here.

good luck!!!!!
 
Tarps are a pain in the A$$.. Never fails 60mph wind blows them off and the wood gets wet anyways

I think the key here is to get the wood dry and seasoned then place a trap on it in for Fall and Winter, Which will reduce the rain/snow issues.

Some day I will get around to building a wood shed.. Not the best childhood memories of trips to the wood shed Today my parents would be paid a few visits

and asked a few questions about the activities that occurred there... that special spanking stick. The one I remember most, is when my pet snake got into the girls room

Ate the hamster and made residence in the doll house.
 
that's how my wood piles look except i don't have the support that you have in the middle and outside. i have space of about a foot between the rows. each row is a cord. i cover with black plastic when the time comes. last year i had a gray tarp over the three rows and it was the biggest pain im my a**. i was constantly out there fixing the dam thing. i had bricks blocks and small tree stumps on top of the stacks and rain and snow would constantly pile up in the middle of the rows and sag so bad that it ripped and shredded the tarp. the constant weight just keeps pulling until something gives. i put so many things on top of the piles thinking that it would keep the tarp from sagging and each row has a peak in the middle for water to shed and it still tried to pool water and snow that my piling of things worked, it stopped pooling and just collapsed the wood stacks. most of the time you only get a little snow in the middle and just covering the top works ok. for me anyway.

frank
 
This year I tried cutting my wood about 16" long and made stacks were there are three rows leaning on each other.
I have undulating and sloping ground that I stacked on requiring shimming, so the pile is much more sturdy that way.
I realize there might not be as much air going through it.
I got some heavy roll plastic 10' wide and cut it in half (60") and put a layer on top and bottom.
The wood is stacked on the plastic.
(I figure the bottom layer will slow decomposition by separating the wood from the ground.)
I kept the plastic down this year by attaching rope to two pieces of wood and slinging them at 6-8' intervals or so over the plastic to hold it down.
 
I always felt tarps as covers are a real PITA - a wood shed does a better job of keeping stuff dry, and avoids the problems with tarps pooling and ripping. I built my sheds w/ open long sides and just hang tarps on the sides as "curtains" to keep the snow from blowing in on them. In the summer I roll the tarps up for ventilation, etc.

Gooserider
 
elkimmeg said:
Tarps are a pain in the A$$.. Never fails 60mph wind blows them off and the wood gets wet anyways

I think the key here is to get the wood dry and seasoned then place a trap on it in for Fall and Winter, Which will reduce the rain/snow issues.

Some day I will get around to building a wood shed.. Not the best childhood memories of trips to the wood shed Today my parents would be paid a few visits

and asked a few questions about the activities that occurred there... that special spanking stick. The one I remember most, is when my pet snake got into the girls room

Ate the hamster and made residence in the doll house.
Click to expand...
LOL :lol: :lol: Priceless!! With experiences like that, all of us would have "better safe than sorry" as our signature!
 
Here is my wood-on-a-rope method.
 

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