Wood shed questions

Random thoughts . . .

Floor gap: I could go either way here. My own take is that the majority of the wood in my woodshed has been seasoned outside. I'm not sure gaps in the floor will make a big difference in seasoning . . . possible negative is that wood bark and junk could fall down and over time build up underneath the shed.

Walls: I think whether you leave it open or go with partial walls or fully enclosed walls is both a personal preference deal . . . and dependent on the weather. Here in Maine, snow is an issue. I built the woodshed mainly so I don't have to wrestle with tarps and knock off a lot of snow and ice off the top of the woodstack. I ended up going with a board and batting type of wall . . . minus the batting . . . which left a half inch to an inch gap. While most of the seasoning is done in stacks sitting outside, I figure the additional side ventilation can only help the wood continue to season . . . and the resulting gaps allow in very little snow or rain.

Shed purpose: As mentioned . . . I season the wood outside for a year or two . . . and then it goes into the woodshed. No more messing around with tarps . . . I can pick and choose which wood I want to burn . . . and the wood is never wet from snow, ice or rain. For me, it's more of a convenience factor. Not too many folks here season the wood inside a shed.

I would most definitely beef up your floors with some cement blocks in the middle . . . also . . . were joist hangers used? The flooring holds a lot of weight . . . I am not an engineer, but I am a firm believer in over-building stuff so I don't have it break and have to do it again . . . since I am also quite lazy.

I would beef up the floor for sure, I filled my shed the first time and broke a couple of joists. Had to remove 6 cords of wood and support the floor with poured concrete. I left the back off mine so I can load and remove wood from either side. I also put a divider through the center so you can remove wood from either side. I have sides on mine up to 6 ft, that makes filling it much easier. Mine holds 2 years with of wood so I remove from the front one year and the back the next.

You're already set on your course so none of this will help, but. . .

1) That shed will hold, potentially, 6 cord. Each cord weighs 3800-4100 pounds. That's a lot of weight. Which is why I would have gone with pallets set on the ground.

2) 8x12 is kinda small - my shed is 10x20 with two 10x10 bays so I do both - a green side and a dry side - this year/next year

3) Even if you pack it with dry wood the fewer walls you have the better.

Your local county extension agent should be able to tell you how many square feet of ground contact you need to keep your piers from sinking into your ground.

I talked to my local guy before I built, I am on a the weakest possible soil as far as pounds per square foot supported. For my woodshed my local guy suggested 8x8 RR ties on three foot centers under my joists so my loaded shed doesn't sink into the ground. You won't need more than that, I am on an ancient river plain, my subsoil is sand with glacial silt mixed in. Nothing weaker. It's "free" to use your extension agent as you already paying his salary out of your federal income taxes.

For the floor, I would put the 5/4x6 PT boards on diagonally and I would install them flush up against each other. Diagonally they will stiffen your floor. Within a year they will shrink back to 1/4" or so gap between each board. If you want to season green wood in there I might think about spacing the wet 5/4PT apart a bit to end with a solid floor and bigger gaps.

The tricks I think to finding consensus about wood sheds is A) is this shed for storing already seasoned wood (mostly here) or seasoning green wood (rarely here) and B) - how much water gets pumped out of the ground into your shed space in your local climate.

Locally for me the ground can give up a terrific amount of water into a hot volume with no vapor barrier under the floor. Thus a dry wood on pallets under a tarp on five sides can go from 18% MC back up to 25% MC in just the couple months of shoulder season when it freezes overnight and then thaws during the day. The tarps traps a lot of heat, I won't make that mistake again.

What I do in my climate is season on pallets that are up on cinder blocks. My shed is convenient to the back door but I didn't fool with vapor barrier. I just wait until the temp drops below freezing for good this year, about now actually, and then move my dry seasoned wood into the shed - don't have to worry about water vapor coming out of the ground until March or so.