Woodpile fell again. Thoughts?

How tall is the stack? It looks to be at least 5 feet tall and that is pushing it. One thing I do is to angle the cribbed ends inward to prevent the ends from tipping and also angle the tops of each two rows towards each other so if they lean they hold themselves up.

You could always drive a t-post into the ground at each end and support the stacks that way. That's how I stack mine and have never had one fall.

I have rodents that tunnel under mine. From woodchucks to meadow voles. They tunnel under everything except what I stack in a gravel driveway.

Definitely looks on the high side. I find that after any more than 4 - 4 and a half feet they get pretty wobbly. Chimney Smoke's suggestion works for me - I lean the cribs toward the inside and they are much more solid.

Here's another trick I learnt from my dad a while ago. I don't do it a lot but ever time I've tried it, the row was super solid.

You take some wire that won't rust away - something like copper is perfect. When your cribs are near full height, tie the one end of the wire to a crib piece that runs perpendicular to the wood stack. Next run the wire over the stack, and tie it to a crib piece at the other end of the pile.

As you finish off your stack, the last pieces you add on push down on the wire and essentially "pull" the cribs toward eachother.

Hope my explanation is clear!

You can also tie stacks together with double or triple length small logs. Let the stacks support each other.

Chimney Smoke said:

How tall is the stack? It looks to be at least 5 feet tall and that is pushing it. One thing I do is to angle the cribbed ends inward to prevent the ends from tipping and also angle the tops of each two rows towards each other so if they lean they hold themselves up.

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I'm with Chimney Smoke. I always lean mine towards the center. ALL FOUR SIDES, not just the ends. Then it supports itself.

those piles look about a foot or two too high for unsupported cribs ends. it looks like you know what your doing as far as picking the right pieces, just think your going too high. in my opinion, you shouldn't need to support cribbed ends with wires or ties, unless you have some grade (slope) issues, they should just allow you to square up your rows. mine are about 4-5 feet tall and support very little weight. bring it down a foot or so and it will stop falling over.

Red maple shrinks a lot, that is a strike against you. Not stacking too high and cribbing more often would probably help. I hate restacking too.....

Besides trying to stack tighter I'm not sure why it's happening. I've got 6 foot tall stacks with no issues and they've been up for 2 years nearly.

Hate to sound like a broken record, but those stacks look like they're 6 feet tall. You look like you have room to stack differently. I make my stacks single, and 8 feet long by 4 feet tall. I have wood posts at either end to support the full amount of wood. So it's like a 3rd of a cord. I've had oak down to 16.8% in 2 years. Cherry down to 15.8 in 6 months. You might want to re-evaluate your stacking process.

I have noticed that once it gets down to ~30%, the fiber saturation point, that's when the individual pieces start shrinking and the piles start tipping.

I can get to 6' vertical, about have to on my tiny lot. I run two rows of 16" splits down a line of pallets, so 8" air gap in the middle. Once it starts getting wiggly I push the tops together so the two rows are leaning against each other...

Nice that your wood is probably getting drier this time of year.

Fred Wright said:

This bites. I've already restacked it once. Maybe it's too high?

Seems to happen when we get a good, soaking rain. And it's only this stack of red maple. We have two other stacks, one is all red oak that are just as straight and even as they were the day they were stacked. I went out today and put it back together. Again.

Any thoughts on this?

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Defective wood......if I were closer, I'd help you dispose of it

Instead of cribbing with splits I've been using 20" pieces of lathe, molding scraps, 3/4" thick splits, or whatnot to tie the ends in. As already suggested, for taller stacks a light steel post can serve as a guide for the cross pieces sticking out of the end so the stack is kept vertical as it shrinks and settles.

Also I never split wedges, only flats, and all the same thickness if possible.

What are you stacking the wood on?

I stack on pallets . . . crib the ends . . . rarely go over 5 feet . . . double rows . . . lean the wood in as I go up in height so the two rows lean in on each other. It's quite rare to have any stacks fall on me.

firefighterjake said:

What are you stacking the wood on?

I stack on pallets . . . crib the ends . . . rarely go over 5 feet . . . double rows . . . lean the wood in as I go up in height so the two rows lean in on each other. It's quite rare to have any stacks fall on me.

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Have you considered the lawn timber/cement block rack? I have 5+ high racks on a slight slope, been OK since April.

mass_burner said:

Have you considered the lawn timber/cement block rack? I have 5+ high racks on a slight slope, been OK since April.

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Nope . . . level ground here . . . and I'm cheap . . . I can get all the pallets I want for free . . . and when they get too punky or broken toss 'em on my brush pile to burn.

The only think worse than stacking firewood is stacking it a second time.

I always stack 6' high. I guess being 6'05" helps. I have stacked in on pallets that high and rarely had a fall.

I did what others said. I stack the wood so the rows are leaning towards the center from all sides. When I use it in the winter I try to bring the entire stack down evenly to prevent a fall.

I finished my woodshed last weekend and look forward to stacking under a structure for the first time in 15 years. No more tarps for me.

Bob

One row of my stack in the basement fell over last night, least it was in the basement so it can stay on the floor til i burn thru it , but i feel your pain. Hate when it does that, specially if it requires restacking.

Does that area slope or puddle?

Maybe frost-heave is having an effect. I also had a lot of unsuccessful stacking on soft, tilled soil. I did the toolless concrete block racks, and they fell over. I finally drove 1/2" conduit pipe into the ground (two to a block), and so far nothing has fallen over.