Moving wood

I know I handle my wood a lot . . . but I don't mind . . . I find it enjoyable.

Crazy I know . . . but handling my wood is a bit therapeutic.

So to answer the initial question . . . yes . . . I stack it outside . . . then move it to the shed . . . and then move it to the porch . . . and then move it inside (all that . . . and that's not even talking about how often I touch my wood when processing it.)

firefighterjake said:

I know I handle my wood a lot . . . but I don't mind . . . I find it enjoyable.

Crazy I know . . . but handling my wood is a bit therapeutic.

So to answer the initial question . . . yes . . . I stack it outside . . . then move it to the shed . . . and then move it to the porch . . . and then move it inside (all that . . . and that's not even talking about how often I touch my wood when processing it.)

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I don't know Jake, it sounds to me that you really like touching your wood!

Poindexter said:

Last year I seasoned everything on pallets out in the sun and wind, then moved the whole nine cords to under the deck to keep the snow off it, brought about a face cord at a time from under the deck to the garage to keep form opening an outside door so many times. Burnt every stick.

I am done with pallets, playing with designs. I am going to build a single shed big enough to hold season and store a years worth of wood. I am going to have to make it bigger than 9 cords so I can stack loose and still season in one year. I am on a tiny suburban lot, no room to get three years ahead.

So far all of my designs have multiple bays under one roof so as I burn a bay or stall empty of seasoned wood I can re-fill it with green splits over the winter.

I suspect this year I will build floor, stalls and roof, get the wood in it and then staple up plastic in July to keep the rain off after the wood is dry.

If I had more land and a tractor with forks on it I would palletize beside the splitter and bring seasoned wood into the garage one pallet at a time.

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Poindexter, I swear I am not "hearth.com-stalking" you, but I have been following your woodshed progress, and your shed seasoning philosophy is the same as mine and was my objective when building my 5-cord woodshed...having one place to store and stack and season firewood. I expect to burn 2 to 2.5 cords per year, and my thought was to stack it once in the shed and let it season for at least one full year. So the stuff I am splitting now and stacking in the shed will be ready for Nov 2016 burning. But I am curious what your thoughts are for stacking loose and seasoning in one year. How much room do you plan to leave between rows...or is there anything else you're planning on doing stacking-wise to help ensure seasoning?

I am stacking 3 rows, leaving 6" between rows and stacking to 6' high. I am currently not doing anything else special when stacking...no funky criss cross or anything like that. I am curious to see next year how my stacked wood in the shed comes out. I'd like to hear your thoughts too!

Isaac Carlson said:

I am still trying to figure out where to keep the main wood supply. I have some in the pole shed, some outside, and some in the machine shed. It is not by the house so it is a trip to get wood. I would like to build a few wood sheds near the house to help save time and effort.

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You know you're a wood hoarder when ......

hamslam42 said:

your shed seasoning philosophy is the same as mine and was my objective when building my 5-cord woodshed...I am curious what your thoughts are for stacking loose and seasoning in one year. How much room do you plan to leave between rows...or is there anything else you're planning on doing stacking-wise to help ensure seasoning?

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I am currently planning to build vertical walls between bays on 44" centers, +/-. Plain 2x4 with wire fencing stapled to both sides, 8 feet tall. I am currently stacking 6' tall, will probably have to go to 7' tall green stacks , but they will shrink 18% as they season.

Imagine two parallel stacks of wood with their bases four inches away from the fencing on the 2x4 divider, tilted in to be leaning against the fencing 7' off the floor. So air gap between those two stacks of wood 12" wide at the bottom and four inches wide at the top. In the center of each bay about a 4" air gap between to stacks, with the other stack in each bay leaning against the other wall, so 4" between stacks at the floor and 12" at the top.

Clear as mud?

My lot lines are exactly NS, so I am currently thinking open on the E and W ends, but with a wall of splits leaning on fencing on 2x4 verticals... open on the north side, just enough framing to hold up the roof. Roof one flat panel shed roof tilted so all the rain drips off the southern edge, clear to let sunlight though, and then a clear vertical wall on the south side.

I am thinking that may be enough of so the bays in the middle will heat up, exhaust hot humid air out from under the roof on the north side, and draw in cool air near the floor on the north edge.

I do live between a river and ridge with dependable AM breeze out of the east and dependable PM breeze out of the west.

I can see maybe running solar powered fans near the floor on the north edge to push air along the floor into each bay or stall to help the convection current along. If I end up running 27 fans into a 12' (NS) by 20' (EW) shed I'll probably cover the sides in clear as well to help heat up the wood. Looking like polycarbonate sheets are going to be the way to go for me.

May have to insulate the North wall someday. Kinda want to insulate the floor while it's easy. My ground is already frozen, I have several months to think this over before I shovel the worst of the snow off the site and lay down black plastic to get the ground to thaw.