When to put the blue tarp on?

just decided to cover mine due to all the rains not letting up around here .Im tired of the dingy mold and overly wet logs ..i use contractor black plastic 3 foot wide dropclotch rolls .

I cover mine with used metal roofing panels the day it's stacked; two or three years before it's burned.

Plastic is cheap and easy, but I wouldn't use it for long term cover. I use plastic on the 1/3 cord stack of 3-year wood by the house, just to keep it dry before it gets burned. Otherwise, I use old corrugated metal steel sheets picked up as scrap with an old concrete block on top so they don't blow off. They keep the rain/snow off, allow air to circulate, and prevent any condensation underneath. I would avoid plastic for long term cover.

Plastic is cheap and easy, but I wouldn’t use it for long term cover. I use plastic on the 1/3 cord stack of 3-year wood by the house, just to keep it dry before it gets burned. Otherwise, I use old corrugated metal steel sheets picked up as scrap with an old concrete block on top so they don’t blow off. They keep the rain/snow off, allow air to circulate, and prevent any condensation underneath. I would avoid plastic for long term cover.

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Only thing to add to that is to get the metal roofing at the town dump for free.

I plan to cover the top with the material used to cover wood delivery to the local lumber yard. Free for the asking. I plan to used something to keep the material up off the firewood to help promote air circulation. Not planning to cover it until the snow starts or until the freezing rain hits...which I hope is later than sooner!

An old tree service / Firewood guy I know told me to use those water resistant tarps so the wood can still breath and make sure to stack or use posts to hold the tarp up in the center and water or snow will run or slide off . The tarp goes on with first big snow and cover the whole pile sides and all to keep the stuff from blowing in. I gotta say it works alot better than the other ways I tried with plastic , heavy waterproof tarps and leaving the sides open but you got to remember I am in N IL and the wind plays a big role when we have storms we have lots of blowing and drifting.

I'm with Jebatty on this one: corrugated sheet metal is the ideal cover. Get it cut, split & stacked and cover immediately. Why would you want water penetrating the wood every time it rains when the goal is to remove moisture?

Moved to the woodshed as this really doesn't have much directly to do with boilers...

Gooserider

Blue tarps have a certain rural fashion quality that never goes out of style (I've got one tacked over a barn door that takes on rain that comes from the northeast), but I agree with others that you ideally want something that stays on top of and above the wood to let it breathe.

Rory said:

I ended up without a woodshed for this year's wood, perhaps the first time I've ever had all my wood stacked outside. My wife has been after me to cover it, but we've had a great stretch of sunny warm weather (finally), and I think it's been trying better with the sun and wind exposure than it would without. I finally covered it today, though, as I'm sure we'll get rain eventually, and I had a big tarp that needed moving.

Are there any thoughts on the optimum time to cover a woodpile?

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Rory, there has been some recent threads about this. Some of us think it is okay to leave the wood uncovered for a time and others want to cover right away. Either way is okay but you should leave the sides and ends open all the time.

I certainly would not go to the trouble to cover and uncover. If you are going to cover it, then just cover and forget it. Why go to the extra trouble of covering and uncovering depending upon the weather? It will drive you nuts.

Here, we leave the wood uncovered the first summer and fall and cover only just before the snow starts coming in earnest. Usually in November or early December. We use old galvanized roofing for covering and it works well.

Using tarps sometimes proves troublesome because the tarp won't hold up well and eventually will freeze to the top of the wood pile. Then when you try to uncover, you rip the tarp. By spring it looks awful. Some get around this by putting something flat on the top of the wood and then something to keep the tarp a few inches of that. This allows air under the tarp and hopefully it won't get all torn. One big reason for a tarp getting torn is the movement from wind flapping the tarp and the rough surface of the wood. Sort of like trying to sandpaper a sheet of plastic.

Blue doesn't last very long. Silver is a better way to go. Silver looks better too.

Rory said:

I ended up without a woodshed for this year's wood, perhaps the first time I've ever had all my wood stacked outside. My wife has been after me to cover it, but we've had a great stretch of sunny warm weather (finally), and I think it's been trying better with the sun and wind exposure than it would without. I finally covered it today, though, as I'm sure we'll get rain eventually, and I had a big tarp that needed moving.

Are there any thoughts on the optimum time to cover a woodpile?

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There have been a lot of threads on cover or not and if you cover when id the best time.

Personally, I like letting the wind and sun do its thing in the warm months and cover only the top of my stacks, just before the snow flys.

Rory said:

I ended up without a woodshed for this year's wood, perhaps the first time I've ever had all my wood stacked outside. My wife has been after me to cover it, but we've had a great stretch of sunny warm weather (finally), and I think it's been trying better with the sun and wind exposure than it would without. I finally covered it today, though, as I'm sure we'll get rain eventually, and I had a big tarp that needed moving.

Are there any thoughts on the optimum time to cover a woodpile?

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As others have said, many topics and opinions on this subject.

As for me my piles have been uncovered and seasoning nicely . . . even with the two months of rain earlier in the summer. Like others the tarps went on last year and one pile may be covered this year only when it seems as though we're about to get our first snow . . . or if it gets to be October or November and we're heading into a rainy stretch of weather. I figure I'll keep getting as much sun and wind as I can before tarping.

Like others, covering only the top is the way to go . . . and I wouldn't take the tarp off and on depending on the weather.

I cover as late in the Fall as I can, trying to find a time between the last rain and subsequent outer drying out period and the first signs of sub-freezing weather. The last thing I want is for the wood to get wet, freeze and not dry out until Spring. It's a game of chicken between me and the weather but up here in NH it's about the end of October when I need to get 'er done.

Oh, and I cover the stacks from top to bottom at that point.

We cover ours as late as possible. We got some rubber rolled roofing from a contractor friend, using it to cover just the top. It's heavy and doesn't blow off, no matter what the conditions.

I leave my wood pile uncovered until the first snow, than the top is the only thing under the tarp. I don't think it is worth the hassle of covering and than uncovering.