More on Covering Wood

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velvetfoot

Minister of Fire
Dec 5, 2005
10,202
Sand Lake, NY
So I went out to the HD last night for some plywood to cover the pile next to the house.
Man, wood is expensive, 13.50 a sheet and I needed 6!
And it is crap. Maybe "next time" I'll go with a real lumber place. Is there a "good side" on plywood?
It's already curling, bad. The whole thing looks bad (next to house). Maybe should've stuck with the tarp, but proof will be in winter I guess.
Gotta get a shed, but it'd be farther away.
 
With 6 sheets of plywood, you're half way to a shed already. A few 4x4's, a handful of 2x4's, maybe a few flats of shingles and a couple bags of cement and your all set.
 
At that price you could have almost had another cord of wood.
 
Yes, I can imagine how those sheets are warping. I was at Tractor Supply a few days ago, and they are selling 3'x4', ~ 1" thick rubber mats - feel pretty heavy duty. These would fit almost perfectly on the top of my pallets (I stack on single pallets with about 1-2' space between pallets and rows). At $20 per mat, I just couldn't do it, but I'd love to get my hand on some. Actually, just did a quick calculation - I currently have about 48 pallets of stacked splits, so it would cost almost 1K to buy enough covers - I definitely WON'T be buying them!! Cheers!
 
Find a commercial roofer in your area and ask him if he could sell you any remnants of the EDPM Rubber Roofing they use on commercial roofs. He
may have some laying around in his yard or compound. If you get a large enough piece, you could even put grommetts in it and bungee cord them or
just find a few large rocks to hold it down. I bought a 10' x 33' piece for $50.00.
 
It'll start delaminating exposed to the weather, too.

It still looks better than old used [del]waferboard[/del] fiberboard counter tops. :)
 
yanksforever said:
Find a commercial roofer in your area and ask him if he could sell you any remnants of the EDPM Rubber Roofing they use on commercial roofs. He
may have some laying around in his yard or compound. If you get a large enough piece, you could even put grommetts in it and bungee cord them or
just find a few large rocks to hold it down. I bought a 10' x 33' piece for $50.00.
I found a flat roofer who was glad to get rid of some rubber roofing, he had more than I could handle. Also metal roofing is alot better than plywood, it will warp like crazy unless you get the wolminized stuff (it may warp too).
 
Just to add to Golf and wood nuts post . As far as metal roofing goes ,stop buy a company that does metal clad buildings and ask if they have any old cover sheets . They are basically seconds that can't be used because of quality issues like paint or scratches ,etc..
 
Nixon, last year we put up a barn. It is actually one of those carport like you see for sale all over. We just ordered it a bit larger and enclose the entire thing and it looks like a barn and not a carport. When they finished it was after dark and I told the crew to just leave the cut-off stuff. Actually I told them they didn't have to clean up that I'd take care of it the next day. Well, when I went behind the barn the next day I was amazed at all the stuff they have left! Yes, much of it will be used for covering wood piles just like the old galvanized roofing we use. Sometimes it is amazing some of the stuff you can come up with.
 
The sad part is I'll probably wind up cutting em up next summer.
Oh well, let's see if they help with the snow.
 
I ordered some 20 foot sheets of corrugated metal roofing that was delivered today. It is to replace the vinyl/fabric "roof" on a storage "building" that I have. The fabric roof lasted 7 years, but finally ripped over this summer.

Anyways, the roofing is cut to the exact length of my "building". I ordered them 20'-2" and that's the way them came. When they delivered the roofing there were two extra "shorties" in the bundle. I suppose they included them as protection for the bundle of the finished product. BONUS!! They measure 10 and 14 feet each. I'll slit them down the middle and have 19"x14 (and 10) foot covers for some of my stacks. By my calculations, I'll have enough to cover around 6 face cords that are stored along my fence line.

I'm thinking most folks would be mad that they had extra material that they had to dispose of. I'm happy to take the extras. In fact, I might go to Menards to see if they have any dented or damaged pieces that they want to get rid of.
 
I would kind of be surprised to find many places willing to part with their metal for free . . . especially with the price of scrap metal right now . . . then again some folks may simply not want to take the time to haul it to the scrap yard.
 
Maybe the scrap yard would be a good place to look?
 
velvetfoot said:
So I went out to the HD last night for some plywood to cover the pile next to the house.
Man, wood is expensive, 13.50 a sheet and I needed 6!
And it is crap. Maybe "next time" I'll go with a real lumber place. Is there a "good side" on plywood?
It's already curling, bad. The whole thing looks bad (next to house). Maybe should've stuck with the tarp, but proof will be in winter I guess.
Gotta get a shed, but it'd be farther away.

Yup
 
HD usually has a cart over at the contractor exit where they have all the raw lumber where they put all the rather ugly wood no one will buy. Sometimes there's plywood there with torn edges at 1/3 - 1/2 price.
Usually it's warped and broken boards, though.
If they were free I'd take em for kindling, but they never are.
 
Check out my awesome setup, completed just minutes ago.
Plywood screwed together, 1 in corners and one in the middle.
Tied down to screws in the ends of splits.
And, for the pièce de résistance, it is covered with plastic!
Awesome.
 

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velvetfoot said:
Check out my awesome setup, completed just minutes ago.
Plywood screwed together, 1 in corners and one in the middle.
Tied down to screws in the ends of splits.
And, for the pièce de résistance, it is covered with plastic!
Awesome.

I like it! As long as the wind doesn't blow it away it should work well.
 
But it's tied down!
If you mean the fabulous plastic cover, although I did staple a lot, yes I guess it could blow away.
I'm interested in whether the plastic actually causes it to rot faster, and how hard it will be to not get any holes in it.
 
Not to rain on your parade (especially since you've been putting so much into it), but you might want to give some thought to what's going to happen as you start to remove the wood. Don't know what your plan for that is but if it's going to be a small portion at a time, you're probably going to have some problems. As the wood vacates, the plywood will start to droop and eventually snap apart unless it's propped up. But if part of it is propped, the whole thing may turn into an air foil, just waiting for take-off. I use plywood (ripped to 1'x8') covered by 4 mil, and overlap these sections lengthwise. By bringing in full 8' sections at a time (and removing individual covers), I don't get any bowing or support issues. But I have all single rows, and that won't work for you. Could you cover each sheet with plastic separately, overlap them, and find a bunch of weight to keep them down? That way you could slide the lid on the current section back into the stack, and stop it from wanting to dip. Maybe someone else has a better idea (yep, I know - a shed).
 

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Geez, I had a big response written last night, but I guess it never got in.

The highlights, I think, were:
-had thought more before about it, but this was impulse
-flat surface nice for snow removal
-screws, good for arranging panels, probably have to go, covered with some kind of tape
-temp. struts worth a shot
-plastic could hold stuff together, but is brittle in winter
-plywood, as used, has to be stacked flat somewhere
-need shed
-there's always next year
 
velvetfoot said:
Geez, I had a big response written last night, but I guess it never got in.

The highlights, I think, were:
-had thought more before about it, but this was impulse
-flat surface nice for snow removal
-screws, good for arranging panels, probably have to go, covered with some kind of tape
-temp. struts worth a shot
-plastic could hold stuff together, but is brittle in winter
-plywood, as used, has to be stacked flat somewhere
-need shed
-there's always next year
Velvet, What kind of ply is this? PT, cdx, osb, etc, what thickness?
 
velvetfoot said:
I did staple a lot, yes I guess it could blow away.

Maybe stick some 2 foot pieces of rebar in the bottom of the stack to hook ratchet straps to every 2 feet or so?
 
"Velvet, What kind of ply is this? PT, cdx, osb, etc, what thickness?

It's from HD, I think it says RTD on it and it's a hair under 1/2".

I was kind of joking about that. The plywood is tied down, the plastic on top stapled on the underside of the ply. I guess the plastic could blow away.
 
Ok, I rethought this whole winter wood getting then, and am moving most of that wood into the garage.
I freed up a wall and a corner and put that plywood on it! I figure I'll get nearly 4 cords in two rows (it's a pretty deep garage - 25').
The 5th cord I'll probably leave where it is and use it up first before the snow really flies.
There's still the bug factor, but I'm hoping for the best.
The convenience factor is just too great.

PS: With the two rows of 16" wood along the end, I might be able to fit a small car in there as well.
 
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