My woodshed is divided into two halves and I usually load it in five sections. On the two ends I have two rows each and in the middle I have three rows all of which run N/S. Each N/S row is about a cord. I then in-fill between the ends and the middle with rows running E/W. These in-fill sections are about 3 cord each if I fill it right up to the rafters. I don't crib end the in-fill sections so they need the N/S rows to hold them up which means the in-fill needs to come out first.
Using a bit of ASCII art, it looks like this:
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I found that if I completely fill the woodshed, depending on how I take it back out, I may end up with wood left over that then gets trapped behind the new wood I put back in because the shed only has two access points from one side. I tend then not to fill it completely but just put about as much as I think I will use in one season on each side, so two years worth total instead of the three years worth it can hold.
I try to take from the centre rows last as the middle most row could be assigned to either year and is reacheable from either side without disturbing the adjacent row holding up the non-cribbed in-fill on the other side. Invariably, I seem to always misjudge how much wood I will use and end up either trapping older wood in behind newer or have to move and restack it on the other side. Remember that I keep two years worth in the shed so what I am taking from at the time has already been "finishing" in the shed for over a year after the time it spent outdoors.
Anyway... it looks like I misjudged again this year. I took more from the centre section and have a full row left on the end section. That means I will have used at least one cord less than anticipated this Winter. I will not be putting any new wood in the shed for some time as there is more than enough there for next Winter and I don't feel like moving the left-overs from one side to the other. I need to completely empty the shed at some point anyway to do some remediation work on it as the frost is jacking the posts.
The 10 cord I'm bucking up now, will all have to be stacked outside where it will stay until the Fall of 2013 before getting moved to the shed. I guess I will need to scrounge up some more pallets and clear a new spot for the stacks. It will also mean that the wood I will burn in 2013/2014 will not have spent a year being "finished" in the shed, having recently come from the outdoor stacks.
Maybe I should build a new long and narrow shed like what Carb_Liberator has and solve all my inventory rotation problems and not have to move and restack as much.
Using a bit of ASCII art, it looks like this:
= =||||= = =||||= =
= =||||= = =||||= =
= =||||= = =||||= =
= =||||= = =||||= =
I found that if I completely fill the woodshed, depending on how I take it back out, I may end up with wood left over that then gets trapped behind the new wood I put back in because the shed only has two access points from one side. I tend then not to fill it completely but just put about as much as I think I will use in one season on each side, so two years worth total instead of the three years worth it can hold.
I try to take from the centre rows last as the middle most row could be assigned to either year and is reacheable from either side without disturbing the adjacent row holding up the non-cribbed in-fill on the other side. Invariably, I seem to always misjudge how much wood I will use and end up either trapping older wood in behind newer or have to move and restack it on the other side. Remember that I keep two years worth in the shed so what I am taking from at the time has already been "finishing" in the shed for over a year after the time it spent outdoors.
Anyway... it looks like I misjudged again this year. I took more from the centre section and have a full row left on the end section. That means I will have used at least one cord less than anticipated this Winter. I will not be putting any new wood in the shed for some time as there is more than enough there for next Winter and I don't feel like moving the left-overs from one side to the other. I need to completely empty the shed at some point anyway to do some remediation work on it as the frost is jacking the posts.
The 10 cord I'm bucking up now, will all have to be stacked outside where it will stay until the Fall of 2013 before getting moved to the shed. I guess I will need to scrounge up some more pallets and clear a new spot for the stacks. It will also mean that the wood I will burn in 2013/2014 will not have spent a year being "finished" in the shed, having recently come from the outdoor stacks.
Maybe I should build a new long and narrow shed like what Carb_Liberator has and solve all my inventory rotation problems and not have to move and restack as much.