Coming Soon, To A Theatre Near You!

[soupy1957]

The 3 cords of wood are now delivered and stacked (augh, my aching back, arms, etc), and since I've been chatting up about the storage method and such, I'll be posting a video (probably today), to show how "I" chose to place the wood in relationship to the house.

I had some preliminary photos on the subject, but I figured someone out there might find a video interesting, so I'll do it.

The second two cords are more "seasoned" wood, and I'm up against what could potentially be rain every day this coming week (I'm posting this on Sunday) so I'm really in a dither about whether or not I might find it beneficial in the long run to cover the wood that's outside, at least for this week.
I found, after a one-day rain event, that the wood that I left exposed, dried out quickly on the most outward pieces, but I can't tell you how the wood in the middle of the pile faired.

Keep your eyes open..............video soon!

-Soupy1957

 

[soupy1957]

Here's the video that was promised..........

 

[savageactor7]

Nice documentary type video soupy little dark toward the end...but I really liked it. You have a good rap. As far as covering your unseasoned wood here's my 2 cents...

...Don't. When it get close to Thanksgiving and the wood is dry then cover it. It may not make sense but in this way Mother Nature will work her magic...just wait and see.

 

[ControlFreak]

Looks like you're ready to roll for the winter!

As for wood "in the house". The bugs are not a problem. When you move the wood and put it in a dry place, that is not a habitat conducive to ants or termites. Carpenter ants are everywhere, and they don't create problems, they just find an existing problem (wet wood) and go live there, eventually making it worse. They can actually be helpful - because if you see carpenter ants where they shouldn't be, then you know you should go looking for a leak somewhere.

We once had carpenter ants coming into the kitchen all the time and couldn't figure out where they were coming from. Then I popped off a piece of siding on an exterior knee-wall for our screen porch on the deck. Water was leaking through the flashing and getting inside that wall, and carpenter ants were loving it in there. Eliminate the wet-wood habitat and you won't have a problem. Now that the wall is gone with its wet wood, the ants have not come back.

You'll probably have termites and carpenter ants living under your pallets supporting the wood pile, but if the wood on the pallets is dry, they will stay down under the pallets where there's lots of moisture. But if your wood pile gets wet, and the moisture lingers in the pile, they'll upgrade to the wood pile also.

 

[Todd]

Nice video. I don't care what anybody says, you need to cover the tops of those stacks. Water is water, and the wood will soak some of it in. Sure it will only take a little while to dry back out, but if it's covered it's dry and stays dry.

 

[BrotherBart]

Nice video. I don't care what anybody says, you need to cover the tops of those stacks. Water is water, and the wood will soak some of it in. Sure it will only take a little while to dry back out, but if it's covered it's dry and stays dry.

Werd.

 

[oldspark]

Nice video. I don't care what anybody says, you need to cover the tops of those stacks. Water is water, and the wood will soak some of it in. Sure it will only take a little while to dry back out, but if it's covered it's dry and stays dry.

I guess I been doing it wrong for 30 years, it does not need to be covered the wood drys out quickly after the rain stops and the covering just slows up the drying process, cover it in the fall after a dry spell and don't hassle with the covering in the summer, let the wood do its thing.

 

[soupy1957]

I guess I was thinking:

"Hey, the wood I got yesterday is seasoned already, and the first cord is well on its way to being burnable. Since we're supposed to have rain from Monday to Friday of this upcoming week, why NOT cover all the wood for the week, and then pull the tarps off on Saturday. What could it hurt?

-Soupy1957

 

[begreen]

I guess I was thinking:

"Hey, the wood I got yesterday is seasoned already, and the first cord is well on its way to being burnable. Since we're supposed to have rain from Monday to Friday of this upcoming week, why NOT cover all the wood for the week, and then pull the tarps off on Saturday. What could it hurt?

-Soupy1957

The tarp?

 

[Backwoods Savage]

I too am a believer that covering the wood at this time of the year is totally unnecessary. Wood is not a sponge...unless the wood is punky.

Go ahead and cover it for the week if it makes you feel good. If nothing else, it will give you some extra exercise and it won't hurt....unless you insist on covering more than just the top of the pile. Cover only the top of the piles.

Interesting that about a year ago I reported one fellow or maybe more than one near us who had never covered his wood before. Then he had a big wood pile with no spaces between the rows; I'm guessing probably 20 or more rows of wood. He came into some big, big tarps so covered his wood completely including sides and ends and ties the tarp tight. Ummmm. He couldn't burn any of that wood last winter because it never dried; in fact, it was wetter when he removed the tarp than it had been before. Methinks he learned a valuable lesson, which is, cover top only. In addition, we never cover our wood until late fall or early winter. We let it breath during the summer months and do not worry about rain. It runs off and doesn't soak in.

 

[soupy1957]

BeGreen: "the Tarp?" What's your question? I don't understand your comment.

Backwoods Savage: I didn't say anything about tying it down. I'm not looking for air tight. I just don't want water on my wood is all. What'dya mean it won't soak in? It won't? Since when? (I say respectfully)

-Soupy1957

 

[Backwoods Savage]

Soupy, sorry about the wording as I did not mean that about you. I wrote to let others know about what can happen when the entire stack is covered and now way did I mean that you were to do that. You will do just fine.

Methinks also that BeGreen was pulling a funny there. What could it hurt? Well, the only thing it could hurt would be the tarp! Like, you might tear it or something similar. At times one has to be a bit cagey to understand some of the dry humor that is posted. Rarely will you see anything posted on this forum that is meant to hurt or belittle anyone. There are a bunch of nice guys hang around here.

 

[soupy1957]

Guess that argument I had with my wife of 33 years today, tempered my thoughts...........sorry about that. We rarely argue, and when we do, it's more upsetting THAT we do, than it is about WHAT we argued about.

But anyway, I'll just be happy if my new Wah Wah pedal works..............lol.

-soupy1957

 

[firefighterjake]

I'm with Savage and Backwoods . . . don't bother covering the stacks until Fall.

That said, I was bored this past weekend so I ended up moving my wood for 2011-2012 into the woodshed . . . it's been cut, split and stacked now for 8 or so months . . . and will continue to season in my woodshed (sides are more or less open to wind) for another 15 months. I must admit . . . it did feel pretty good to have the woodshed loaded up with 2 years worth of wood . . . now to work on 2012-2013's wood supply.

 

[smokinj]

The tarps are crap..............The metal roofing (Like Dennis has) or rubber ruffing would be worth the squeeze. +3 on waiting til fall.

 

[Delta-T]

just out of curiosity, has anyone set up a "side by side" comparison of the covered top of stack vs. the uncovered top of stack just to see? I see frequently that this is a topic of some debate. Logic tells me the top wood uncovered would be fine, as it would dry first in the sun/wind but the rain that runs into the stack and down into the lower splits would be less likely to evaporate in the same amount of time. I can see the merit in both perspectives, and certainly the amount of rain (on average, seasonally) would need to be considered.

 

[maplewood]

I let my wood air dry. Stacked on pallets, well spaced, on the edge of a field with lots of sun and air flow. I don't cover my wood, even in the fall and winter. 12-24 months and I'm good to go.

But in the past, I've had a 26'x16' wood shed: a roof with posts, no walls. I stacked the wood under the roof, well spaced and on pallets, and let it season 12-24 months. It never got wet from the rain, and dried beautifully.

Aside from avoiding the dampness of a recent rain, there was no great advantage to having the wood shed. I'm not hurrying to re-build the shed (which collapsed during a heavy snow / hail load). I'm going to build a pole barn in its place, and will put some seasoned wood in it, out of the snow, for emergencies (my own or a friend's).

Happy burning! (Not hissing!)

 

[Backwoods Savage]

just out of curiosity, has anyone set up a "side by side" comparison of the covered top of stack vs. the uncovered top of stack just to see? I see frequently that this is a topic of some debate. Logic tells me the top wood uncovered would be fine, as it would dry first in the sun/wind but the rain that runs into the stack and down into the lower splits would be less likely to evaporate in the same amount of time. I can see the merit in both perspectives, and certainly the amount of rain (on average, seasonally) would need to be considered.

Yes, we've done that. I have to say that the top covered stack was better....but not by a lot. If need be I would not hesitate to leave the wood uncovered but it is not so nice to work with when there is snow all over the wood pile.

You are right too that the sun and wind will do their thing and keep the wood dry. As for the rain getting down to the lower splits; no, that is not a problem. Even after getting 18" of rain in 2 days a few years back, the bottom of the stack was not a problem at all. That year we had both covered and uncovered. It all burned.

Remember that wood is not a sponge....unless it is punky, then, it will soak up moisture. Or, if it is direct contact with the ground, then too it will not be too good for the wood getting wet.

One other thing: a friend learned a lesson one time when he stacked by the house. Problem? He stacked under the eaves and did not have eave troughs. Water running off the roof had a bad effect on the wood pile. But that is much different than just sitting out in the rain.