I got my wood covered in a wood shed this year for the first time. The wood gassifies much easier when it's in the wood shed for 6 months. I think wood outside dries faster, but doesn't get as dry than in the shed. I even got some puffing today with 4x4 in. hardwood.
Comparing covered vs uncovered wood
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Not sure I totally agree with that one but it is nice to have the winter's supply in the shed so you don't have to wade through the snow to get it. We've done it both ways; with a shed and without. The only reason I like the shed is for what I already stated. As for the wood gassifying easier, I don't buy that one. We had no problems with the outdoor stacked wood and have never noticed any difference in the way it burns.
What we have found though is that it depends upon how you handle the wood and how long you let it dry before burning. We also have found a huge difference if it is top covered vs not covered. We'll continue to top cover.
It all depends on the kind of wood you are seasoning. I can place locust out and have it season for 4 years uncovered no problem. Hard as a rocks and burns great. I place maple out for over 2 years uncovered it turns into junk. Soft and really bad burn quality. My solution is to top cover softer woods like maple, poplar, ash and cherry. Harder woods oak, locust, beech, and Osage orange you don't have to cover.
I cut up a big apple tree last year. I split and stacked most of it outdoors in single stacks with a tarp over just the top of the stacks. Some of the biggest rounds I left whole and put them in my garage. I was saving them for a friend of mine that turns bowls. I forgot about getting the big rounds to my friend and they sat in my garage for nearly a year. I just remembered them last week. I was cutting the sap wood off and making them square before giving them to my friend and I noticed that they looked drier than the single stacked wood that had sat out in the sun and wind for a year. I took one and split it down the middle and checked it with my moisture meter...13%. I then went outside, resplit some of my stacked splits and checked them...26%. That is a huge difference, especially when you factor in that the 13% came from a 24" round and the 26% came from a 6" split.
Not a scietific study to be sure, but in this single case, it seems that keeping wood completely out of the weather is far better than stacking it out in the sun and wind but having the ends get rained and snowed on.
Not a scietific study to be sure, but in this single case, it seems that keeping wood completely out of the weather is far better than stacking it out in the sun and wind but having the ends get rained and snowed on.
ryjen
Burning Hunk
Sorry to be a bit off subject, but I REALLY like infinitymike's set-up. I like the idea of room for the wheel barrow in between the rows.
Carry on.
Carry on.
paul bunion
Minister of Fire
Assuming an attached garage it is also warmer in the winter. Probably has something to do with it.
It is an attached garage. I call it "Garage-zilla" or the "Garage-mahal". 32'x36', 2 stories. It is not heated, but it has a big concrete slab foundation, so that is what keeps it warmer in winter. It rarely gets below 36 in there. If I could build another one and load it with firewood, I would.
!I have/had three stacks this year and there is no comparison. All three stacks came from the same source, cuts and splits that have been in the yard since the 2011 storm, 1/3 red and white oak, the rest junk swamp maple and some kind of tough to split evergreen. I have been burning the worst stuff first and keeping the best oak splits and rounds for future years.
All three stacks were put up last spring from cuts in the yard. All went up on pallets.
One stack went under the front porch roof, no rain but very little sun. That stuff burns like a dream. Have to be careful loading too much or it will drive the Froling into slumbering from excess heat. No attendance, great burnouts, and little ash.
First stack burned this year was put on pallets with and without a tarp. Open, but I tried to cover it for bad weather but not always. Getting it on pallets made the wood a lot drier but it was obvious, the times it got rained on, the wood burned *a lot* less easily, burned more of it.
Third stack was the same, on pallets with and without a tarp. Because of the wind, I lost the tarp more and it got more rained on, but more sun also. That stack is the worst of the three. I'm burning it including some nice 2+ year seasoned oak splits, but it burns slower with less heat and more attendance.
None of the wood makes steam from the ends much, they gas from the ends.
I need a wood shed and it will be heaven, in the range of three cord for the year, unlimited heat and DHW.
All three stacks were put up last spring from cuts in the yard. All went up on pallets.
One stack went under the front porch roof, no rain but very little sun. That stuff burns like a dream. Have to be careful loading too much or it will drive the Froling into slumbering from excess heat. No attendance, great burnouts, and little ash.
First stack burned this year was put on pallets with and without a tarp. Open, but I tried to cover it for bad weather but not always. Getting it on pallets made the wood a lot drier but it was obvious, the times it got rained on, the wood burned *a lot* less easily, burned more of it.
Third stack was the same, on pallets with and without a tarp. Because of the wind, I lost the tarp more and it got more rained on, but more sun also. That stack is the worst of the three. I'm burning it including some nice 2+ year seasoned oak splits, but it burns slower with less heat and more attendance.
None of the wood makes steam from the ends much, they gas from the ends.
I need a wood shed and it will be heaven, in the range of three cord for the year, unlimited heat and DHW.
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