How Do You Stack In Non-Level + Depressions Area?

[velvetfoot]

I think I'm going to put some firewood splits down as stringers with gaps in between for drainage and follow the land contour.
A pain, but I cant see doing all that shimming and/or messing with pallets, ladders, etc.

 

[snowleopard]

I think I'm going to put some firewood splits down as stringers with gaps in between for drainage and follow the land contour.
A pain, but I cant see doing all that shimming and/or messing with pallets, ladders, etc.

What's your plan for keeping the wood from rolling downhill? Posts? Trees?

What about using some all-weather wood for stringers instead? I used firewood last year that someone had stacked with stringers like you're describing. Not only had the stringers been rotted out/crunched up, but so had a lot of the bottom layer of rounds. Hey, I was lucky to have it, and am not complaining, but it's made me leery. Of course, that had been setting there for awhile, and I'm sure you'll be keeping a closer eye on yours--but things happen, and plans change. I'd stack it like it was going to be there awhile. Good luck to you on this.

If you do put splits down, I'd pick the most rot-resistant wood I had for that.

 

[Slow1]

My entire property is on the side of a hill. I don't think I have a really level area to stack on anywhere, the best spots have on the order of 4" difference from one end of a pallet to the other. The more steep sections that I have stacked on have as much as 6-8" differential.

What I have found is that I can stack quite well as long as the splits are level - meaning stacks don't lean one way or the other. I can step the rows down and allow the pallets to lean down the hill even a bit as long as they are level in the direction that will not result in the base of the stack being unlevel. However I generally will try and have each pallet level all the way around. I do this with rocks, cider blocks, or even the next pallet holding up the low end as necessary.

It is a bit of a pain, but the time spent getting a solid base in place is well worth it in the end. As you do this, do keep in mind that the wood is heavy and you need to support the pallets along the main beams across multiple points - I try for 4 points across each of the structural pieces of the pallets. Also consider width of your support points - I have had smaller rocks sink into the ground due to the amount of pressure on them. In the end though this method has been working out well enough for me.

Now to depressions areas - if you are talking about pits/holes I know I wouldn't put wood down in anything without good drainage or even that would ever have water flowing through (I don't want to wash my wood that often after all). Making a bridge of any width that can support much weight of the stacks would require a fair amount of good engineering unless you simply build up from the ground a solid wall - or use very strong members to traverse. If the depressions are small, consider just filling them in with some solid fill if you have from higher areas?

 

[Backwoods Savage]

Laying some of the splits or rounds works good. I like to use ash for that because ash lasts so well even though it is touching the ground. Sassafras can be another good one to use.

 

[Wood Duck]

I make round holz hausen on a slope. Seems to work OK. you just have to make sure the splits are level. The lowest level of splits is stacked on rocks, so I position rocks to support the bottom splits and from there it is just like working on level ground.

 

[woodsmaster]

Carefully

 

[velvetfoot]

Carefully probably sums it up.
Even if some water goes in a depression, it would only get the stringers.
Mine topo. is a combo of depressions and slope, but more on the depressions.
Once the depressions are filled in and attention is maintained on keeping things level, it'd go easier.
Still, carefully...

 

[ManiacPD]

One other thing to keep in mind is the sun. If your pile runs east-west and the ends of the wood are pointed to the south the sun will dry that side faster and cause the pile to bow or lean towards the sun. Every summer I have to use the flat side of my maul or a sledge hammer to tap the pieces back in to get it to stop leaning. I haven't at times and the part that is on the downslope has fallen over.

 

[BrotherBart]

I can't advise. For ten years I never had a stack fall. On uneven ground. This past winter one stack fell back. Of course it was a one cord stack with five one cords stacks behind it with 18" air space between them. In two weeks time they all fell back into each other. Sickening. They are all now up the hill and stacked in the shed.

Good luck.

 

[velvetfoot]

That's the problem with a hill. Eventually, gravity takes hold. Lately I've been stacking three deep. I think it's more stable.

 

[golfandwoodnut]

I have experience building Holtz Hausens and you get good at laying splits across the outer edge to keep the wood sloping inwards. Same goes for pallets, I stacked on a slope today. I ran a row on the low side then stack at 90 degrees to the row. This gets the wood slanting against the gravity of the slope. You fight slope with slope, if that makes sense. In my HH notice the cross pieces to keep the wood sloping in.

 

[snowleopard]

So how well would that HH work with truly green wood? I see people posting cautions about wood just left in stacks who've found moldy wood in the middle of a stack. Does an HH function that much better than just a heap of split wood when it comes to drying? I know it failed the comparison test with stacked wood. Has anyone ever run a test to see if an HH does better at drying wood than the woodheap?

 

[golfandwoodnut]

I have never heaped wood, but I can tell you I had no mold in my HHs. Mine was mostly cherry and it seasoned great. They are great coversation pieces. You could definetly build one of these on a slope since you would just make the low side higher. In the picture with me, I am on the low side of mine that was about 1 foot lower than the front.

 

[snowleopard]

Thanks. I think I'll poke around a bit and learn more. The best spot for the wood I've got coming is also my daughter's cherished view from her window. I happen to like the look of stacked wood, and she sort of does, too, but just not there, thought she's putting a brave front on it.

An HH might make her feel differently about having some firewood in the view area. And I'm going to have enough wood to experiment with. Just don't want to lose it to rot.

 

[SolarAndWood]

So how well would that HH work with truly green wood? I see people posting cautions about wood just left in stacks who've found moldy wood in the middle of a stack. Does an HH function that much better than just a heap of split wood when it comes to drying? I know it failed the comparison test with stacked wood. Has anyone ever run a test to see if an HH does better at drying wood than the woodheap?

I don't think there is a clear answer here. Once you get away from single well spaced rows in a windy well-drained spot with decent sun, everything detracts from the drying process. I have never seen mold in my 20+ cord heap, yet my neighbor has a single row stack of rotten wood on the north side of the house underneath some pine trees. In this case, wind, drainage and sun trump storage arrangement.

 

[golfandwoodnut]

Starting out with your first HH I would recommend a 4 pallet. This keeps the wood off the ground and keeps it nice and dry. Does not take that long to build either and holds maybe 2 cords, some say 2 and 1/2, depending on the heigth. A 10 foot HH holds a ton of wood, like 5 cords.

 

[ruserious2008]

My yard where I stack is sloped. I use pallets and like them as they keep the wood off the ground and allow good air flow so I don't look at them as "messing with Pallets"- Wouldn't stack without them myself. I then use either a few splits or other wood I have acquired to more or less level them off if they are going across the slope. On my downward slope where I am stacking with the slope as opposed to across it works out perfect for me to start with a pallet at the lowest point then the next pallet that goes upslope of that one gets put on the edge of the lower one so that each pallet is basically level and it looks like a staircase as each pallet is put on it as it goes upslope. .... if that explanation makes sense:0 I'll ad a pick tomorrow

 

[Intheswamp]

"Messing with pallets"....not to be confused with messin' with Sasquatch....