Possible wood pile cover ?

[NextEndeavor]

I’m looking to dry a couple cords of wood outside this spring/summer/fall. I have a small nearly worthless 3 sided shed (with the windows shot out by kids utilizing paintball guns, no harm done). It will hold nearly three cords allowing for air between the stacks. However, I’m needing more storage so I want to build something to cover the other wood to be left outside. It’s gotta be cheap. One of those metal carport covers would be ideal but too expensive. I have old tarps that have some life in them yet. Has anyone ever built bracing out of PVC pipe glued together? I’m thinking maybe just a roof only thing to stretch the tarp over then tie it down to the top of the wood pile without spending $ on support legs. I’d make a peak to it so there’d be airflow and water shedding. One might only make it wide enough to cover two rows of stacked wood so to keep the PVC pipe cost down to the 1†material size. I would appreciate pictures and/or other ideas. Can’t be something too tacky looking though.

 

[Bad Wolf]

Got a Harbor Freight nearby?

http://www.harborfreight.com/12-1-2-half-ft-x-20-ft-portable-car-canopy-92928.html

 

[SolarAndWood]

Free pallets on the bottom, free pallets on the top, existing tarps cap nailed to the top of the top pallets. Twine between the top and bottom pallets if you are worried about them blowing away.

 

[NextEndeavor]

I'd go with the $120 Harbor Freight cover if possible: looks good, it's cheap and large. We have something just like that for our Boy Scout troop, very funtional over picnic tables. However, no Harbor Freight around these parts. But maybe Northern Tool or someone like that will .....
Thanks

 

[Intheswamp]

Don't forget to put a string and a tail on that HF shelter if you're subject to much wind. I was over at a RC airplane show a few years ago when a storm came through....really interesting to watch a large pop-up canopy fly a couple hundred feet in the air. If that wasn't bad enough some guys broke out some big foils and got drug half way across the (full scale) airfield. You would definitely have to anchor the HF unit well.

 

[Kenster]

You couldn't hardly buy the supplies to make that HF carport for $120. Get a little bit of nylon rope and bury a few rounds in the ground for anchors and it will stay put.

Me, personally... I'm not big on covering my wood. I like it to be totally exposed while it's seasoning. Any surface moisture from rain will easily dry once I bring it up to the front porch where it will sit a few days before burning. Granted, we don't have to worry much about it getting buried in snow.

 

[weatherguy]

I leave my wood uncovered spring, summer and fall and it dries out great, its in a good spot where it gets sun and plenty of wind. I only cover in winter so I dont have to knock snow and ice off the splits before I burn them.
I built some wood racks that each hold 1 1/2 cords and I can secure the tarp to the side and still get at the wood without removing the tarp. Im going to build a couple more racks this spring so I have enough for six cords.

 

[loon]

no Harbor Freight around these parts. But maybe Northern Tool or someone like that will .....
Thanks

http://www.northerntool.com/shop/tools/product_200304845_200304845

 

[Backwoods Savage]

There you go. Loon found one cheaper.

If you do go this route, you should highly consider mobile home anchors at least at each corner. In the middle you could use tree anchors. So long as you anchor these things down right, they will work and can last quite some time. Very low cost but effective.

Would you like to go super cheap? Build a shed out of.....firewood. It is called a poor-man's shed and back in the depression years they were very plentiful. For the outside rows I suggest using longer logs. 4' would be nice but 3' will work good too. Simply build the foundation out of the longer logs and you can use some junk wood for this. I've used hybrid poplar for some and although it will work for only about 10 years, it will work rather well. Build it in such a manner that the front will be higher than the back. You may have to build this in sections depending upon the size.

I wish I had a picture but don't. However, I threw one of these together and used old plywood and old roofing for the top. The rear was about 4' high; the front was about 5.5' high. We built it just large enough for an atv to fit in there with just a little room left over. It worked like a charm and my cost for this was exactly $0.00. The time it took was less than an hour.

 

[NextEndeavor]

Thanks for the NT tip.
Now if they'd just put my log splitter on sale too!

 

[Slow1]

If you want to go super cheap and reasonably effective... take those used tarps you have and a good stapler (I have one of those hammer staplers that insulation installers use). Then stack your wood well, leave a line of splits down the top of the row lengthwise to make a 'ridge pole' then lay the tarp over the top of your pile. Line up the tarp so it just hangs over one edge and staple all along that edge to the splits (ends of wood is best to staple to) then go to other side and pull the tarp taught and staple all along this edge. Key here is to make it tight and not come down more than one row of splits (i.e. you are stapling to top row of splits. Last you staple to the the ends. Cut extra tarp off (save rest to re-use on next pile if the tarp is large enough).

If you do it tight enough and staple it well so wind can't get a gust under a free edge it can stay put quite well. If it is tight it won't vibrate/flap and tear itself apart. I did this with a pile and it stayed put very well for over a year until I pulled it apart to move the pile. The tarp did weaken due to exposure to sun of course, but that is to be expected I suppose. True the top splits didn't get as much air as ideal, but they didn't have mold or anything. Rest of sides were/are exposed as well as any other cover placed on top of the pile. If you already have old tarps for recycling then you can't get much cheaper.

Now major downside I did find is that it seems chipmunks and mice really liked this 'tent' space to live in. I had several nests and such in there - the cats couldn't get in to chase them out.

 

[NextEndeavor]

Believe I’ll try your idea with slight modification. I have some old 8 ft sections of 2 inch galvanized pipe lying around. I could notch a chunk of wood to raise the “tent†horizontal pole maybe 18 inches or so along the top of the pile each end. I also have a deal to put grommets in tarps and might just do that to hang small weighted ropes down in a few key places to hold tarp. Better yet, I should stake the north side down because we get nasty winds from that direction after most storms here. The weighted ropes will make it easier to move the tarp around too. My neighbor’s cat likes the open wood shed so maybe an 18 inch “gable end†will assist them with hunting. Squirrels/chipmunks like to hide acorns and such in the wood pile but no harm done. Don’t care for the possum poop in the shed though.

 

[Sycamore1622]

Does anyone have any ideas for something that will keep the wood dry and look really nice at the same time. I am needing something close to the house for the wife to pull from when I am out driving. She found a canopy that would look nice, but I don't think that there is such a thing as an easy on the eyes tarp.

 

[BrotherBart]

All of the canopies suffer from the same thing. Snow loading. And when they collapse they wreck the frame piping.

 

[Brewmonster]

I do exactly what SolarandWood recommends except I use 4 mil poly sheeting instead of tarp.

One other thing: A standard pallet is 40x48, right? So my wood is stacked on pallets that are butted up on their 40 inch sides. When I go to cover them, I orient the top pallets the other way, so that there's a four inch overhang on either side. Staple the sheeting on, tie the whole thing down and you have a rain-proof, wind-proof cover that allows full air circulation. Of course, this method depends on a supply of free pallets. As for the esthetics, I got nothing.

I know a lot of people say it's not necessary to cover wood, but I don't think anybody says it's bad unless you're trapping moisture and preventing air flow.

 

[Backwoods Savage]

Does anyone have any ideas for something that will keep the wood dry and look really nice at the same time. I am needing something close to the house for the wife to pull from when I am out driving. She found a canopy that would look nice, but I don't think that there is such a thing as an easy on the eyes tarp.

My apologies to those who have seen the picture before but would this perhaps work for your wife? That wood is stacked about 4' high or thereabouts. There is over a foot of snow on the top. In between the wood stacks you can make out a gray tarp and that is covering the wood splitter.

On top of the wood is some galvanized roofing. It is easy to pull some wood out from under there and not get all snow at the same time. Or if you plan on taking out a lot of wood it is a simple task to just shove the snow off and then remove the galvanized. Take what wood you want and then recover it. As for tarps, I hate those things.

If you look closely at the picture you will see I had already taken one row out from under the galvanized and did that without removing the cover. Then looking down you can see where I covered a small amount that was left on that row I had pulled out.