After a washout of a weekend and Zap forecasting 9 more days of it, I am beginning to wish I had more roof. 1st pic is the heap, 2nd is an uncovered stack I intend to burn this year and 3rd is under the roof that I intend to burn this year.
Questioning the No Cover strategy
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woodsmaster
Minister of Fire
Don't burn the roof. Then you won't have any covered wood. No seriously I'm wishing I had mine covered to. Lots of rain here.
jackofalltrades
Member
As long as it is stacked it will dry after the rain in short order. The roof in the South does more harm than good I believe.
For me, the heap has a role in the process. It takes the pile from fresh cut/split to most of the shrinkage done. I realize that without a lot of wind and good drainage, this doesn't work for most people.
The question is where to go from there. My burn shed is on the NE side of the house in a courtyard. Very little ventilation. Great in the winter when it is 0 and blowing 20+ but not great for the drying process. I try to load that shed as late as possible before the snow flies.
I haven't figured out the interim step. I like to have my next years burn stacked on the windy side of the house a year before I intend to burn it to finish what the heap started. There is a definite difference right now between the wood under the roof and the uncovered stacks. I'm questioning whether that makes a real difference over the course of the summer. i.e. is it worth building a shed on the windy side of the house big enough that I don't have to stack 10' high to get a season's burn in it.
I could also build the shed big enough in a windy spot that I can use pallet boxes that I can move with the 3 pt on the tractor. That would save me loading the burn shed in the Fall and my wife would get her front porch back.
The question is where to go from there. My burn shed is on the NE side of the house in a courtyard. Very little ventilation. Great in the winter when it is 0 and blowing 20+ but not great for the drying process. I try to load that shed as late as possible before the snow flies.
I haven't figured out the interim step. I like to have my next years burn stacked on the windy side of the house a year before I intend to burn it to finish what the heap started. There is a definite difference right now between the wood under the roof and the uncovered stacks. I'm questioning whether that makes a real difference over the course of the summer. i.e. is it worth building a shed on the windy side of the house big enough that I don't have to stack 10' high to get a season's burn in it.
I could also build the shed big enough in a windy spot that I can use pallet boxes that I can move with the 3 pt on the tractor. That would save me loading the burn shed in the Fall and my wife would get her front porch back.
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What is wrong with "stack it and forget it" and after dry move it to the place for storage of that winters supply or am I missing something?
I have a fairly modest suburban lot without a lot of flat area. Any relatively flat areas, garden included, are man made. The house is at the top of the lot and anything below it is pretty inaccessible in the winter especially when we get 15' of snow like last year.
I have another spot that I built with fill from the city water dept that is adjacent to the driveway. I currently use it as a staging area for building materials and equipment. However, if and when I get the house done, this would be the spot for long term accessible storage. I have it pretty well graded and stoned now well enough that I keep it clear in the winter.
I have another spot that I built with fill from the city water dept that is adjacent to the driveway. I currently use it as a staging area for building materials and equipment. However, if and when I get the house done, this would be the spot for long term accessible storage. I have it pretty well graded and stoned now well enough that I keep it clear in the winter.
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Bspring
Feeling the Heat
jackofalltrades said:
I spent most of my life in North MS and am now due East in SC. I can assure you that if you have any of the softer woods like Poplar or Gum they will quickly rot if uncovered. The exception may be if they are not in any shade. I lost a lot of wood by not covering mine but it was always in shady areas. The Oak did much better but now that I cover it all it dries much faster.
smokinj
Minister of Fire
SolarAndWood said:
Hard to tell much there with the wood all wet. I never worry about covering, but if I was going to this is the year!
midwestcoast
Minister of Fire
I hear you on the wet conditions. Here it has not been so much the volume of rain, just the lack of drying-out between rains. We're in a real dry spell now though, no rain yeaterday or today! Never fear, rain or T-stroms in the forcast for 8 of the next 9 days, so that should help the parched soil, lol. What can we say, it is Spring after all & the flowers are happy. I don't think a wet spell like this is cause to re-think a strategy that's worked for you, but if you see a better, easier way then why not? And that porch does look like it'd be a nice place to enjoy a brew in the summer.
I am sorta glad I'm not trying to burn this elm for the coming winter as it doesn't seem to be seasoning as fast as expected, hah! :gulp:
It's been c/s/s since early March. That is about a 4 inch round, and several splits now have leaves too.
I am sorta glad I'm not trying to burn this elm for the coming winter as it doesn't seem to be seasoning as fast as expected, hah! :gulp:
It's been c/s/s since early March. That is about a 4 inch round, and several splits now have leaves too.
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thewoodlands
Minister of Fire
SolarAndWood said:
I'll take whatever left over roof you have after your done building it.
GIBIR
I find no cover to look fine 2 days after every rain. I think more importantly is for the wood to have clear air pathways AND be off the ground.
I stack my wood on pallets. So the inside wood is about 1-2' from the nearest "outside" air/sun. From what I've seen, it's still fully dry within 2 days after the last rain.
That being said, I've never waited till the end of a long drenching rain, waited 2 days, and then knocked off my pallet stacking to see what it looks like.
A better strategy might be to put your fastest drying wood on the bottom/middle of piles and your hardest-to-season wood on the outside.
I stack my wood on pallets. So the inside wood is about 1-2' from the nearest "outside" air/sun. From what I've seen, it's still fully dry within 2 days after the last rain.
That being said, I've never waited till the end of a long drenching rain, waited 2 days, and then knocked off my pallet stacking to see what it looks like.
A better strategy might be to put your fastest drying wood on the bottom/middle of piles and your hardest-to-season wood on the outside.
Just a thought, but if it is raining out, your wood is probably not drying any - anyhow, covered or not. just say'in.
Jags said:
That is the big question right? Everything else being equal, after 2 weeks of rain and say 3 days of wind and sun, is there any difference between the uncovered stack and the stack under the roof. The rain stopped about an hour ago and right now there is a big difference.
My thoughts are if it is to be covered then it needs to be a roof, not something lying right on the wood. And if its a roof then it should have no sides to block air paths. If you have no roof then your wood should be completely out in the open with no vegetation growing even nearby. I have had wood stored out in the open on bare dirt for 5yrs with no rot to even the pieces right on the ground. The dirt under the pile was even dry in the middle of the winter because the pile was so large. With no vegetation the pieces closer to the edge could stay dry even close to the ground. And by being out in the open the wood could benefit from all the sun and wind for the whole day.
smokinj
Minister of Fire
oldspark said:
Everyone's entitled to their own belief system, but when selling it to someone else, facts matter.
Professional dealing with preparation of huge amounts of forest products are on record with results of studies of how best to prepare forest products.
A large part of that is moisture-content management. Nowhere is there mention of good/neutral effect of periodic re-wetting of wood.
OTOH, much is written about practices in air/kiln-drying of wood, where maintaining covering is considered important.
My experience in covering wood with crude shed/tarps bears the above out. Easy to see the difference relative to uncovered wood.
Some types of heaps seem to work pretty well, "holzhausen" maybe? Take some time to build.
Whatever, keeping an open mind, and evaluating facts objectively, are a real PLUS.
Seasoning wood is removing moisture on the cellular level. Unless the wood is submerged for a long period of time, rewetting only affects the surface and quickly evaporates. Case in point is newly sawed lumber. If stickered inside it will still mold but stickered outside in the open air will not. I like a roof over wood but only if its elevated.
That shed works very well for drying. The ceiling is 10' high and it is 9' cantilevered off the back of the building. I can get 12.5 cord in there fully loaded. I have 5 cord in it now that would come over if it weren't propped up. I think I will suck it up, drop it and restack it so I can get the rest of this years burn under the roof and stop thinking about rain.
I've got a full 20 inch Honey Locust round that I've been using for my chopping block. It was cut and split last fall right before the leaves dropped and it has full branches growing out of it. I figured I'd just let it go to see how far along it'll get.midwestcoast said:
Lots of people and some web sites (wood.org for one) state they see no advantage for cover the single rows, plus the fact I have burnt wood for over 30 years and only cover the wood in the fall after it is dry so not sure why you assume I am not basing this on facts. Once again we are talking about fire wood here not lumber.CTYank said:
SolarAndWood said:
So far, folks seem to consider only the exterior of the pieces. There's a lot more than that.
Moisture that's diffusing into the interior some time after a wetting is out of sight but still delays the overall drying process.
The type of stove is a big factor, of course. If you have a "smoke dragon" that will (kinda) burn pieces with 30%MC, who cares about a little rain?
OTOH, I find that my little EPA stove likes bone-dry best, so I try to avoid wetting/drying cycles, at least for a year before use. It's happy with that, with some
"finish drying" indoors near the stove.
My "smoke dragon" is a summit, I have a MM and have been checking the wood as it dries, no reason for me to cover it, you can do what you need to.
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