rain on stacks

[Got Wood]

One of my stacks (a row of pallets 40 x 48") had a real bad lean on one side. During Irene it partially fell over. We got about 7.5" of rain here. Today (2 days later) ,I went out and knocked the rest of the leaning part over and restacked. ALL of the wood was dry.
Kind of solidified my thoughts on the need to cover or not....

 

[fossil]

When it rains like that, it would seem to me that most all of it splatters or runs off...the wood's not going to absorb it, or "unseason", it's just gonna get wet on the outside. So all it takes is for the rain to stop, the weather to clear a bit, maybe a little sunshine, and the wood's right back to where it was before the rain. I have wood that's been stacked outside in the open through a couple of winters now. The only thing that's ever covered it is snow. Not a problem. It's seasoned. Wait until summer, let it dry off on the outside, and move it into the shed for next season. Rick

 

[SolarAndWood]

Irene made her presence known here as well but you would never know looking at the pile today. The only reason I cover is so I don't have to pick splits out of something that looks like this.

 

[fossil]

:lol: I hear ya. That's why I built a shed. I used to stack outside and cover with tarps. Tarps covered with snow and ice just got to be more hassle than I wanted to deal with. I have wood that looks like that in the winter, but it's not what I'm burning. Rick

 

[joefrompa]

My pine absorbed some of the rain, but give it some sun and air and it dries right up. Most of the inner piles were just as dry as they were before.

 

[SolarAndWood]

:lol: I hear ya. That’s why I built a shed.

Me too. Same day on the other side of the house.

 

[onetracker]

:lol: I hear ya. That’s why I built a shed.

Me too. Same day on the other side of the house.

brrrr......just looking at that photo!

but i'd bet the ranch it was warm inside

 

[SolarAndWood]

but i'd bet the ranch it was warm inside

lol that is a solid bet

 

[weatherguy]

It was so windy after the rain stopped my wood is probably drier than it was before Irene came in.

 

[billb3]

I wish it only rained for half a day and then get a week of dry sunny weather all the time.

I'd just have a huge pile of splits right outside the front door.

 

[Backwoods Savage]

As I've stated before, wood is not a sponge. But covering so you don't have to dig through snow is nice.

 

[firefighterjake]

As I've stated before, wood is not a sponge. But covering so you don't have to dig through snow is nice.

Amen to that Dennis . . . not fussing around with tarps and standing there while the rain, sleet or snow gets you completely wet was my main reason for building my wood shed.

 

[bogydave]

I did the tarp thing for several years. Wind always seemed to find a way to carry them off or shred them.
So I built a shed, I'm much happier
I cut some a few months ago, been raining ever since, saw allot of mold growing on the birch 2 weeks ago, so I moved it to the shed, Now it is drying better & the mold dried up.
I still have some spruce outside CSS & not covered, & it's seems to be doing OK, but hasn't dried much. This winter will fix that (2012-13 wood).
So some wood may do well in the rain if you get a few days between showers but the birch I had outside was looking bad.
If it's off the ground on pallets & not getting moldy, you are OK. Either way, it takes a year or more to season well. Keeping the rain off helps some but it still takes time.

 

[ecocavalier02]

I did the tarp thing for several years. Wind always seemed to find a way to carry them off or shred them.
So I built a shed, I'm much happier
I cut some a few months ago, been raining ever since, saw allot of mold growing on the birch 2 weeks ago, so I moved it to the shed, Now it is drying better & the mold dried up.
I still have some spruce outside CSS & not covered, & it's seems to be doing OK, but hasn't dried much. This winter will fix that (2012-13 wood).
So some wood may do well in the rain if you get a few days between showers but the birch I had outside was looking bad.
If it's off the ground on pallets & not getting moldy, you are OK. Either way, it takes a year or more to season well. Keeping the rain off helps some but it still takes time.

i can only imagine whats it woul have been like tarping wood in alaska. i use to hate it so much id dread going out to the stacks to bring wood in. the worse was getting rain then it freezing on top. the last year with tarps i came inside after we had some ice and told my wife no way am i going another year without a shed. That same phrase came up this year as well when we got record breaking snow about getting a snow-blower. the bank in that picture was taller than me and im 6' 6"

 

[BrotherBart]

The last few years I had been using a sheet of rubber roofing to cover six cord. No worries about that heavy stuff blowing off. But as you work your way back through the stacks you end up with a lot of the stuff rolled back on top. Wind hit and rolled the roll off in front of the stacks and record snow fell on top of it. Took me half a day to dig the snow off the top of the twenty foot wide roofing on the ground just to then have to lift that heavy stuff back up on top of the stacks.

As soon as late April rolled around I built a six cord shed right off the entrance to the breezeway. It was a delight last winter. Walk out on the walkway I built across the front of it and get wood. When the power failed for a week I moved the generators into it too.

 

[ecocavalier02]

I get excited every time it snows or rains. Knowing that I dont have to worry about cleaning anything off the tarps.

 

[Backwoods Savage]

Bobby, I did not realize any part of CT got snow like that.

 

[ecocavalier02]

Bobby, I did not realize any part of CT got snow like that.

Me either. i grew up in pennsylvania 2 hours south of buffalo. where we use to get hammered with snow all the time. it reminded me of living there. we broke tons of records with snow this year for ct. we had a good 4 feet on the ground at one time this year. and it stayed all winter. it was awesome. although not having a snowblower sucked. lol