wood drying with limited space

[brian89gp]

I live on a rather small city lot and am putting in a wood burner for next winter. I have already collected about 2 cords of wood still waiting to be split and I am aiming for 6-7 cords total for a 1 year supply. I am purposefully collecting wood that drys quickly, so far it has been a bunch of silver maple, some cottonwood, and a little gum. I would do oak but I simply do not have enough room for more then 1 year of storage.

The question for this post is how to I go about drying it properly. I do have a good amount of wind due to the tall houses around causing wind tunnel effect inbetween them. It is windy enough that I rarely have frost on my vehicles in the winter if I park along side the house where as if I park in the street I will have frost.

Area #1
1.6 cord double wide stack against side of house
15% sun
Area #2
1.4 cord single wide stack inbetween two garages
0% sun
Area #3
3.7 cord triple wide stack against side of garage
30% sun
Area #4
1.0 cord double wide stack against house
95% sun
Area #5
1.2 cord triple wide stack
40% sun


I only really have room for about 1 cord in full sunlight, the rest is on the shaded side of the buildings. While they will get a decent amount of wind the rest of the storage spots get little sun. What would be the best plan of action? Temporary stack in the full sun spots then move them to a less sunny spot?

 

[stejus]

Sounds like you're planning ahead. I'm not sure you'll burn that much wood though. Most modern stoves burn about 4 cord a year in the avg size insulated house.

 

[brian89gp]

3800sq/ft plus 1200sq/ft basement uninsulated 120 year old brick house. Converted the CCF of natural gas from last year to BTU then found the required amount of wood based on species; 5.5 cord of oak up to 10.5 cord of poplar. I got the planning thing down :D, just don't have a full depth of knowledge and experience yet.

 

[midwestcoast]

+1. 6-7 cords storage is great. If it were me I wouldn't worry about moving wood through that one sunny spot. I'd just put your slowest drying wood there or the stuff that has the shortest time to dry before burning. A bit of wind is all you need to dry wood in a year.
Also if storage is the issue, remember you're gonna need double the amount of Cottonwood as you would hard Maple, oak, locust... so you're not saving space that way.

Edit, whoops your second post beat me to the punch. You've got your needs down as much as you can until you just do it.

 

[Gark]

If your basement is partly unfinished and has access to the yard (even a chute through a basement window) for burn season storage of already DRIED wood, maybe that would allow more yard space for incoming green wood? I dunno, maybe that's too much moving and hauling though....

 

[Backwoods Savage]

Sun is nice for helping to dry wood but we've stacked wood where there has been zero sun and it dried okay. Wind is much more important than sun!

 

[brian89gp]

Thats good to know that it will still dry in the shade.

For the back row of a double row, the one up against the house, am I going to have any drying problems with it?

I do have an unfinished basement, I might consider storing some down there if for no other reason then not having to go outside to get wood.

 

[oldspark]

Make sure you get a MM so you can tell how the drying is going.

 

[bogydave]

Your thinking about getting it dry. That's the best thing about your post.
You have to use the area & conditions you have. Like we all do
I'll bet in a year you have good wood from each location.
Some will be drier, but it all will be ready to burn.
If you have some space between the wood & the house, it'll dry pretty good, but like you said, the back row, not as fast and maybe not as dry.
It's all "off the ground" ?
You'll get to burning & notice which stacks are the driest & burn the best burn them first & allow the others more time.
You know the importance of dry wood, your are way ahead of most wood burners. :zip:
Since you don't have the space & time to let your wood season 2, 3 or more years, a MM might tell you which stack locations dry the best. Might be a good reference.
I don't have a MM, but have space to collect, store & season for 2 to 3 years

 

[Corey]

Assuming we have a normal summer this year, I wouldn't worry about it too much. All my wood is stacked in the shade of a couple maple trees. I try to stay a year ahead, but generally even wood C/S/S in the spring is good to go in the fall...couple months of hot dry summer really crisps things up.

 

[Wood Duck]

Make sure to leave a space between the wood and any wall it is stacked against. That will allow some air to move behind the wood and should really help drying.

I think theburn rate and wood capacity of your stove/insert will limit the amount of wood you can burn, and I don't think you'll be able to get all the BTUs you need from wood. 3800 sq. ft is a lot to heat with wood even with a big, well placed stove. With my small (1.6 cubic feet) stove I burn pretty avidly and it looks like my first full year of burning is going to be just about three cords. I burned about three last year starting in mid december. There is only so much wood that I can run through my stove. Perhaps with a large stove you could burn four or five cords, but I don't know how many people burn much more than that in a single stove. The good part of this is that you may have two year's storage space rather than just one.

 

[brian89gp]

Space between wall and stack. Will do. How much space would be recommended? I did buy a moisture meter already actually.

I plan on having two stove inserts eventually. Its a big old Victorian house so there are that many fireplaces to put the inserts in.

I grew up in a house that was heated by wood. After one chimney fire where the stove doors were rattling and the stove was shaking it has convinced me to err on the side of caution.

They will be off the ground. Found some plans that turn 2x6 on edge for the bottom rails then the normal 2x4 frame around the rest. My entire "yard" is concrete too, forgot to mention that but it should help some with the drying in the summer I would assume.

Food for thought... Imagine how much 6 cords of oak would equate to in natural gas cost. Even with the past couple years of very cheap gas prices it is a huge chunk of change. You could say I am motivated.

 

[bogydave]

Space between wall and stack. Will do. How much space would be recommended? I did buy a moisture meter already actually.

I plan on having two stove inserts eventually. Its a big old Victorian house so there are that many fireplaces to put the inserts in.

I grew up in a house that was heated by wood. After one chimney fire where the stove doors were rattling and the stove was shaking it has convinced me to err on the side of caution.

They will be off the ground. Found some plans that turn 2x6 on edge for the bottom rails then the normal 2x4 frame around the rest. My entire "yard" is concrete too, forgot to mention that but it should help some with the drying in the summer I would assume.

Food for thought... Imagine how much 6 cords of oak would equate to in natural gas cost. Even with the past couple years of very cheap gas prices it is a huge chunk of change. You could say I am motivated.

Price of NG are going down, but 6 cords of oak still allot of BTU & money
http://www.eia.gov/dnav/ng/ng_pri_sum_dcu_SKS_m.htm

figure out how much $$:
http://extension.oregonstate.edu/catalog/pdf/ec/ec1628-e.pdf

 

[brian89gp]

Price of NG are going down, but 6 cords of oak still allot of BTU & money
http://www.eia.gov/dnav/ng/ng_pri_sum_dcu_SS_m.htm

Craigslist to the rescue. 3 cords and counting for free. Not oak, but its free.

 

[maple1]

Nevermind all the talk about how & where to pile - you need to get it split ASAP. That (time since split) will be the biggest factor in how well it will dry.